I was at work for 13 hours on Tuesday and came back from a busy day at work Wednesday trying to unwind still from the hectic day. I get a last-minute Teams meeting after I get home and have to jump onto a meeting that goes 30 minutes past the time it was supposed to end.
I look at the clock and decided to run down for an hour to the puddles just to get some serenity and different scenery.
Lake was crowded, but with mostly bird watchers and walkers. Not many fishermen at all.
I set up in a slightly different spot than I have been since it's been pretty slow lately. It's amazing how fast an hour goes and no bites. I decided to pack it in so I can get home for dinner when I didn't see the strike indicator on my line! Then I realized I had a slack line that quickly turned into a screaming reel! Fish on!
Once again, I knew it was a heftier fish! Then I saw the bright flash of gold in the distance in the late day sun! I also saw a lot of red when it rolled and thought I had a crazy one with a really big red stripe on it!
As I got it to the net, my excitement turned to a little grossness. I went to grab my phone and it was nowhere to be found... WTF?!?!? Well, there was no way I lost it, so I must have forgot it at home.
I examined the wound on the fish and thought it may be from an osprey's talons and it got away, but I would find out for sure when I got home.
I got home and there was my phone right where I left it. I was losing light so took a few pics and got a weight on her before carving her up. 25" and 7.11#!!! My fifth Lightning Trout of 2024 and 6th trout over 5.26 pounds for the season! Wow!
From the outside it only looked like the skin was melting off and the flesh looked okay, but it was on both sides by the tail. I filleted it and the meat was spotless and pink, but I couldn't get myself to use the rotten skin parts and just discarded the tail sections. I kept the shoulder sections since they still looked good, but quickly decided I wasn't going to eat that either but one of my neighbors wouldn't care and gladly accepted it. At least it wasn't a total waste!
Well, I'm not expecting anymore real trout since they seem to be melting now, but I'm dropping the mike on my 2024 trout season with just a stellar "Whopper Count" besides the shear numbers of quality fish. I do love all of the pink meat also, just not the melting red sort of stuff. LOL
