Not too shabby for a hatchery holdover

[Jay Waide]

Decided to brave the sub-freezing temperatures (that’s ice on the side of the stream the fish, rod and net are laying on) and get my fix by fishing some DH waters about 15 minutes from my house Friday afternoon and was pleasantly suprised by this holdover ‘bow.  My net measures 22.5″ tip to tip, so an accurate estimate would put this fish around 22″.  It was the cherry on top of a week that offered a brief respite from the weather, which allowed me to float the trophy section of the Watauga, wade fish the SoHo and spend two short afternoons on the DH near my house.  All trips produced fish, but this was the only specimen worth documenting.  It looks like it’s gonna have to hold me for a while as rumblings about another blizzard hitting Boone next week are swirling around town. (No pun intended.)

[Neal Osborn]

Very cool Jay.

[todd woodcroft]

outstanding…
but those temperatures aren’t that cold…!
try sweden in february.

🙂

[John Stanley]

If he is a stocker he has been in that water a long time to get that good of color and to have those large fins.

How are NC and TN doing on keeping Hwy. 421 clear and salted this winter?

[Jay Waide]

I agree the coloration of the fish and the size of some of the fins make the fish appear to be wild, but if you take a close look at the pecotral fin it seems to have been clipped or damaged.

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