This rainbow is by far my personal best on a fly rod (or any rod for that matter). I went out to a local river, solo, for a couple of hours before Super Bowl. Air temp was around 35 degrees, water about the same. I was nymphing with a size 16 hare's ear nymph on top and a size 24 tiger midge on the bottom, both are barbless. Both flies tied by me. I was nymphing for maybe 10 minutes when a very large 'bow rolled about 8' from me. It took about a second to realize I had it hooked. The fight wasn't a long one, but a tough one. I was fishing with a new St. Croix 9 ', 6wt that my wife built for me. I took a self portrait with a time on the camera, but because I posted the pic in our local fly club's forum, I had my wife photoshop the background and place me with a bunch of NFL tailgaters (who appear to be cheering me on). I also got a pic of the trout laying next to me net that is 25" long for perspective. I was fishing in a C&R stretch of water that provides some decent hook-ups of 16" - 18" 'bows, but I've never seen anything like this fellow.
