The One That Got Away

At first I thought I had hooked bottom.  There was no way a brown could pull this hard!  But through the haze of adrenalin I felt headshakes, big headshakes and my brain told my fumbling hands to reel!  I have been fishing all of my life and have landed huge marlin, shark, giant tuna, sturgeon and all manner of big fish.  But nothing could have prepared me for the strength of this monster brown.

We were fishing renowned Wickiup Reservoir in Oregon.  Wickiup has a naturally reproducing population of browns that are supplemented by fingerling planted fish and there are always giants lurking in that lake.  Many of the fish head up the various arms in the fall looking for cold water and staging for their annual spawning migration.  Kokanee also ball up in these lake arms and if all of the conditions come together then the perfect storm for big trout is created.  Browns have been known to fatten up before the spawn in a final binge feed in preparation for spawning and the winter months.  This is what was happening this fall day 8 years ago.

We had already put a bunch of nice fish in the boat.  During this time of year most of the fish you will catch up in the arms are quality spawn-sized browns in the 4-8 pound category.  Of course we were looking for something even bigger.  I was fishing with Rick Arnold who had put a 19 pounder in the boat years earlier in the same area we were fishing.  I can’t say that wasn’t on my mind as we worked the lake arm channels that fateful day.

The monster continued to pull drag, it never stopped.  Finally, after he took out several hundred feet in one continuous run, punctuated only by headshakes he stopped and dogged down deep.  By this time I was shaking bad as the reality of things had settled in.  This fish had to be over 15 pounds… maybe 20!  I put some pressure on him and that triggered another set of massive headshakes.

I had replaced my stock hooks with some of the strongest on the market… Owner 2x ST-41s.  They had never failed me before and I had tested them under extreme duress in the past with no issues.  Today was to be a different story.  With one final massive headshake I felt the lure come loose from his mouth (in my mind he will always be a massive hookjawed buck) and instinctively reeled furiously just in case he had charged the boat.  But I knew he was gone and that was quickly confirmed as I finished reeling up all of the slack and watched my lure float slowly to the surface.

I looked in disbelief at my lure.  The back treble had one tine that was severely opened up.  The fish had actually bent the tine!  I later tried to open up a prong on the 2x Owners with a pair of needlenose and couldn’t believe how much pressure I had to put to make it bend.  I have never had another trout do this to an ST-41.

I have landed and lost many big trout.  I had a state record tiger trout come up on my lure 3 years ago that was massive.  I watched in horror as a buddy knocked my biggest brown ever off at the net some years back.  I have had multiple monsters pull heavy drag only to come off later in the fight.  But this particular fish was special due to the viscous nature of the strike and the amazing initial run.  I will forever wonder just how big he was.  I am sure you all have “the one that got away” stories and hope to hear yours sometime.  In the mean time let’s keep fishing and giving ourselves the shot at these monster trout, even if we end up losing them… we are creating memories for the ages!

Mark Knoch