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Bull trout are a threatened species known for their aggression, and in my opinion, they’re some of the coolest fish on earth. After catching my first two bull trout on day 1, the focus changed to trying to find a slightly larger fish. Don’t get me wrong I was thrilled with the fish I had caught, but according to the US fish and wildlife service the average size of a bull trout is around 25 inches, something I hadn’t cracked on day 1. So I did something I thought most people hadn’t done and I brought out a musky rod with the intention of throwing overly large flies for some overly large fish.
So the forecast for day 2 called for overcast and lots of rain. And rain it did. I didn’t stay dry for long standing in thigh deep water throwing streamers in the pouring rain. But William and I figured this rain would surely bring the bull trout out. Having fished for brown trout and musky this was the type of weather I lived for, when the knowledge of the impending fish catch drives you beyond what world normally be your breaking point. But one thing we didn’t account for was muddy water, something we thought wouldn’t be an issue on this particular river.
After a full morning of failure we decided to go back to what had brought us success on the first day of fishing in a last ditch effort to salvage our day.
I’m just going to be honest with you, we never salvaged the day. As it got later the water started to change color, and the bright blue water of the previous day faded from existence. Without any real knowledge of how the bull trout would react to the dirty water our confidence quickly depleted. And after 8 hours without a single fish to show for it other than a small whitefish and redband William had caught earlier, we called it a day.
After our previous failure on day 2 we devised a plan we thought was full proof. We were going to nymph just to catch fish, because to be honest at this point I wanted to catch a white fish and a redband trout anyway, both species I had never caught. But another part of our plan was to visit a local fly shop when they opened and ask them how on earth to catch a fish. We had the gear, but neither of us had enough knowledge on the area to know exactly what flies the fish would be likely to take. We had read about how bull trout could be caught on nymphs as well, and considering the streamer game seemed to be totally dead, we didn’t have another option. So that’s exactly what we did, we fished for a few hours in the morning, went to the fly shop, got some flies and amazing information, and hit the river again. And that completely changed the trajectory of our trip. Take it from me, everybody should go visit and support your local fly shops.
Finally we had found fish. Granted nothing was very large and we were freezing to death. But just catching fish after a full day of nothing was welcome. There was only one last fish I wanted to catch, and that was a redband. After getting my rain jacket I continued fishing, and FINALLY after some time I had one eat… and what transpired was arguably one of the coolest moments I’ve ever had fishing.
That may not be super crazy to people who live in bull trout country, but to me it was like watching a fairy tail unfold. A story I had heard many times before about these insanely predatory fish had actually happened to me, and it was a huge bull trout. Which gave me an idea…. Yeah we were catching fish on nymphs, but clearly that big guy wanted a full meal. So after we returned to the car I grabbed my streamer rod for one last chance at a big bull trout.
After a full 2 days of fishing I had finally netted another nice bull trout, and at 21.5 inches it was my biggest of the trip. This fish felt incredibly lucky because a lot of things had to fall into place for it to happen… and just based on the previous day of fishing it seemed very unlikely to happen. But this is a great lesson in never giving up and using the resources you have at your disposal to make your trip successful. That means reading everything you can, going to fly shops, and paying attention to things that are happening while you’re fishing. Overall this was an incredible 3 day trip and my favorite this year so far. The country was wild, the fishing was awesome, and the company was great. I will 100% be going after bull trout again this year, maybe more than once if I have my way. If you guys have any suggestions on where you’d like to see me fish let me know in the comments below. And as always, thanks for watching.
I hope you enjoyed this mini series! Thanks for watching!
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