Recently, on my third or fourth fly fishing excursion ever, I lost my PB Brown in the AM without landing it (it spooled me, something I’ve never had happen before). Then, that same evening, I lost the fish of a lifetime.
After changing flies and making dozens of casts, I got the pictured monster to take “the bait.” It must’ve been accustomed to throwing its weight around, because it just lazily got up and started swimming upstream. I realized y it’d either spool me or break my leader so I followed and tried to pinch it between myself and the shore. He realized what I was doing and tried to turn out towards the middle of the river (the direction I was in). I got my net down, a LARGE, Plussino net that I’d landed a pike in, but I only scooped his backend and he flopped out. My hook then came loose. I lurched forward hoping to net it, and I fell into a deep spot (waders on).
I think I may have missed a once in a lifetime fish. Never seen a trout that size, and the colors and snout were unusual.