A Sucker Born every Minute

I was tossing and turning at 5 this morning and finally gave up the fight.  The big laker I’ve been after all week at Jenny Lake must have been calling me.  At 6 I was loading my Exploder and heading back to Grand Teton National Park in darkness.

By the time I arrived the sun was up, what sun there was anyhow.  This morning was mostly cloudy and I drove through some scattered showers between Victor and Jenny.  The elk were bugling and a cold wind was busting whitecaps up on the gravel beach I hiked too.

I started fishing with my 7-weight RX and a Uniform Sink Type V but after 15 minutes of casting and stripping without a bump I switched to my 5-weight that was rigged with two nymphs.  With this I made some short casts just past the drop-off and started a three finger hand twist.  That was it.  On my first retrieve I hooked and landed a 21” laker and followed him with five more lake trout in five more casts!

Landing the lake trout I got up early for on my 5-weight probably wasn’t going to happen so after my fun of catching a few I went back to my 7 and continued dredging.  Absolutely not a strike.  At 10 I was thinking of packing it in because I have plenty of work to do at home but the wind intensified and I could see a storm brewing and blocking out the Tetons.  I hoped it would be the storm that triggered the big fish bite.  I casted aggressively through the entire hour long lasting squall but still not a bump.  By 11 the storm was gone and Jenny slowly calmed down from whitecaps to a gentle waves.  That’s when I hooked up to something stronger than a cookie cutter mackinaw. 

My heart jumped a few beats but I could feel awkwardness.  I had a sizeable fish but it wasn’t making the typical big lake trout run.  After a minute of stubborn fighting, up to the surface came a glowing sucker.  A sucker!  While most anglers would have been disappointed, I was stoked.  I balanced my camera on a rock and got me a sucker hero shot.  Good fun!

That was the excitement for today.  I pulled out from Jenny at noon cold and wet.  I have packing to do.  I’m headed for Wisconsin to try for my 50” musky later this week – priorities!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing