I Tried

[shawncat]

I tried to release this fish to claim my release a lunker patch.She bellied up on me?I grabbed her,pumped her up,released her......belly up?I tried again,only this time she started floating belly up down stream.....aka crow lunch,otter lunch,eagle snack.So's I jumped in waderless and had to keep her.Caught her on a shammy[chamois]worm,where the log goes across the stream.....submerged?????

[brownieman]

Aint your fault SC...I'd say it looks like that fish has had a darn rough hatchery life...may have been stepped on his fair share. lol

[shawncat]

Aint your fault SC...I'd say it looks like that fish has had a darn rough hatchery life...may have been stepped on his fair share. lol

No it was my fault brownie.I caught it and it was a very good looking trout,colors,fins,tail.I went to find my wife to show her was my mistake.I created a crowd landing her.Had a fun time showing her off....getting my back slapped,nice fish,that's a big one.I had joked with her that she would be my witness to verify that it was 18" or more and I just kept it out of the water to long.Your right though a river trout would have lasted a little longer than a hatchery trout.i iced it up......but by the end of the day she looked like this.She was one of those "too small to mount,too big to eat".

[brownieman]

Your fault or not SC...fish like that are a dime a dozen and they're never too big to eat...I've eaten some pretty nice brownies...they just happened to bite on a bad day for them...hungry day for me.

I always turn real big fish back anymore...they don't fight as well as a 5-6 pounder from my experience...make few good runs just come up, roll and thrash alot...does work, their line cutting gill plates will set em free faster than anything else.

good fish regardless....

[Bman]

.She was one of those "too small to mount,too big to eat".

Just the right size for baking! Good stuff!

[ohmz138]

Too bad about the fish..Bman and shawncat are right though. A fish that size is a dime a dozen and is there for harvest. Catch and release is good but i personally believe that selective harvest is better. Throw the true trophies back. After all, fishing started as a way to collect food and is still one of the greatest rewards of fishing. Nice fish regardless though! Well done!

[shawncat]

Well I didn't say nor do I think fish that are 20" or more are a" dime a dozen".I've fished the springs for over 20 years and never caught alot of 20" fish.I do catch bigger fish the first 3 weeks of the season on average though.I do keep fish from the trout parks[hatchery]fish.If it would have been closer to the river,I would have released her in the river right away.If I would have caught her in the river I would have let her go.Love to eat trout believe me,but I will release trout over 20" ...........unless I mount it,or it dies upon release.

[ohmz138]

My bad Shawncat..that was brownieman who said that. But all I saw in your post was "18 inches or more". I didnt know that you were talking twenty inches or more. I do agree a twenty inch or more trout should be released.. Sorry for the mix up bro.

tight lines

[shawncat]

Not a worry.The fish was right at 20".Here's she is next to a 5lps.or so male.Shorter but fatter.Thanks

[flyfishmaster]

shawncat,

I would not sweat it, and by the way nice fish!!!!!!

I remember about 8 years ago I hooking a really nice bow at BSSP and it only took 20 seconds or so to land it and when I tried revive it for 5 minutes it went belly up. So I deciced to weight and it ended up being 6 lbs 12 ounces. I went to clean it and all the meat was very mushy, so I ended up throwing the whole fish away. I'm gald you were able to salvage some thing out of it.

Later,

FFM