Garden State Trout

Tom, feel free to move this as it took place on my Labrador trip, but I thought more would see and appreciate it on this forum.

The angler is Rick Axt, former NJTU State Council Chair and now retired and living on the East Branch of the Delaware in Hancock, NY. Rick hooked into a guesstimated 15 lb. lake trout on a streamer he tied while it was just starting to rain lightly. I was standing nearby with our other buddy, Lindy, and guides Patrick (with Rick) and Burt (behind me and not in the photos). Burt looked up the lake and warned us to don our raingear and that we had 2 minutes at most. What happened next was amazing to watch and be a small part of (for me, chronicling this fight in this weather).

Lindy trying to get his raingear out and put on.
Next post for more photos.....

The winds intensified as did the rain as this squall passed through. We had thunder and one bolt of lightening not as far off as you would want it with 9 feet of graphite in your hands. I had tossed mine up on shore earlier to watch this fight unfold.
That's now hail and rain mixed and we were getting pummelled by both at the end of the squall which lasted a good five minutes. At the end, Patrick the guide couldn't see the water's surface and had no idea where/when to attempt to net the fish. It parted ways with Rick's 10 lb test Maxima tippet eventually and lived to fight another day.

Epic for sure. Great pics!

Nice pics, who took them?

gman wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 26, 2018 7:47 am

Nice pics, who took them?

I did. Just used my older Panasonic Lumix on this trip. My Canon is too large and I don't have a waterproof housing for it, so it stayed stateside. Plus I could use the Panasonic underwater and for video as well as stills. I should have switched to video mode here, but this fight lasted many minutes and was just a deep tug of war.

I didn't notice until today the difference in the far shoreline between the first and last photos I posted of this fight. It was pouring in that first shot, but by the final shot when we had hail added to the mix, it was near Biblical rain/hail. The far shoreline is just a darker line in the photo and you can't make out trees or other details.

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:20 am

I didn't notice until today the difference in the far shoreline between the first and last photos I posted of this fight. It was pouring in that first shot, but by the final shot when we had hail added to the mix, it was near Biblical rain/hail. The far shoreline is just a darker line in the photo and you can't make out trees or other details.

I didn't know you were THAT old....biblical hail and all..

lightenup wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:18 pm

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:20 am

I didn't notice until today the difference in the far shoreline between the first and last photos I posted of this fight. It was pouring in that first shot, but by the final shot when we had hail added to the mix, it was near Biblical rain/hail. The far shoreline is just a darker line in the photo and you can't make out trees or other details.

I didn't know you were THAT old....biblical hail and all..

My father told me to get off my a$$ and round up all the animals two by two. I always did what my father told me.

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:14 pm

lightenup wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:18 pm

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:20 am

I didn't notice until today the difference in the far shoreline between the first and last photos I posted of this fight. It was pouring in that first shot, but by the final shot when we had hail added to the mix, it was near Biblical rain/hail. The far shoreline is just a darker line in the photo and you can't make out trees or other details.

I didn't know you were THAT old....biblical hail and all..

My father told me to get off my a$$ and round up all the animals two by two. I always did what my father told me.

NO...AH, that's impossible ....I would be related to you if those stories were true....glad for fairy tales...

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:14 pm

lightenup wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:18 pm

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:20 am

I didn't notice until today the difference in the far shoreline between the first and last photos I posted of this fight. It was pouring in that first shot, but by the final shot when we had hail added to the mix, it was near Biblical rain/hail. The far shoreline is just a darker line in the photo and you can't make out trees or other details.

I didn't know you were THAT old....biblical hail and all..

My father told me to get off my a$$ and round up all the animals two by two. I always did what my father told me.

Hmmm, God’s CTRL-ALT-DELETE to restart, but first to save all files (save two of each creation). I get the story now. “Have you tried turning if off then back on again?”