Talk about beginner's luck.
Calvin Johnston of Olathe, Kan., caught the biggest brown trout ever documented on the White River at Cotter on Feb. 27 during his first trout fishing trip. It weighed 38 pounds, 7 ounces and was 36.6 inches long. It's also the third largest trout ever caught in Arkansas.
An avid bass angler, Johnston used a drop-shot rig that he employs for catching smallmouth bass in highland reservoirs. The rod was a 6-foot, 9-inch carbon fiber type with a fast, medium-light action. Johnston said he also uses the rod for crappie fishing. He used a braided backing on his reel with 10-pound test flourocarbon leader. His lure was a "crankbaity looking thing" in rainbow trout pattern. He declined to divulge the model.
Some friends and family that live in Bryant invited Johnston on this trip. Johnston said his only experience with trout previously was catching "itty bitty" rainbow trout that are stocked in community fishing ponds back home.
"I thought, 'What the heck? I'll give it a try," Johnston said.
The group arrived at Cotter around noon Friday and started fishing. Johnston said he caught one small rainbow trout. He missed several other strikes because he set the hook the way he would on bass. With trout, you have to let the fish clamp the bait and let it hook itself.
Johnston returned to the river to fish alone after a break. The fish of a lifetime struck about 5:30 p.m.
"When I hooked into it, I knew immediately that I had monster fish on," Johnston said. "She hit it hard. Then she took off and took out almost the whole spool."
The river was high and fast, giving a big, strong fish a lot of extra horsepower.
"I got her in 50 yards, and then she rolled, took off and lifted her head," Johnston said. "She took off like that four or five times before I got her close enough for somebody to net her for me."
Except that nobody was around with a net. Johnston yelled and pleaded for someone to come help him. Finally, somebody heard all the shouting and strolled down to help. Johnston said that person was in no hurry and seemed to believe Johnston was overreacting on a possible 4-5 pound trout.
Then, the helper saw the fish and started hyperventilating.
A 20-minute fight ended with a great fish in hand.
Christy Graham, the regional fisheries biologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, was almost as excited as Johnston was.
"It was a fish of a lifetime for me, too," Graham said. "It was awesome."
Graham said it demonstrates the White River's potential for producing trophy size trout, and also demonstrates that the White River is being managed correctly.
"It's encouraging there are fish like that in the river" Graham said. "We hear from anglers all time they aren't seeing big fish. It encouraging because that's one of reasons we put on a 24-inch minimum length limit, to increase the potential for a trophy brown trout fishery."
Graham said that the AGFC has done population samples below Bull Shoals Dam that have shown a lot of large fish in river.
"Maybe not as big as that one [Johnston's fish], but it's a good population of brown trout."
Graham said she asked Johnston to send her an otolith from the fish so she can determine its age.
Last fall, Graham said the AGFC caught a brown trout that carried a tag from 2006. She said that fish was probably four or five years old in 2006. Johnston's fish is bigger than that one, and Graham said she believes it was 15-20 years old.
Johnston is still a bass fisherman at heart, but he said he's hooked on trout fishing.
"There's people that chase this size fish their entire life, and they don't even come close to anything like this," Johnston said. "To have an opportunity to experience that, oh my gosh, I'll never forget it. I had a fabulous time."
Sports on 03/05/2015