Tim and I made it out last Friday morning for a quick early morning top-water fishing session. We were happy to see the wind had finally quit blowing, although a little breeze would have helped with the gnats that were as thick as I have ever seen. We picked a bank we’ve enjoyed some success on and at 6:05am we lowered the trolling motor into the water and began our fun. The first strike came from a small bluefish and the second strike was one of those strikes that will be etched in our memories forever. Tim had just made his cast along the grass and began his retrieve when there was a vicious strike and splash. The line began to peel off of his reel and each time he got a little back he lost a little more. We both knew he had hooked a redfish lying up against the grass. When the fish came to the boat, I had to do a double take. When I told him he had a trout he just laughed and said, “Yeah right”. His eyes opened wide when I reached down with the net and brought a big ole trout into the boat. We took a measurement and she was 23” long and really fat, Tim’s largest trout to date and the largest we’ve caught on top-water. Looking at the stomach you could tell she was full of roe, so we placed her back in the water and sent her on her way.
Many years ago, we as many of you, would have kept this big female, taken pictures, showed our friends, filleted it up and fried it for dinner. With time and education we now realize that these larger fish are prize breeders. There are many schools of thought that believe that genetics are very important in having larger fish for future generations. This particular fish obviously was strong and survived a tough life with many obstacles to reaching this age and size. Many studies show that these genes will be passed along to her offspring and help them to survive and create more trophy fish. Doing our part to help carry along these genes was much more important than a couple of filets or bragging rights.
Spring time is a great time to catch big trout. They are coming out