Main Stem Raritan Trout

[AVA67]

I have been having a very nice late spring chasing trout and smallmouth on the Raritan when the flow hasn't been crazy. The last few trips have yielded anywhere from a few to a dozen feisty rainbows up 18" plus the occasional dink smally.

This past Sunday I headed out for about an hour with my 14-month-old daughter Penny in a chest pack. This is something I did quite a bit with my son but haven't had as much opportunity to do with my daughter. Unfortunately, most of the spots that have been producing fish for me I just cannot scramble down the bank with a toddler strapped to my chest. After a longer than planned hike to find a safe access and wade-able situation I finally found a place that worked. It didn't take long the land my first stocky rainbow and it was nice to get a fish with Penny. After a few more minutes and another average rainbow I waded down a few more yards to fish out the bottom of the run. The first cast I made got absolutely slammed and I immediately knew I had something decent. I quickly saw the tail come up and knew it was no rainbow.

The fish just bull dogged with a series of short runs and a few big head shakes but thankfully stayed down and didn't jump or go crazy. Eventually the fish started to tire and i was able to slowly work the fish and myself over to the bank. As I worked to the bank, I took a quick video of the fish as I knew with Penny on my chest, I probably wouldn't be able to get a good picture of the fish once landed. I also don't bring a net most of the time I am wet wading so I knew landing the fish would be challenging. I managed to bring the fish to the bank quickly pop the lead treble out the fish’s mouth. I keep a small flexible measuring tape in my pocket and with the brown in the water I taped it out to somewhere right around 22” I didn't want the take the fish out of the water any longer then I had too.

After a few seconds of reviving in the shallows the fish took right off and shot back out into the current. After that I just packed up and headed home with Penny for lunch. There was no way the trip was going to get any better.

I am guessing it was a club fish that traveled way down during one of the recent rains, but I really don't know. All the fins looked perfect except for one (I think the right) pectoral that looked really ragged either from being grabbed by something or a botched snip job.

The photos below are pulled from the 14 second video I shot as I worked the fish to the bank.