6/20.... Mike and Neil learned a lot about fly fishing and drift fishing on their first ever drift trip. And while the day was not without a few 'technical difficulties' everyone landed a big one! We missed a few fish early on, we then hit a particularly hot stretch. Neil hooked up first and a large dark rainbow rocketed up and out right in front of us. Neil was holding him tight and as I was saying 'let go of the reel' the fish in strong current proved too much for the 3x leader and 'pop' it was over. It was about 30 seconds of excitement.....LOL. Luckily we hooked his twin brother next and with lessons learned Neil landed a large fat 4lb rainbow after a long fight. Note the girth on this fish....wow! It was 19" plus fish that probably weighed in at 4 lbs!
After watching his Dad play two fish in a row Mike felt it was his turn to join in the fun and he hooked up on the next pass. With the adventage of watching his Dad, Mike had better luck on his first fish. He too landed a nice fat 19" rainbow that looked like a big slab of football.....LOL. We followed the fish around as he did what he pleased for about 5 minutes until Mike guided him into the net.
Mike's next fish hit like a freigth train and went the other way fast and we followed it down but after a few minutes the big fish found its way into a big snag.......bummer! But we certainly had fun fighting that big bruiser.
We hooked, played, landed and lost other fish over the course of the day and although it was a warn day (99 dgrees) a great time was had by all and we spent the day sharing fishing and bowling stories. Mike's wife Melissa deserves a big assist and a BIGGER 'Thank You' for setting up the trip as a surprise for the two Dad's!