What can I say? This trip was one for the books. We had a pretty awesome trip to East Lake that coincided with the other TTH members. It started mid-day on Friday July 24th as Joe Moritz and I arrived at about the same time. We had previously arranged to fish together while he was camping for the weekend. Joe landed the first fish shortly after we got started. It was a scrappy 16 incher with a fat belly. It didn't take long after Joe landed his and my rod bounced a few times, I set the hook and it immediately started peeling line. After a short back-and-forth battle, Joe skillfully netted the gorgeous hookjaw. It was a 26" 7 1/2 lb'er and arguably the most colorful Brown I’ve ever landed. Not a bad start for less than an hour of fishing.

The next day Joe also landed a nice 5 lb'er but was being modest so we don't have any pics of that one. Early Saturday morning Joe hooked into a good fish. It also started peeling some line so I cleared the gear while he attended to the stubborn Brown. He methodically worked the fish nearer to the boat but it stayed deep so we couldn’t get a good look at it. The line counter on the reel read less than 20 feet so I had the net at the ready and the fish was right below us. I saw a brief flash of color and then it turned broadside and we finally could see it. Unfortunately, just as we were about to net it, the lure let go and the fish was free. Without embellishing toooo much ;-) we estimated the fish to be 26"-27" and 6-8 lbs. I was really bummed, but Joe took it in stride. I don’t like losing quality fish, but I managed to get over it.

My son Tyler's best fish was a 3 1/2 lb'er, but he and his friend Zach bested me by far in fish landed.

Tuesday night was a very slow evening. We had only 2 fish in about 2 hrs and were just about to reel up for the night when the line started zipping off of my reel. I hit him hard and he continued to peel more line off the reel. Tyler and Zach cleared everything like a couple of seasoned vets so I could concentrate on the fish. I worked him slowly, letting him have his way when he wanted until I finally wore him down. Tyler did a great job with the net and we landed a very fat 25 1/2" 7 lb'er.

And last but certainly not least, I was able to take my brother out on Sunday evening for a short trip. He has 4 young children so it is very hard for him to break away for any length of time. We didn't get started until 7 pm and then we had a downrigger snafu that took about 15 minutes to fix. We finally got moving and about 15 minutes into our run my rod starts bouncing. I grabbed it and set the hook and the fish immediately started peeling a lot of line. I handed my brother the rod and said "this is going to be a good one" I was clearing the rest of the gear as the fish continued to take more line. It started as a 225’ setback and we didn’t turn him around until he was past 300’. I was keeping the boat aligned so the fish couldn't pull any surprises on us while my brother, continued to worked the fish in, still letting it have its way when it wanted. It probably lasted about 10 minutes and it stayed deep the entire time so we really had no idea how big it was. I told him "this one will be measured in lbs, not inches" Once the fish was close, I kept the net in the water so he could just slide it in. We finally got a good look at it when it was down about 4 feet. Both of us just gasped when we saw it, we knew it was huge. He carefully guided the big hookjaws head into the net and he was finally ours. We were just in awe of how big and beautiful it was. After a cpuple of high-fives, we filled my cooler/livewell and headed in. Once we got to the dock we were able to measure, weigh and take some pictures. It turned out to be 29 1/2 inches long, and an even 10 lbs and the largest Brown Trout to ever be landed in my boat. It was kind of the ultimate irony. My brother doesn't have the opportunity to spend the time I do fishing in this manner so the first fish was handed off to him and I'm certain he would have done the same for me. I asked him if he wanted to keep it for a mount and he said "no, it’s your fish." I told him he landed so it was his. Ultimately we agreed that it was OUR fish since we both had a hand in it and we happily agreed to release it.

All said and done we caught 30 - 35 browns with 4 over 5 lbs and just missing a 5th. We also had 2 at 4 and 4 1/2 lbs respectively, both of those were caught by Joe. Since Joe and I were camping with our families, our time on the water was somewhat limited. I/we fished 4 days from Legal light until 9 a.m. and we only fished 3 evenings from 7pm – 9pm for a total of 24 hrs of fishing time. We were extremely fortunate to have accomplished what we did in the somewhat shortened time on the water, but we were also able to spend quality time with our families as well.

All in all, a great weekend of camping and fishing with friends and family.