Persistence Fish
There are many keys to unlocking the trophy trout puzzle. One of the most important is persistence. What feeds persistence is confidence. What builds confidence is either hooking/catching a big one yourself or knowing of a big one that was hooked/caught by someone else. I call this “trout wisdom”. It is amazing how one small factor can mean the difference between a great day and a tough day. Once you have a “confidence pattern” then you can return to that location in the future and use that strategy to hopefully repeat your last performance. If you have the persistence to stick it out, even when you haven’t had a grab in a couple of days, you may be rewarded with a giant.
I remember one fish in particular that really took some persistence to get to the net. Crane Prairie reservoir in Oregon is one of the best trophy rainbow trout fisheries on the west coast. It is a very shallow, eutrophic lake that grows big rainbows very quickly. Growth rates in this lake are borderline ridiculous. The fish feed on a smorgasbord of bugs and stickleback minnows. But, they are no push overs. They take some time to dial in and you have to work at them to get the big ones.
I went through a fly fishing only “phase” from around 1994 – 2001, refusing to pick up any spinning gear, even if the fishing warranted it. I was stubborn, even going so far as to chase lingcod with a big fly that I tied up one night called the “Big Fugly”. Typically lingcod are not a fly rod fish but I was determined to make it happen. I actually managed several lingcod on the fly during those night fishing binges,hiking out with my girlfriend at the time on some dark, Oregon jetties. I remember one particular fish that was over 30 inches and tore me up. I could hardly tell which way he was running in the dark and when I finally brought him to the gaff I was elated. But enough about lingcod!
My buddy Derek and I had created a fly called the “hale bopp leech”. It was basically a modified seal bugger… but I swear it out fishes any other leech-style fly and still slays them to this day. We created the fly at Davis Lake in Oregon during the hay day of that once heralded trophy trout lake. We tied that fly sitting at the Davis Lake campground one night by lantern light as the hale bopp comet shone overhead, thus the name. The next day I netted a 34” rainbow that my buddy landed on that fly and a legend was born.
Anyhow, flash forward a couple of years and I have my sights set on a trophy rainbow from Crane Prairie. I had done my research and knew that these fish loved dragonfly larvae. I had come up with an epoxy backed dragonfly larvae that I thought would destroy fish. Unfortunately that isn’t how it turned out. I spent many days on that lake, suffering in the spring cold and the autumn heat before I got my fish.
Don’t get me wrong, I landed a lot of nice fish… but I wanted a pig. One hot autumn day, with the temps in the 90s it happened. I literally had around 7 solid hours, in my float tube, without a bump. This is where the persistence comes into my story. I was so tempted to wind it up and head home but made that mental decision to stick it out. I hadn’t put on enough suntan lotion that AM and I was starting to fry. My brain wasn’t working right… something that happens after many fishless hours in the heat, without enough food or water.
But, I had put on the trusty hale bopp leech and I knew that big fish would eat this fly from my past experiences at other lakes. This confidence helped me stick it out until that fish sucked my offering in. It wasn’t a violent grab, more of a “pick”, almost like I had hung up on some grass. But, I knew that where I was fishing was void of grass and immediately set the hook. The fish gave several violent head shakes which immediately put my heart in my throat. Then, it shot straight up in the shallow water and jumped literally 5 feet in the air, right in front of me. I froze. It looked huge and splashed back in the water with a ridiculous sound, reminding me of a beaver warning, (those of you that have heard this know what I mean). The fish ran, my reel singing that beautiful song that we all live for. It charged me, headed for some timber and basically did all it could to shake the hook.
Somehow I managed to get the fish to net and there it sat before me. Typically the rainbows in Crane are not necessarily the most beautiful of fish… but this one was the exception to the rule. It had a magnificent red stripe down the side and was thick all the way through the tail. I marveled as I revived the fish and smiled as it swam off with strength. I had stuck it out, when most anglers would have wrapped it up and was rewarded for my persistence with a beautiful fish.
So, the next time you are after the big one and you are thinking of heading home a little early, remember this story and stick it out a little longer. Put on a fly or lure that gives you confidence and keep pounding it. Who knows what may be lurking!
Mark Knoch
