More Pigs in Mud

In the last week, clients have caught a couple of the bigger browns I've seen in a while. I know we all talk about the two-footers and you'd think some people get them on a daily basis but the reality is, they are rare. Really rare. This one caught by Pat Rose came up just shy of the 24" mark but such a gorgeous fish--if you like a little meat on the bone. She was beefy and looking on the cooler at what she coughed up while in the net, you get an idea of why. Worms. LOTS of worms. 

Some people think the high water makes trout put on muscle to have to fight the current and that's why they get healthier and fatter. I tend to believe it's because of all the protein getting washed into the river. We've caught a lot of browns in the last week with distended abdomens, which is really common during these conditions. They sit right along the banks and off the washed out ends of islands and gorge themselves on worms. What you see on the cooler is about half of what came out of this brown. Pigs in mud. 

Keep 'em where they live...

P.S. For the ass-of-nine guide ripping up and down the lower river in his jet-sled, you might consider the amount of destruction you are doing to the banks. The river is high and does a pretty good job of eroding itself the way it is. Adding an artificial wake crashing into the bank multiplies that erosion by like, a hundred times. Trust me. We were fishing the bank you destroyed. I wish the landowners on the Mo would get on board with restricting motors down there. Maybe then we'd see some change. Or, maybe you'd all have some common sense and take it upon yourselves to protect the river. That would be a noble idea.