I have been fly fishing for a few years and really more intensely the last two years. I have put a lot of hours on the water, a lot of frustrations and a lot of great times. Yesterday was the best day of my life on the water as far as catches go.

I was asked to go by my friend Lee Coyle who guides for Tight Line Adventures in Dillon, Montana on a day where he wasn't working and we could just hang out. The expectations were super low as were floating a section we weren't that familiar with and it was more up north and it was snowy and a bit colder. We had to actually drag the boat down the snow-filled ramp which was funny but we did it.

I started out by catching the first fish and three fairly big ones off the bat but then I had a long dry spell of not catching, while Lee was hooking them and Pete was catching some I was a little off for some reason but still had three to the boat and a few LDR's by this point. Lee had the only fish on a first cast, Pete had the most and the only Brown Trout, and I had the biggest and only Bully of the day.

That is the story I am wanting to get to. The MONSTER! We then fished the stretch a bit more and I was getting tired and actually said lets push out and I wasn't sure I was going to even fish anymore. I decided to grab my rod one more time and fish a bit, SO glad that I did.

I was fishing a stretch and like I said was just on the last bit of life I had, we had been on the water for about 6 hours and it was colder, windy and I had to pee BUT we fished the way out and out of nowhere something took my worm and after a few moments Pete knew I had a big fish on. I didn't quite realize the caliber of the fish, until he broke my reel off. Seriously my whole reel came flying off my rod after fighting that fish! Probably about ten minutes in and my line just kept going out, got it on the reel and it was just sizzling going. I freak out every-time I catch a fish so this was no exception yet I knew I had a big fish on and I felt a bit more calm because I was so worried about losing him. We have no idea what type of fish it is, and that is a part of fishing. You never know what you may pull out...

Here is the beast that lives to fight another day. Never give up, my grandma use to always say, and I was just about to but grabbed that rod and reel one more time to land a fish of a lifetime. I was able to get a quick pic after getting the hook out and he was not out of the water more then moments--the guys with me take that very seriously--but grabbing a picture of this guy was a must and I deserve that. We were both tuckered out at the end, and again I had no idea I had a bull trout on.

Charene Herrera TSM
Charene Herrera TSM
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Thank you Lee and Pete Davis and if you ever need a great guide trip get a hold of the man, the myth and the legend Lee Coyle.

Thank you, God and Grandma

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