School got let out at 12:20 today because of some teacher's meeting, so of course me and dad wanted to go fish. This time we made it a family outing. My mom and brother came along as well. Mom just sat and looked at a magazine, while the guys fished. Headed to a local pond stocked with trout for the put and take trout season. My algebra teacher had showed me a picture of a 2-3 lb bass he had caught at this pond a couple days ago, and his buddy caught 4 trout there, so we took his advice and headed to his spot at the pond (thanks Mr. Babb!) Set up a couple rods with bait, and threw some lures as well. I was fishin a roostertail in rainbow trout color, my dad and my brother Dan were fishin yellow grubs. No hits after an hour or so, so we just decided to set up all 5 rods we have between the 3 of us with bait. Had Berkley Powerbait Salmon Eggs on 2 rods, Berkley Powerbait Trout Nuggets on 1 rod, and good ole corn on 2 rods. We fished all this bait on the bottom with 2 split shots. After only 15 minutes or so, I look at my ultralight microspin rod and its shaking around. Pick it up, give it a quick hookset. Felt some pullage for a few seconds and then nothing. Reeled in, my bait was still there. Hmm. Cast it back out. Let it sit for about 30 seconds, and WHAM, my rods thrashing around again. Picked it up, set the hook and I got a fish on. Now I know why people who go after trout use 4 pound test. I had 4 lb test on my reel, and it was a lot of fun bringin that fish in. It thrashed around at the surface, and as I worked it toward shore, made a nice run to the other side of the pond. Handled him and brought him to the shore carefully and slowly. He capped off this nice fight with a good jump right at the shore. I landed him and took a look. Final tally: an 11 inch rainbow trout, my first trout ever! I was really excited. Only bad news, I gut hooked him. Its bound to happen when you're using bait instead of lures. Pulled the bait out and tried to get the hook out. It wouldnt budge. We cut the line as close to the fish as possible and took a picture. Not a bad picture, I'm gonna send it to the webmaster in a minute for him to get it up here. Thanked the fish, and thanked God for letting me catch him, and released him. No more fish after that, but I didnt care. I know the fish isnt all that impressive to experienced guys like most of you, but it was a lot of fun, and it was my first trout, and first fish that wasnt a bream, so I'm happy.
By the way, the trout was caught on the Powerbait Salmon Eggs. No hits on the corn or trout nuggets.
Steve
