Synthetic Trout

Measured 26" and shy of seven pounds.

I fished with Ben, one of the pro staff members at my local fly shop.  We failed to connect with the stocked tailwalker trout the week before and only managed a few large mouth bass.  The holiday weekends must have hammered this fishery hard and we planned on a second attempt the day after trout stocking.  Since the trout in this lake typically pod up in schools, it is relatively easy to produce a take limit (5 trout per angler).  Although it is not always easy to find the pod, especially when boats are only allowed to travel at trolling speed.  In other words... it took all day.

It was a red-eye day for me since my work shift began at midnight.  Twelve hours later we are sitting in the middle of a sun scorched lake casting our fly rods to unwilling fish.  Massive bass and blue-gill have already staged into the shallow spawning grounds, uninterested in any fly pattern in either of our boxes.  By mid-afternoon we switch our quarry to target what we essentially came for.

The trout stocked in this lake are typically Lassen strain or Nebraska Tailwalker.  The Tailwalkers are actually hard fighting fish for being farmed raised.  The size range can be anywhere from 2lbs - 12lbs.  While these are no majestic wild born fish, they can be finicky and a challenge to accept a fly.  Ben brought a stomach pump and pulled a load of gray and black midge larva from the trout.  I have seen the success of several midge fly fisherman at this lake, however I lack the patience to pursue such a task, instead I strip streamers made of radioactive colors to entice these fish.

We fished until the dim lit glow of the sun reflected off the lake.  The fish seemed to jump into our boat at this point and it became mindless fun.  My last cast produced a heavy pull and the bend in my 4wt z-axis curled under the boat.  The king of the trout pod decided to rumble.  I pulled it out from depths below the boat and steered in into open water.  It gave me a few hard runs until it flat lined into cardiac arrest.  Its not often one gets to see a trout have a heart attack.  Just one of the highlights of fishing for synthetic fish fed on a synthetic diet.

LMV Midge Larva

After it slammed its head boat side.  Don't worry it wasn't released.  We made some salmon sized fillets.