Big Browns....Help!!!

[Sheriff Joe]

Sorry, had to put this one up for old times' sake....




Still the best fish story of my life, and it's got me thinking. As for productive additions to this conversation, all I can add is not to be drunk and next loud-ass Ray when you're trying to mouse up a big brown at night...

[rayfound]

As for productive additions to this conversation, all I can add is not to be drunk and next loud-ass Ray when you're trying to mouse up a big brown at night...

Yeah yeah yeah... we weren't exactly "focused" on the task at hand...

But seriously, I love the size of fins on Samson... his tail's the size of a palm frond.

[Sasha]

So who is going to tie a 12" Rainbow trout pattern and go fish for him

[darrin terry]

Joe, that just never gets old.

[Benny]

That's a cool photo Joe, makes me want to use the big streamer patterns even more so. The trout in it's mouth looks terrified...might even say it looks as if it's yelling for help

[coreyk]

Super cool photo Joe .. There has to be a story behind it... ? How you get the pic?

[darrin terry]

Very cool story. Joe, why not transplant the report?

[Benny]

After all of this great advise. I am definitely going to fish the streamers more often. I tend to get tunnel vision and fish nymphs 98% of the time. The nymph style seems to put me on plenty of fish but really no monsters as of yet. Thinking back to all my big fish they have come on a streamer. I really do think what it's going to boil down to when fishing streamers instead of nymphs is going to be quality vs quantity

I have a 9' TFO 6wt matched with a Battenkill spooled up with type 4 full sinking line I use when float tubing the lakes. This set up should work perfect for some of the bigger streamers for the big browns I want to target.

As far as the tippet size, would it be best to just stick with 0x-2x for the most part when casting big streamers?

Thanks again guys

[Bernard]

Hey Bernard, did you and Mikey end up doing that trip you talked to me about? I'd love to know how that went if you did... David and I were bummed we couldn't go but had to get his boat in the water and get some more filming done for our video we are working on.

Mikey backed out last minute but I did go and it rocked. No browns and even some runoff and snowmelt due to the warm spell. Lots of stellar bows with my best on a dry LOL !!! Anyway - We have something else planned in a few weeks.

Now regarding them thar gauges ..

Great post! Some good tactics to think about that will help me to up my game. Man .. Now I'm really itching to get out and throw some streamers! That 27" brown is beautiful fish!
So, when watching flows what exactly are you looking for as an indicator that it would be a good time to go after a trophy brown?

I thought about this and there are a few things to consider. One of the key ones is that the gauge readings don't mean much unless one knows the water. For example: If River X is at 58 cfs, then the shallow bar and side channel are submerged. Fish like that spot and will move in but as it gets lower than 40 cfs and warms they will leave or get trapped and die. Stuff like that. Another factor I watch that is associated with flows is when they are associated with snowmelt. For example, after stream x drops to xxx cfs, then I know that snowmelt is just days from over and fish may have moved in from down river or the nearby lake; this could be a trigger for good bites or ease of access. Access is key. Say the hog holes are through a narrow gorge which you can't swim with a 500hp Evinrude tied to your rear; then watch the gauges for a drop LOL! For rainbows there are streams where excess flows will make migrating difficult whereas a certain level is optimal for them to navigate small falls etc. This, of course, works the other way too. Throwing into a torrent below a series of falls or plunges might result in stacked fish. I digress though 'cause browns have the added headache of being fall spawners and can't always migrate. In this case, I look for spikes such as random storms etc. 'cause I believe that this can inspire the fish to make effort to move despite limitations.

Yours truly,
Obsessed

* Love the Samson story - Always fun to revisit *

[coreyk]

I read this in the Drake a couple of issues ago and found it re-printed online ..

http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/flytalk ... on-to.html

[stanbery]

I read this in the Drake a couple of issues ago and found it re-printed online ..

http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/flytalk ... on-to.html

That is so me!! Nothing like a big streamer for the big guys.

Want to see some big browns
http://norcalangler.net/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=18&sid=57d90694bc1ec86c582a6ed3ad47fc35
Jon

[Benny]

Yeah those browns get real big in the lakes up there.

[Sheriff Joe]

"His box of flies looks like a truck hit the Muppet band."

[Chris Kuhn]

[norcoastguy]

Hey Sasha, aren't you gonna tell any Big Brown stories?
Bill