How long did you have to play that fish before you had it in your hands? Did it jump and thrash, or go deep and turn its body sideways to the current?
it made some long runs, was about 7 minutes to land, i try to land fish ASAP but i was by myself so it took a bit to get her in the net. a second person i coulda had it in 3-4 min. that is why u use strong gear for targeting trophy fish. every second on ur line is a second u could lose it! barbless life! it trashed a bit, never jumped, and made some long hard steady pulls, all i could do was let it go. the creek was small so i was able to keep it in the pool it was hooked in, lucky. if it had made it out of the pool i would have lost it for sure to super fast water.
What a beautiful fish. Your heart must have been pumping when you got her in close. You said that you were by yourself. How did you take the photos?
Bitchin beard, and hell of a catch. What did you use for bait? Also, how shallow was the water you caught him in roughly? Don't know anything about fishing other than doing it off a pier.
bait was a "fly", specifally one designed to imitate a fish egg. I took the picture my setting my go pro on the bank then taking stills from the footage. (yes, i have it all on video too
Must have been interesting setting up the go pro while hanging onto a fish. Or was it recording the whole time you had the fish on line? A fly that mimics a fish egg? So was it spawning time?
this fish is prespawn, but during the spring they are always inclined to eat eggs over anything else. its instinct. steelhead are the same way. yes, i caught this fish as it was traveling upriver to spawn. I was able to handle the fish and the camera easily (the camera i simple set on a rock with one hand, while i held the handle of my net with the other, keeping the fish in the water. once the camera was set up. i carefully lifted the fish halfway out of the water, let it regain its strentght and composer for a few moments, and watched it swim away!
The red color on her (you used "her" so I'm assuming it's female) gill covers is amazing. Is this brighter because she's preparing to spawn?