A fish to remember

[duffy4]

I was reading "bucket list pike" and thinking about a situation where I could no longer go fishing. What fish would I remember catching...Hmmmmmm.

PIKE: I was fishing one evening on the north shore at the narrows of Lesser Slave Lake. I was using a telescopic combo fly/spinning rod with a light spinning reel on it with about 6 lb. line (this is my walking a small trout stream outfit where I can switch from fly to spinners)

I hooked a big pike that I had to work very carefully. Had it up to the shallows about 10 times and he'd roll over and swim away making the reel whine. Finally got my hands on him and weighed him at 11 lbs. before releasing him.

Brook trout: The first time I was fly fishing we fished Sundance creek west of Edson. You could see grayling or mountain whitefish finning on the bottom of the pools and if you flicked (I couldn't cast much) a bummble bee above them they would rocket up off the bottom and grab it. It was great fun and easy fishing.

However then next day we fished Little Sundance for Brook trout. They were "smart" and spooky. I kept seeing the swirls of silt on the bottom where a fish had just been scared off as I tromped along the banks looking for fish

Finally I saw one rise at a corner up ahead so I carefully put out a couple false casts without getting in the trees and laid my fly close to the rise rings. He nailed it and I was into my first trout on a "blind" cast. It was I believe 5 inches long and I let it go so it might give someone else the thrill it had given me.

These two stand out in my mind as a couple of fish that are pressed into my memory.