I met Matt and Nick Callero of the National Wildlife Federation up on the Mckenzie for some fishing after work. They got there first and had caught a good amount of fish between them. Fortunately for me they haven’t fished that area as much as I have and had left the holy water alone. I waded out to the sweet spot and hooked up with this decent native on a Stimulator:
The action was slow so I decided to rest the big native zone and return a little later. After catching only one planter Matt and I came back upstream and met up with Nick. I explained to them where the biggest fish in the area tend to lie and announced my intention to fish the hole again. ( I invited them out with me but they declined.)
The big trout tend to lie right in a relatively softer pocket between two heavy runs. They also hold on the inside edge of the outermost run and in another pocket inside the inside edge of the outermost chop a little further downstream.
Working in a three foot pocket (that itself is pretty rough) between two ripping currents makes a drag free drift very difficult but not impossible at least for a few feet at a time. After a few casts through the honey hole, my fly was sucked under but I saw a slab of a rainbow trout flash in the vicinity of my submerged #12 Parachute Adams and set the hook. Fish on! This native “Mckenzie Redside” rainbow trout put up great fight going airborne initially then settling into a brutish and chinook-like fight, staying low and trying to use the heavy current and his substantial girth to its best advantage. The fish made repeated runs and bent me to the cork–my forearm was even tiring. In the end, the fish was brought to hand and its beauty and power admired. It taped in at a solid 17″ plus and after a mandatory photo shoot was revived and swam away under his own power.
I fought the fish conservatively applying side pressure and generally only to one side. The hook was holding and I didn’t want to pull the other way only to have it come loose. Normally, I work a fish side to side to tire it but in this case I deviated from my normal procedure.
One tip: when fighting a nice fish people always tell you to keep you tip up. What you really need to do is keep the pressure on. A highly raised tip with pressure applied upward has the effect of pulling the fish toward the surface of the water and this will almost always make the fish jump. Jumping fish are often lost fish. Fight them on your terms if possible. I often position my rod so I can apply pressure from a point that is parallel with and a couple feet above the water level. This makes them feel more secure and jump less. Less jumps equal less lost fish. Now there is a time to keep our tip up such as when the fish is running through obstructions–that will minimize the potential for the fish to either wrap or rub your line on a boulder, log or bedrock. None of that is good.
Man, now I see why my grandpa would say there is no more beautiful fish than the McKenzie Redsides – great photos. Sounds like a great trip – I’ll bet that 18 incher put up one awesome fight! I’m going to have to make a trip over your way for those fish.
It was good–the water right there is really heavy so the battle slants toward the fish. It took lots of solid runs and had me bent to the cork. I kept the pressure to one side and low so it wouldn’t leap too much–good thing to, when the time came the hook came out ridicuously easy! They are beautiful fish!