The One That Didn’t Get Away: Landing a Monster Brown Trout
With: supertramp_boy
We caught up with Tomas fresh off an absolute ripper of a fishing trip—one that ended with a brown trout most folks only dream about. Three days, miles of hiking, and one last-minute decision led to a heart-racing moment he won’t forget. With his brothers by his side and a barbless hook keeping things interesting, Tom put his skills to the test and landed the fish of the season. But he’s not done yet—there’s unfinished business on this river, and a new target on the horizon. Here’s how it all went down.
Tom, that brown trout was an absolute beast! Can you walk us through the moment you hooked into it and what was going through your mind?:
It was a mountain of emotions. We had been walking for three days, more than 15 km a day in search of these migratory trout. And on the last day of our trip as a brother and sister, I decided to fish a section of the river… just as I was about to leave, I saw something eating on the surface out of the corner of my eye, and that's when my heart started racing! I cast, and immediately a huge trout jumped in to eat my sex-dungeon. The fight began! At that moment, I was determined to land it, so much so that I said out loud, "I'm going to land this fish, I will." I was running through my head all the possible techniques to position my rod and hold off this animal, trying to keep it from going downriver… and then achieve our goal.
Landing a fish like that takes skill and patience. What was the key to keeping it on the line and bringing it to the net?
The key to keeping it on the hook was to always keep the tension right, as my hooks were barbless… so there was more risk of this animal getting away. Also, we were in great danger, if this trout decided to swim downstream… we are out, so together with my brothers who came running after I had yelled at them, I moved this trout out of the current while they positioned themselves downstream in case the fish ran. After a few minutes of intense fighting my brothers got the fish into the net so I could admire it and have the best day of this season. Without their help, landing that fish would have been impossible.
Now that you've landed a true trophy, what’s next? Are you chasing an even bigger brown, or do you have another dream fish in mind?
The truth is, this river owes us a rematch, my younger brother missed a trophy with similar characteristics just before we left… which left us with a feeling of frustration and sadness before we left. So we want to get our revenge by looking for these huge trout another year. But now thinking about another challenge, it would be to fish Chinook salmon in the rivers of my country, they are big beasts of more than 15 kg that come up to the rivers at this time. That would be a goal that I will achieve next season, obviously together with my brothers who were a fundamental part of this dream come true.
