Sooooo close.

The day after our float I suggested that we start our day early at Lusby where we had such good luck the day before. We had the same set up as the day before, red midge, red san juan, and a brown leach. Right away we were into fish. We caught about 20 fish between the two of us. Both of us caught some near 20 inchers.

Eventually I did land one. He was 21 and a half inches long. He took me down stream a bit too, all the way down to the end of the hole and beyond as a matter of fact. It's amazing how you can feel the size of the fish once it starts to fight. They fight in such an intelligent manner. They know to take out as much line as possible and to jump often. He did too. this one was the biggest fish I've caught. He didn't even fit into my net. I thought I would lose him trying to net him. Unfortunately my camera water on the lens and all my pictures have water spots. I've got great memories though.

Right after I caught this guy I was fishing the bottom of the hole again. Right away I got another hit. This one paused for a time and took off as fast as I've seen a fish move. I was on the end of a long drift when he struck so a lot of line was out in front of me and at my legs. Before I could realize this, he was pulling away at it so quickly that it wrapped around my real. I managed to get it unhooked but before I could I saw this Goliath jump out of the water down river. It was a huge brown! I bet it measured in the upper 20's. I was shocked but couldn't stand still long because it was off down river again. By the time it slowed down I was into my backing! I've never had this happen before, not even with the 21.5 incher moments before. Then, without warning, it leaped into the air, cleared the water, and was lost. There was so much line out that I'm sure it landed on the line that was still taught in the water and broke it off. I lost my whole rig, all three flies and sinkers. I slapped the water with my rod and couldn't believe it. It all happened so quickly and it all seemed completely out of my control, like I was at the fish's mercy. I guess I was. I know this could have been the trout of my life and it felt like I had no control. I remember feeling like I wasn't prepared to fight like that. I realize now that you always have to be ready for the one because there isn't any time to think and there is no room for error.

Well anyway, I caught about a half dozen more good ones by the end of the morning and enjoyed every minute of it. Howard caught a few more too and at the top of the hole he hooked into one that started acting like a big one. He fought all the way down the stretch too and he was able to land his. With this fish he jumped out ahead of my 21 and a half inch fish with this 23 inch fatty. It was the biggest trout of his life. I'm glad he was able to pull it off. We both managed this goal of catching the biggest fish of our lives on this trip. What more can you ask for.

Bad Water Levels, Great Results

Upon arriving at Lusby Landing, Ryan pointed out that the water level was the highest it has been in 30 years. . . . great. That's exactly the reason we came here instead of Saratoga. I have to say I was a little skeptical. It didn't last long though. 3 minutes into the float, I was into a fish. Ryan had warned us that most fish were lost because anglers didn't allow them to run right from the get-go. This in mind, I let this guy do his thing. It wasn't much at first. I think it didn't realize he was hooked or it was just still sleepy. Eventually though he took the line and ran. I was impressed but the guide just nonchalantly called it average. I mentioned I would take average all day if it fought like this. I brought it in after awhile and was thrilled to know I wasn't going to be skunked this day. It was 17 to 18 inches. I'd take it.

Right around the bend I got into another. This one was bigger, about 18 inches plus. A fat hen too. She fought about the same way, still a little sleepy at first but soon got angry. Another boat floated by as Ryan netted it for me. The excitement shown in their eyes as we told them it was our second already. I was ecstatic. I was two fish up on my father-in-law! That's a first.
There was a nice stretch of about 100 yards right below where I caught the first two. This proved to be the perfect stretch. Not only did we have two doubles here but caught lots more the next day and the next while wading. I got into my third fish while Howard had his first on. . . . our first double. Howard's fish was a good one and mine was "too big for his britches." It was amazing too. He jumped about eight times before I got him in. A couple jumps nearly saw him in the boat. I never would have thought a trout could clear that much water and look so graceful doing it. It got 6 feet out of the water at times and soared perfectly while in air. Amazing!

As we neared the end of the run, Ryan would say" get you lines up and clean them off perfectly. I'll take us back up." He did this a half a dozen times here and added "Why leave fish to go find fish?" a great point I thought. We found a few more spots like Lusby along the way. I got one on the line that took me almost to the backing on my real. I got this one under control after about 10 minutes. I finally muscled him in after he bull dogged at the bottom for a while. This big boy was just under 20 inches. He had great color and a long crooked jaw too. He did happen to poop all over the boat while a held him up. It got all over Ryan's water jug too (as tough as he seemed to be, He wanted no more water out of that jug the rest of the day.) This guy could be my favorite fish of all time. A great specimen. Ryan even said that it was the type of fish that brought people to the North Platte. I'd take that one too!
I later caught another big male that had a broken jaw. Amazing it could still eat. It was a funny looking thing. I remember laughing hard during the picture. Howard caught a nice little brown. This was a big deal because they make up less than 3% of the population, a real trophy. He always manages to find brown trout.

We pulled into a nice picnic spot for a chicken salad wrap, chips, cashews, coke, and fruit. It was refreshing. After lunch I got into the back so Howard could man the front for a while. We caught a bunch more. Every once in a while Ryan would ask if the water seemed dirtier to me. It did actually. Before long, the water was mud and the fish weren't biting at all. By this time it was getting on to 5 and we had already been worn out with fish. I bet we caught 30 fish between us. Howard had a couple small ones but my smallest was no less than 17 inches, amazing! They took all three flies but seemed to key in on the red San Juans. Ryan gave Howard a handful of flies afterward for us to try the next day while wading. He gave us his card and invited us down to the river after dinner. His buddies were camping right below the dam. That's about all there was to do in this town, fish and drink afterward. It was a great float. We later found out that we had the most success out of all the guided floats that day. Not bad. I'd take that too.

Day 2, Preparing for the float

We had to be down at the Grey Reef Fly Shop at 7:30 that morning for our guided float. We had no problem getting there on time. It seemed to get light outside by 5 in the morning. We also learned that morning that our shared bathroom was in high demand by the guides. Anyway after some shredded wheat we made our way down to the shop. We met our guide as he was getting the boat ready. Ryan is his name and he looked the part, very grizzly. He told us that we didn't need our waders. We didn't know what to think here because we had ideas of pulling over at the good spots. He informed us that with the high water, wading would be tough and he would keep us in good spots with the boat. Howard wore his anyway but I left mine in the car because its neoprene and heavy and uncomfortable. He rigged us up at the boat with a 3x leader, with 3x tippet. He put on a red San Juan Worm, a red midge pattern, and a brown leach. Wyoming allows 3 flies. We were going to float from Lusby Landing to Sea crest. We piled into the Tundra and headed to Lusby. On the way I noticed two things. One, Tundras have huge cabs, and two, a pheasant. I have seen them in South Dakota before but that's all. It was neat. Anyway, it was a good start to an awesome day.