Are your eyes bigger than your fish?

[Caddis]

ORIGINAL MESSAGE POSTED AROUND 6.23.2002
UPDATED 7.16.2002

Well now... Recently I ranted and raved about how big some of the 17" fish we catch are and how they are really only 12" fish and that fish turns into a 17" fish in our minds!

How is this possible? Well, I think that with all the excitement a good 12" trout with a nice girth can draw if it's in good shape can lead to you actually thinking your fish was an 18"er. We don't want to believe that a 12" fish like the one in this photo
was actually only 12". When I hooked into this trout, my 5wt T&T rod bent over and took about 60ft of my line out. Wow, this is exciting. This must be an 18" fish. You finally reel it in, hold it steady while taking the fly out and think to yourself, "Definetly an 18"er!" If you're like me, you try to take a quick snap shot of it too! This is how I humble myself once I return home. I look and say, Hmph.... That wasn't an 18"er after all, now was it?

It's a fisherman's tail, just like the one that got away. I find myself coming home and calling my father up and telling him about the 16"ers I'm always catching on the Beaverkill. "Hey dad, every fish I caught was 16+" And he returns with something like, "Like the one I caught

up on the West Branch last year?" (When you're through reading this, please vote on the poll (ON TOP OF THIS MESSAGE) to let everyone know how big that fish is. I'll mix up the figures a little bit).

I ran into this guy at the KLG not too long ago and he was telling me he catch's 30 - 60 fish in one outting at times. Then even told me of the 22" - 24" trout he catches in the Gorge on a consistent basis and even told me of a 30" trout caught in the gorge! Well, I'm not one to argue with a guy telling a fish story, but have you caughten a 22" trout in the Gorge? Have you caughten an 18" fish in the Gorge? An 18" - 20" fish is pretty damned big. Here's an example of a nice 22" Brown: . (That actually measured 21 3/4 (Caught on the South Branch (Superimposed with the Mainstem in the Background)), either way......... I don't think you caught a fish like that in the KLG; at least not recently. I know the South branch has an occasional lunker, and I've seen some old photo's of fish even bigger than that caught from the South Branch, but you're not catching these on a consistent basis.

How big do you think this fish is? I'd have to say he's about 13". When I caught him, he was certainly not a 13 inch fish, he was more like an 18". For a place like the KLG, that fish is quite the catch as there are far and few of these around. If you're catching fish like this at the Gorge on a consistent basis, I would love to know what you're using. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are plenty of fish in the Gorge that are just like this and even bigger. I've caught a Rainbow that was about 2" larger than this brown trout. I caught the bow standing in the same exact spot about a month later!

Anyway fella's, go out and purchase yourself a water resistant throw away camera. I'd love to see what some of your 18"ers look like! In the mean time, let me know what you think about my fathers West Branch trout. Vote in this poll (Scroll to the top of the page).

This message is not meant to hurt or attack anyone's feelings. Fishing is supposed to be a relaxing sporting event. If you are a story teller, than keep'em coming! Please return to planet earth at some point though!

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY!