The day is April 15, 2005 and i have rainbows on the brain. Excluding ice fishing I haven’t experienced any good bow fishing for a for what seems like forever. If there is one lake i can count on it’s the one i am heading to. It’s a lake thats right by a rocket launch site and it has no more than a mile of shoreline. I have yet to find a lake of similar size anywhere in the U.S. that has so many fish between 4 and 8 pounds. Although it does not have the 10, 15 or even 20 plus pounders that the large rivers i fish do it has something those rivers don’t, Solitude. You will rarely see anyone besides you and your companions fishing it, go fiqure. I arrive at 10:00 a.m. and to my surprise spot fish rolling which is unusual this time of year. I tie on a Rainbow thunder creek and on the first cast my rod doubles over and after a few jumps and some bulldoging i pull in a 16 incher. Over the next 2 hours i would pull in 7 more fish between 16 and 21 inches. I didn’t land any of those monsters but i was actually estactic about that. Lately i have been catching nothing but big fish, probably because all of the smaller ones couldn’t compete with the monsters. After today i hope that those smaller fish are a sign of a more balanced population, besides the monsters will come later, in this lake and the big rivers where 20 pounders lurk. Right now i could care less about 30 inch bows on the kenai, naknek or kvichiak, I am just happy to have some decent rainbow fishing!
Boy ole boy I never heard of a fly fisher wanting to catch smaller fish.. Most of us would give our right arm to hook 30″+ fish.. Olny in Alaska.. Come to Maine and you can catch all the small fish you want. We have no 30+ bows
That is funny. I was feeling all proud of myself for catching a 22-inch rainbow yesterday, but when I read the posts from you guys out West, I may have to re-evaluate.
It’s all relative, in some areas a trophys are bigger but a trophy is a trophy. So if a 22 inch fish is a trophy for you, you can still be proud even if other areas have bigger fish. I am still proud of the small cutts i catch in alaska even though i know people like kray catch cutts 3 times as big!
If i had a choice between the two i would obviously pick the big ones. However i have no choice right now and know those 30 inchers will come in the summer and fall when i fish the kenai and naknek. I am lucky enough to say it’s just a matter of time!
You’re right about that. In the Northeast a 5-lb largemouth is a trophy but down in the Florida Everglades it’s pretty common.
Still pleased with my rainbow (hell I’m just happy catching fish), but still jealous of all your 30′ hawgs! So, what weight rod do you use to go after them?
For the 30 inchers a 8 weight or a 9 if i am fishing is heavy current.
That’s wild. I use an 8 or 9 weight for striped bass. I use a two-weight for little trout on small streams and a five-weight for “big” trout.