Here's the Story
Wednesday June 23, 2010.
I promised to tell you the story of the big trout from last week, but I'm gonna let Danny (the guy who took the picture) tell it.
What a night! My first time fishing the HEX this year and thanks to a trip to Chicago the weekend before I was a week late or the hatch was a week early. Had a great night planned with a group of friends to kick off the long weekend of fishing. Three boats carrying seven anglers hoping for a fun and productive night on the Manistee.
In my boat, Matt Torreano (my cousin and close friend) and his friend Kris Danielson whom I had never met. Matt tells me Kris is a lifetime angler. Born and raised in the UP (Marquette). He has been fly fishing for most of his life, learning the skills from his Dad while living in Marquette and collectively their knowledge of Michigan rivers was expansive. Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, bass, pike, he's fished 'em all. An angler with a wealth of knowledge is great but this was his first time chasing big browns at night during the HEX hatch. First time on the Manistee and in his young life the first time throwing a dry fly the size of a small bird blindly at sipping trout.
The story goes something like this.... I recommend someone go back up stream to that fishy bend and post up. Matt leaps from the boat and essentially runs to the spot like a trained dog. Kris hangs with me and we quietly observe what the river is giving us. A few hundred HEX spinners are in the air and starting to come down. Fish are starting to get excited. Kris calmly grabs his rod and heads up to see how Matt is doing. He arrives to see Matt frantically fishing two or three sippers. Prior to Kris arriving Matt had been fishing this trout but did not realize how large it was. He had decided to move down stream a bit to the lower end of the bend as there were a few other fish rising there. Kris immediately hears the fish Matt just left so he steps into the river and throws a cast over its head. I think it was on the third or fourth cast that he hooked it. Said it sounded like an otter when it took the fly. I don't know what an otter sounds like but I assume he does being from the UP and all. The fish shakes its head and heads down deep. Rod bent over he can hardly move the fish. Matt is now at his side as they try to figure out how they are going to land this beast. Suddenly Kris realizes he is snagged on a log. He can still feel the fish moving at the end of his line so Matt snaps into action. He wades out into the hole, follows the line down and proceeds to pull the log from the bottom of the river soaking himself and drowning his camera in the process. Line comes up slack but Kris gets the fish back tight and fights it out. They beach it and from down river I hear an obnoxious victory scream. Three minutes later Matt comes running and says "Get your camera, NOW!" The rest is history.
CONGRATULATIONS ROOKIE! Welcome to a lifetime of chasing trophy browns after dark. Welcome to the obsession and anxiety of never knowing if you are in the right place at the right time. Welcome to the world of HEX fishing and welcome to the best place in the world to land a trophy at night under a beautiful open star filled sky. This one . . . a healthy 27 honest inches.
I'm very happy that YOU caught this fish because your excitement and humility over it are impressive. He (the fish) still lives by the way. This fish is swimming as we speak thanks to Kris's unselfishness. There were people that thought he should have killed this fish. The thing probably eats fifteen inch trout for brunch. It was never discussed that night. We wanted to be sure to get good pictures but there was never even a thought of killing it. Too beautiful and too magical. This is why we buy the gear, why we drive the distance, why we leave our loved ones in the middle of the night and ultimately why we exist as anglers. Kris said "I could die right now and be satisfied". I know he did not really mean that in reference to his life ahead (He is in med school and tells me he has found an amazing women) but if he were only an angler, if that was all he lived for, he would be right. Way to go Kris! You will spend the rest of your life HEX fishing and may never catch a beauty like this again, although I suspect you might you LUCKY Mother F*^@er!
Dan
Cool fish. Anyway, the Hex activty has been strange. We'll get a great night and then an off night, etc . . . I'm thinking the bugs will likely show up through the end of the month in relitively unpredictable flights of varying degree. For example, a couple of days ago I fished the pond to a pretty sparse spinner flight. The next night the river was blanketed with bugs. Same thing has been happening on the Manistee. CCC had hatchers a few nights a go and then very little last night.
I think the real advice is that if you want to have a chance at a Hex fish this year, you'd better hit the road this soon. And remember, that big trout in the picture came to a sparse spinner fall of "a few hundred" bugs. You never know.
Also, don't wait around all day putting all your eggs in the Hex basket. Get out there and fish. Daytime fishing has been good. And fish the Iso's. Our guides Sam and Alex have found some pretty nice trout this past week fishing that fly. Lastly, buried in Danny's story is something that a bunch of us have experienced this year--sipping fish. I'm not always hearing the "bowling ball rise". Many of the fish we're catching sound like 12 inchers when they rise . . . they're not. So fish to everything that rises after dark.
Good Luck,
Andy
P.S. The South is getting to fishable levels.
