Not yet

I've held a lot of trout that a lot of guys would love to have held but I want a trophy trout. Fall is when it can happen and I increase my chances every trip I make. I went up again tonight. I made my first cast at 7 when the sun was dipping down on the Divide. Tonight I fished the Dream Stream and was all alone but decided to head downstream from the spillway. Right away I was getting into Rainbows but they were small. Eventually, the weeds were making casting difficult and I really wanted to fish upstream so I started walking.

This is looking downstream towards 11 Mile Reservoir. The rains came shortly after this photo.

This was much further upstream. The crawdads in this stretch of the Platte are huge. The trophy trout come out at night for these and tonight I was throwing big meat. The streamer I used tonight imitates a shit ton of things like crawdads, baitfish, and even leeches. It's ugly.

I wanted to fish a particular hole. I made it there but it's not an easy cast and it's the drift is even worse. I analyzed things for a few minutes and then had at it. I actually only made about a 12 foot cast (quartered downstream) right in front of a big ass boulder and then let it swing my way and down when something hit it. It wasn't huge (maybe 16 if I stretched it) but fun. I released the Bow and made the same cast. More of a dead drift. Hit. I missed it the first time. I'd strip in 2 inches and then let it back down 2 and repeat. It hit again on the second strip and I buried the hook. Right away I knew it was a bigger fish but still not the one I was out at 10 at night looking for. When I reached down to scoop her up she took a run and I felt the hook go in deep. I let her go and sat back and looked at my finger. I knew it was a problem. I brought her back in again and grabbed her and saw my streamer and another fly in her mouth. I unhooked mine and grabbed my forceps to get the other fly. It looked like someone had hooked her with a Caddis and had a Trico dropper on there too and that's what got me. Once i had all the hooks out of her she took a bit of time to revive but came out in the end.

I fished that hole for another hour or so but got nothing else. I went upstream a bit further but I kept getting the line caught on the buried hook while casting and decided to hike out and figure out what I was going to do. I've had several hooks in me before and sometimes I can get them out on my own. I got home and called a friend because I didn't know if I could do it on my own. I drank 2 beers and then cut off all the material to get down to bare hook and then cut the eye off. Then I grabbed the clamps and went to pop it through the skin and the hook just bent. It was really buried. My buddy suggested we go to the ER.Eventually I gave in and we went.

All is good now although I thought the nurse was kinda sassy and ungentle with the Tetanus shot which I thought was total overkill. Super bummed things had to end that way tonight as I had a good vibe going. Oh well. Pinch your barbs down...fuckers!