Tigers, Cutts, and my new personal record trout - Oh my!

I said in my last post that I was returning to the lake where I missed a trophy-sized tiger trout this weekend. Well, I kept good on that promise everyone! I decided to take my dad with me, and we got up before the sun (and the fish too, I might add) and made the 2 hour drive once again to the lake that's quickly become my new favorite fishing hole.

It was COLD - snow on the ground, cold. But, the pull of big fish was inescapable, as it usually is. I also was using a new fishing rod this week for the first time - a 6'6" Ugly Stik GX2 light action rod. I have to say, for a replacement for my old Ugly Stik SPL1170 medium action rod, this new GX2 was wonderful. I highly recommend it to anyone. Oh, and it's only $40, so that helps.

I walked around the lake to my favorite spot, a sharp drop off of about 20 feet, filled with weeds and such, and tied on a jig. Maybe five minutes into fishing, I pulled out this beauty!

19 inches, 2.5 pounds! For the first catch of the day, I was pretty happy. Little did I know that the fish in the picture above was going to be the smallest fish I'd catch all day long. Yes, that's right! But before we move on, take a look at the mandible on this tiger! 

I LOVE catching Tiger's with hooked jaws like that!

Anyways, I kept popping my jig through the weeds, but to no avail. So I decided to switch to my always trusty J-7 Rapala and see what would bite that. Maybe three or four casts into using that, this hog came to hand. 

22 inches long, and 3 pounds! It was a great fish, and a great fight! 

After that, my dad started finally having some luck - but not with Tiger's. He was fishing the same area as me, using the same lure (well, almost - he had a brown trout patterned Rapala while I was using a rainbow) and he kept pulling in some nice Colorado River Cutthroat. 

My dad was frustrated, though - I was pulling in 20 inch tiger trout while he was stuck with the 15-17 inch Cutts. So he asked me to "give his pole the magic tough." In other words, he wanted me to take one cast with his pole and hopefully give him some big-fish karma. 

Well, I didn't disappoint. 

I took the pole, threw the Rapala out, let it sink for a few seconds,  then began reeling it in. About 10 feet from shore, WHAM. A huge bite, the biggest of the day. The drag starts screaming, then the fish broke the surface. I got a glimpse of a yellow belly streaked with orange before the fish dived back under the water and continued fighting. 

I pulled the beast into shore, not knowing how big it was yet, and it came fully into view about 5 feet from the bank. I started hollering, and so did my dad. This was by far the biggest fish of the day. 

But he wasn't done! No, the big tiger gave one last bid for freedom, taking back off into deeper water, then jumping clean out of the lake about 10 feet offshore. After another 5 minutes, I finally wrestled it in and got it to hold still for a picture. 

This hog tipped the scales at 5 pounds, and 23 inches! It's my new personal record for trout in both weight and length. And it's by far one of the prettiest fish I've ever hooked in my life. 

Here's a few more pictures of it: 

The pattern on this Tiger was incredible - its brook trout parentage showed through strongly. I've never seen a Tiger with the blue brookie dots like this. It was incredible to see! I'm lucky to have caught such a beautiful fish. 

My dad finished up the day with another Cutt and Tiger. 

This Tiger was a classic example of how some of these mutants don't every grow right. But hey, it was 21 inches and 2 pounds, so it was still a good fight! 

All in all, it was one of the best fishing trips I've ever been on. 

Here's to happy fishing!