The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-08-24
MADE A HARD FIGHT.
Colorado Fisherman Has a Hard
Struggle With an Eight-pounder.

Struggle with an ElSht-pounder-
Denver Times.)
aNav. that trout had lived in that
particular bend Of the Gunnison. scorn-
ing fishermen, for five years that
know of, and probably more" said
Charles K-Hdrick. just back from lola.
with "a sunburned smile and a look of
satisfaction which only d fly fisherman
ever dttains.
He certainly was the wariest fish
I've ever seen Just where the river
snrls round big rock. in a deep
eddy where most of the grasshoppers
and flies are apt to be whirled by the
swift current. he was wont to lie
Every year when the coming Of sum
mer found me back again on the big
stream / would look for him there
Sometimes 7 wouldn't see him the first
day or two and an unpleasant fear
that he was gone-caught by another
man. peThaps-wOuld cross my mind
But he always would appear at last
rising uonchalantly to the surface to
take in d real fly and to show me that
Do knew the difference between my
hooks and a silly moth. So on this trip
] made up my mind TO devote all my
Efforts to him Each year had seen
him grow and grow until he seemed
Ike a monster, grown far beyond the
proportions of ordinary rainbows, even
I'm the GunniSOn- / went down to the
river with "A rare assortment OF flies
and sat down on the bank above my
old bend, watching the few flies that
drifted across the stream. Most of
them were small and gray. and so I
selected a gray hackle. / tore off most
of its plumage and left the hook al
most bare. With my best pole and
finest line I approached the deep pool
BfGfuupn I -,
moment and then made a long cast out
into the swiftly flowing water NV
fy danced along for a moment and
then alighted again.
over and over 1 whipped that pool
rs lightly as / could. l threw that fly
upon every square yard of surface in
the vast eddy around It, Seven fish
were quietly landed, all OF good size.
Tor the small fry avoid the deep water.
yet not a sign of my old cOmrade had
] seen. Then I tied on a little brown
hackle and landed several more. No
sign Of the big fellow. I fastened on a
iiny white miller and sent IL glimmer-
ing over the rifle at the edge. Not a
fish would touch it in four casts. so I
tried a black gnat. This hooked a two
FOUNDER and ] used il without another
nibble for five minutes. Chen / dis
carded IT in favor of a good old coach
man. one trout broke the spell. and
although I tried another. it was no use.
Next a big red salmon fly settled
down on the dark pool and not a fish
noticed it Then followed a silver doc
tor, a professor, a black ant. queen of
The waters, a Mede fly, a yellow fly
with long wings, a little willow fly.
more hackles, and so on / had caught
four fish in the last two hours and L
was getting a trifie weary. L sat down
on the bank well out of view. and en-
JOY ed a smoke, untn scattering drops
told Of an approaching storm. 1
wondered aGain-my annual guess
whether the big fish was still alive and
In that pool within 100 feet of me. I
opened my fly book for another look.
] had tried everything l could think of.
ON the last page ] found big gaudy
butteriiy-one of those things which
every fisherman buys and never uses
except TO show his friends.
We'll. said /, with a grin at my folly,
l'H just try you, anyway. If all the
fish jump out of the water in alarm
I'll have the satisfaction of seeing
them. which is more than I've done in
the last forty minutes, and 1 tied on
the gay butterfly. ] made a long cast
and the big bait had barely settled
down, as II blown by the storm, before
mere was CLEAN. a flash and a splash.
for l struck hard. 1 knew I had
hooked nay old friend at last. 1t was
l).45 when the rain began 10 fall and
al 1t:40 I landed that trout. The big
fellow was so tired that he could only
flop a little as I pulled him out, and I
was not much better. 1t was by far
the hardest fight l ever had and never
saw 50 strong a trout. He made the
reel hum on his runs and kept me busy
reeling in when he rushed toward me-
J could barely take up the slack in
time Three times he broke water in a
most desperate manner and on each
occasion I expected something would
surely snap. But my tackle was good.
Once he made straight for the rock as
IF he were going TO dash himself
against IL and end everything
checked him a little every yard or two
and VAS about TO test the tackle. when
he turned. as IL he had changed his
mind, and went down stream for sew
2Hty feet. Then back again he came as
fdrd as he could race. while 1 was
feeling in for all / was worth. Long
before he was landed the rain was
pouring down, but I never thought OF
IT, What does rain matter in a case
Ike thatc We weighed him at the
ranch house. l stood first on one side
ar the scales and then on the other for
Tear he wouldn't set justice. He tipped
The scales at eight pounds five ounces.
or course. l know that bigger trout
have been caught in that river. but
'1ey can't make NE believe that any
Trout ever fought any harder than the
Oh trout Of lola"