Fishin' In The Hatchery...

Close Army friend and I got a chance to fish the trout pond of the Great Uncle of his wife in UT. Out of politeness and thankfulness for his hospitality I won't disclose the exact location but it was near Ogden.

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This one was 8lbs

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This one was 12lbs

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My friend's wife's Brother's kid with a big hook-jaw'd thing he caught on a 4ft spinning outfit that I helped him attach a hares ear to. This was his second trout ever.


It wasn't so much the challenge of stalking and catching a fish in the wild, as it was seeing if my gear could actually withstand hauling in a trout the size of a pick-up truck. What I learned was that the Rainshadow Forecast 7wt blank that I made the rod on can withstand pretty big fish even if they straightened out the tip top guide. My off the shelf Okuma 7-8wt reel needed only one click on the drag, and you can actually pull in big things on a size 14 hares ear with 8lb tippet until the hook straightens out.
Caught a few tiger trout too-they put up a heck of a fight. Didn't get any pictures with them though.
Before we left I gave my buddy's wife's Uncle the leather fly wallet I made and put a few cool Spey's in it. He really appreciated it.
This was probably a once in a lifetime thing and it was really awesome!

That's pretty awesome and nice he let you fish there. Nice fish. It must have been nice to catch something that large. Hares Ear are one of my favorite flies but my go to for just about everything is the Elk Hair Caddis

That's cool. I have a friend who is a fish biologist and lives on site at a hatchery. We sometimes fish the settling ponds behind the hatchery. Have caught some monsters there too. Thanks for sharing. Jim