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BIG BULL TROUT February 7th, 2012

So I started fishing for bull trout 2 years ago with my buddy who has been fishing them for more than 20 years. He has taught me the techniques of trolling with herring and kokanee and applieing sents. I had never experienced a fish like the bull trout. My first one was amazing hard hit then a couple more. Joe said "just wait he will come back" then he did and wham it was amazing. He was only about 4 pounds and a little over 20 inches. Joe still makes fun of me for my excitement. We went a couple more times using the herring and kokanee and the fishing was here and there. Joe kept making promises of the big ones of 15 pounds but I was beginning to doubpt him. Even he mentioned that maybe things had started to be fished out and the 10 plus fish days were gone.

Then Joe heard from his brother about these new hand made lures out of canada and his brothers had pictures of a 10 plus pound bull trout to go along with it. So Joe ordered a couple and went with his family and these new lures were looking to be pretty promising. He took me out September of 2011 when the kokanee were getting ready to run and he caught a couple and I caught a couple. I was trying rappalas and kokanee, he was using lyman's. He seemed to be having consistant action but I don't remember a ton of fish. I was getting pretty disheartened. Then as the evening started to come to an end Joe seemed to keep getting action with the lyman lures where everyone else on the river was calling it a day. We kept trolling around and Joe was getting the fish. I caught a couple but just wasn't keeping up with Joe and the Lyman Lure. It was so bad that I was losing confidance in fishing. Maybe I had a curse? Or Joe "who is an amazing fisherman" just had that touch and every fisher wishes for. I think he ended up with 5 that day and I had 2.

 

So I ordered in some lures from Lyman cause I was going to make a last ditched run at these bull trout and seeing the action Joe was getting it was my last hope.

 

It was the October 29th 2011 and the reservoir was closing for the season in two days. Joe called me at work and said I should skip out and go fishing with him. I hmmmed and haa-ed about it but eventually sucummed to the fact that I had caught the fish fever. I called in sick and Joe and I hit the reservoir. It started out a little slow for me but Joe put on his faithful Lyman Lure #123 with the black scales on the back and within 10 minutes of being in the water had a decent 22 inch 5 pound bull trout on. He started calling the lure "The Bull Slayer". We had the reservoir to ourselves and Joe kept on getting fish. I had on several Lyman's and caught here and there and it was way more than what I had experienced with anything else. We were catching a fish an hour. Most were 22-24 inches averaging 7 pounds. Joe kept up with the stories of the big ones and our hope was building. The action on the Lyman's was consistant. But that #123 was catching 3-1 fish compared to anything else I was throwing. By noon Joe had caught 6 and I had 2 all on Lyman Lures. Then it happened Joe twitched at a hit at a random time where no fish were to be seen on the finder. He fought it and was laughing saying "Ohh this is a good one." It seemed like forever but when he finally came up he was beautiful. #123 Lyman Lure had brought us a 15 pound 28 inch bull trout. There was laughing and high fives galore. AMAZING!!

 

After that point Joe was feeling bad for me so he said "Since it is your birthday in a couple days, Matt, you can use the Lyman #123. I want to test out some of my other Lyman Lures I have." I had to swallow my pride a bit but the urge to catch fish overwhelmed me and I graciously accepted. The rest of the day was a memory of a lifetime. Me howned in on where these most wonderful bull trout were holding up and the Lyman Lures didn't let us down. The catching increased to 2-3 fish an hour and they were all 24 inches plus and weighing 6 plus pounds a peice. It was wonderful. Then I got a hit that I had never experienced before, I started to whoop, holler and yelling "Joe, Joe Joe" as my line just kept running out. He started coaching me. My head was spinning and I started to prey in my head. It was the greatest rush I have ever had. I fought the fatty for a life time and Joe brought it in with the net. He smiled say "That is a nice one." I was giggling like a little school boy and shaking all over. In the end this bull was 12 pounds and 26 inches long.

 

We later saw a couple other boats come and go with little to no success. They were using down riggers and baits. After visiting a bit Joe and I smiled to eachother as we found out that we were having all the luck. We even trolled right behind them and caught while they missed. In the end the fishing got so silly that when I got a hit Joe would roll his eyes with a grin and tell me to fight it in while he keeps trolling. "You fight that one in, I am gonna keep fishing" he would say. 

 

By the end of the day we counted 25 landed and there was rarely a missed fish, All on Lyman Lures. We only lost them cause Joe wouldn't stop the boat when the fish was on, which led to several Long Distance Releases. Ha Ha. It was a beautiful six hour day.

 

Thank You LYMAN. Now we have been fishing several times since and all we use is Lyman Lures and we out fish every fisher we talk to. And there is no telling when they will hit. Joe gave up on watching for the fish on the finder we get hits when there is nothing there and when there are fish there. It is great.

 

Just can't wait to try them out on the river this summer.

 

P.S. There number of doubles is at 4 now since we both are using the lyman's.

Matthew Jones