Wow, what a way to start the new year. My wife and I picked up a friend and his wife and headed to the local river for an afternoon of fly fishing. I have a new 10' 4wt Czech nymphing rod that I was just dying to try out. Everybody rigged up and we stepped down to the river. Air temp was about 55 with sunny skies. Water temp, a lot colder (I don't check the water temps). Anyways, I rigged up with a size 24 zebra midge and a size 16 gold beaded hare's ear nymph (we tie our own flies). My wife's set-up was about identical as these are our go-to rigs for winter fishing these large rainbows. Now, an average catch will be around 14" to 16". Some go smaller and some go up to 20" and even 22". But, imagine my surprise when I hook into this 24" torpedo on my second cast. My wife caught a glimpse of a large rainbow rolling and pointed at it and I told her I was already hooked up to it. I fought it hard and it fought valiantly with my wife standing at the ready with her net. I didn't realize my biddy was standing up on shore (he and his wife took a little longer getting set-up back at the van) video taping the battle on his I-phone (which he later posted to You-Tube). Once it hit the net, the barbless midge easily popped off its gums. We quickly taped it at 24" and took a couple of quick pics before releasing it back to fight another day. This ties the largest trout I ever caught on a fly rod from last Super Bowl Sunday and now it will be a small goal to try and best it throughout the year. Maybe on our Alaska trip in July???
