CHECK OUT REDD'S FLIES: https://reddsflies.com Use Code "HFA" for 20% off fly assortment boxes!
Lake trout can live over 60 years and grow in excess of 70 pounds, making them the longest living and largest char in the world. And in the last video you watched Andrew catch his first ever lake trout, which was a truly special and rare fish. But After 2 days of fishing and only one lake trout to show for it, our confidence wasn’t high. In fact this video starts off where the last one ended, fly fishing for lake run brown trout. But the ending to day 3 is one we’ll never forget. Welcome back to another video.
I always love running into people who watch the videos out on the water. You all are the best. After that nice fellow left Andrew decided to head up to the dam to give it a shot while I stayed where I was and tried an egg fly rather than a streamer.
Meanwhile Andrew was up at the dam throwing around a stream and slowly bouncing it around.
After a while I decided to move up to the dam with Andrew because I felt like the odds of a bigger fish were higher up there. But to be honest that didn’t pan out to well. So we finally decided to just move on, which of course is when it finally happened.
After catching that solid lake run brown trout, which we measured at 25 inches, we decided to leave continue with our original plan and leave. That was mostly because although the browns were cool that wasn’t why we had traveled to New York. We traveled there to catch the lake trout, and I knew I couldn’t catch one if I wasn’t fishing for them. So before long we were hiking back down to the river looking for the largest char in the world.
Listen, I know that’s part of fishing. But it doesn’t make it suck any less. Especially after 2 full days of fishing without getting an opportunity, only for you to get the opportunity and let it slip. I don’t care who you are that stings. But the good news was that we pretty quickly got a bite, which meant the fish were there and apparently willing to eat. Having said that given our track record I wasn’t too optimistic… until I saw Andrew with his rod doubled over.
And just like that I had my first lake trout, which measured in at 30 inches on the dot. Not only that but Andrew had caught a much larger 34 inch laker that we were still in awe of. I know they get larger but for two guys who have never fished for lake trout those fish were huge, in fact they were the biggest trout we had ever seen. But it didn’t stop there…
After that fish we pretty much thought it was over. We were about to leave when I suggested we try one other spot just to scout it out for the following days of fishing. Andrew wasn’t thrilled with it because it was cold and there was a big snow storm blowing in, but he relented after I argued we didn’t come to New York to sit on the couch. And honestly I think he’d say it was the single best decision we made the entire trip because this next fish is just insane.
As if we thought his first laker wasn’t big enough, that fish was almost too large for Andrew to handle. Literally. And believe it or not I also got one last shot at a big lake trout… But I failed. Actually I’m still not sure if I take full resposibility for that loss. I have no idea why that lake trout shot up to the surface like that, literally every other fish dogged us and kept us stuck to the bottom. But that fish took off like a rocket, and it wasn’t small either. Having said that we couldn’t complain. From a 25 inch brown trout earlier that morning, to catching 3 lake trout that were 30 inches or larger, that might have been our best day of trout fishing ever. But don’t worry, there are still 2 days left in this adventure, and I wasn’t done yet… I’ll catch you on part 3 of this New York series.
