Personal Best Rainbow

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I went on smallmouth/trout fishing and camping trip the last few days and got back last night. It was a great trip and I hope to do it again soon. We started on the smallies after 4 wheeling 5.5 miles through the woods and fished the Big Piney River. Fished until dusk and didn't see another person the whole time. I caught a rock bass at the first root wad and while trying to get a picture dropped the camera into the river.Snapped a quick pic and camera wouldn't close so took out the batteries and memory card and let it dry out in the sun.Thankfully it worked after that but after that incident the camera was left back in the truck. Next purchase for me will be a waterproof camera. I caught five smallies,biggest one right at dusk was 15 inches,beautiful fish but skinny,probably just finished spawning. Thursday fished the Current River for trout,had a great day and caught over 30 rainbows and 1 small brown trout. Black or white 1/80 hardbodies on #12 sickles were lethal. We fished the Maramec River on the way back yesterday and fishing was slow. Spotted a nice rainbow resting in about six foot of water and tried a black jig which it took a look at but no take. Backed away and reted the fish while I tied on a white pearl hardbody,something I could see better since the hole was shaded. Second cast with the white the drift was within six inches and she rose up and sucked it in. After about a five minute fight on extremely light line I netted her. She weighed 6 1/4 lbs and was 24.5 inches long.View attachment 7View attachment 8View attachment 9

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I thought about releasing her but needed to get some pictures or nobody would believe me so hiked 1/2 mile back to the truck and got the camera and by the time I got back she had regained some energy but the eyes were clouding up and thought she might not make it so I kept her. I recently found a taxidermist who does skin mounts with trout so I'm getting her mounted. The jig pictured at the bottom was used to catch her. It's a 1/80 ballhead with a white marabou tail with a Coats Metallic thread body,clearcoated with SH. The body has a white pearl sheen. I couldn't hardly get a strike on anything bigger than a #10 and #12 sickles were the most productive. View attachment 1View attachment 2

 

[Jig Man]

Sounds like ya'll had a big time.... And that is a beautiful fish! Can ya believe it????? On white of all colors!!! dang it.

 

[BucktailJiger]

Congrats !

 

[Hawnjigs]

Wow, crystal clear running water trophy trout, in MISSOURI !? That ol' gal probably ignored a lot of offerings till your just right KISS jig caught her fancy.

What test line? Are you able to cast 1/80 without additional weighting?

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

These streams are spring fed and since we havn't been getting our normal rains they are running low and clear. Most trout here are hatchery raised and stocked into our four trout parks. Some make it to the rivers and grow pretty big,less fishing pressure. I was using tectan 3.1 lb. test which diameter is actually 50% less than Trilene 2# test so I'd call it 1lb. The jig weighs a little more than 1/80 because it's an all thread body and the SH will add even more weight,probably weighs 1/64. With the thin line and an 8.5 foot fly rod blank which I had custom fitted with spinning guides and handle I can cast the little jig with no weight about 50 feet. This fish was close enough that I just used an under hand flip cast,didn't want to spook her. Reel was a Sustain 1000 which holds plenty of the thin line.

 

[Radtexan]

Beautiful fish Jim !!!! Congrats...

 

[Fatman]

Beautiful fish Jim!!!!!!!! biggest we caught today was 1 1/2lbs. great eating size but we let them go back for another day. Glad you had a great day!!!!!

 

[SaltyBuckster]

Great pics and a Super Great Trout.Congrats.

 

[Pup]

Very nice fish!

 

[jiggerjohn]

Congrats on a really nice rainbow!! And really enjoyed the "elegant but simple" jig - basic white has been my best this Spring,too !

 

[StumpHunter]

Great report and beautiful rainbow! Congrats on the catch and thanks for posting the pictures. That is a awesome trout and I know you had a great time catching it on the small gear.

 

[ScottV]

Man, that's a whopper! Congrats!

 

[quivira kid]

Beautiful fish! Congrats.... gonna be tough to top that P.B.

 

[Ron Don]

Awesome Jungle! Great lil trip u had! I've never caught or eaten one of those either!

 

[SaltyBuckster]

What have you eaten??lol,crappie and redfish.Ronny your such a virgin,Ha.

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

The jig actually weighed 1/64 and the hook was a #12 bronze sickle. I was painting some heads up so I can make more hardbodies for the next trip and upon further study realized it was a #12. I prefer to eat a gill or crappie or the occasional walleye whenever I'm lucky enough to hook one over trout. They aren't bad smoked on the pit when they are fresh. For me seeing a trout and trying to trick it into biting one of my jigs is a blast,I see the trout take the jig 75% of the time. Other times I fish a jig under a small weighted float and whenever the float moves differently than it should I set the hook. A lot of times when I see a trout strike I'll strike to soon and pull the jig out of it's mouth. Did anyone notice that I was wearing a Jigcraft hat and t-shirt? Perhaps they brought me some luck.

 

[redear]

congratulations on that rainbow!

 

[LedHed]

WTG Jungle - good thing you had the T&hat! Awesome catch on your hand tye & congrats on the PB. Think the hardbody style is way under fished (not out here), for such a deadly jig.

We need to get more JC hat and shirt pics. How bout a another gallery Russ?

 

[steeliejim902]

Nice fish, sir! I guees your jigs do work for trout.