I've been fishing since as long as I can remember -- I would say I started when I was about five. I'm 31. So I've been angling for three decades. When I say that I've caught probably a thousand or two thousand Rainbow Trout, it's not an exaggeration. I keep yearly logs of what I caught, where and when it was caught, and how many were caught, and what size they were. I'm very particular about that.

I've been fishing Dog Lake for about 15 years, and what I pulled out today was, well, just extraordinary. But I must back up. I have been on the search for a Rainbow trout that I could call a "trophy" (at least to my standards). I've caught many 17-19 inch Rainbows weighting 1.5-2.25 pounds, but that was never big enough for bragging rights. Today was different.

The bite was super slow. At the top of White pass, it was in the mid eighties by the time I arrived around noon. It easily hit 100 in Yakima. It was a drastic temperature change! And, the fish were feeling the change too. The lake was packed when I arrived, and nobody seemed to be having any luck. I fished for about an hour before I finally had a bite. And when I did, I knew it was something special. I had to tighten my drag, and after battling the beast for a few minutes, I finally caught a glimpse and said "holy ^&&%^%."

I was on a steep bank, so trying to launch this brute up to the bank was not an option, especially, when it found itself hung up on a log in about a foot of water. I knew I had one shot to land it. I walked into the water and managed to get my hands on this Goliath and haul it in. 22 inches, 3.92 pounds. I was pretty damned happy. I caught a few other small ones. But like I said, it was hot and the bite was slow.

I'm rating this five because of this beast! Power eggs, plenty of leader and lots of weight to get out to the deeps.

Tight lines guys

Joe

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