Doing my part

I managed to net this super nice rainbow tonight. This was definitely the nicest fish of the evening. Note the trippy forceps laying on shore.

This was actually the last of 3 Northern's I scooped up tonight. These things are taking over. The first one I caught didn't even have enough meat on his bones for a Ritz cracker and much to the dismay of the Department of Wildlife....I let him go b/c killing anything is SOOOOO hard for me. I did not get a pic of the second one but he was bigger but still not worth the effort of carving up. Then this guy was fooled by my flawless presentation and I said to myself, "Self...there's too many damn Pike in this water and if they get big enough they will eat the beloved trout". So....I cut this guy's head clean off with the precision of a damn butcher.......while closing my eyes and yelling loud enough to get the attention of some other dudes that were pretty far away. When I realized they were looking at me I tried to redeem myself by asking if they wanted some. They shook their heads no and they were NOT doing so in dismay. I realize that there is a spinning rod in this picture and.........it is mine. I brought it along on this trip and was glad I did when I got to the water because the wind was silly.

This is the first little Pike I caught. He was ballsy as evidenced by the spoon to head size ratio.

Out here we sometimes like to try to score a trifecta when we head to the water. The Pike and this fish DO NOT constitute any part of that. Normally it's the Brown, Rainbow and then the Cutt. Tonight I shoehorned in a Sucker. I think.....no.......I know.......that I catch more of these little bastards than anyone else. Too bad they're such a trash fish. I did actually let this one go. In this water....the Pike is far more troublesome.

Watching the sun dip down below the Divide NEVER gets old. I will miss it dearly. What a great night. Wish I could have shared it with someone. I've been solo all weekend because my normal companion is kickin' it on the Jersey Shore right now. I don't think he's even doing the Striper thing. I wonder if he's doing the stripper thing though.