fished with big john tuesday and wednesday.

always nice to be on the barge when it's wet or blustery...as it was a bit tuesday ( nice day but a brief shower got john pretty good ) and wednesday.

caught some nice rainbows over those 2 days...and a couple really fat perch which i enjoyed at the table.

one rainbow was too big for the net ( that's our story and we're stickin' to it. ).

got it about three or 4 feet out of the water... with maybe a third of it's awesome length hanging over the side of the net. he thrashed about and slipped back into the water. Gone! What a sinking feeling in the gut.

would have been a record for the barge i'm sure.

fished mostly flies...from 2 colors down to 42 feet.

safe inside the cabin most of the time, we enjoyed shrimp, wine, cheese and crackers, great country music and camaraderie.

all in all, a nice end to the season. Thanks again , Big John.

John's going in for a new shoulder later this month.

here's one of the bow's we got into the boat. ain't he pretty ?

i'm a little rusty at posty the photos, so i hope this works.

great report.. glad there a still a few rainbows left in squam... i would have been there last weekend but things had been very slow so i went to winni. and it worked out pretty good catching half a dozen decent salmon...

How big do you think the rainbow you lost was? Good luck John on the surgery. I hope all goes well and you will be pain free next year.

Well we were catching them close to 6 pounds and 24" in the spring and this one was lucky enough not to get caught, so I'm thinking it was 7 something at least.

I caught one 2 or 3 years ago, day after Season ended, it was 27" or 28" if I remember correct, we did not weigh it, just tossed it back quickly. It was caught with a night crawler while Bass fishing in Bass waters. We never caught a big Bow again until this spring when 4 and 5 pounders were common, not a clue why unless they ate all the 3"
Salmon that were stocked..

A few reported 6 and 7 pound Bows this spring, but the reports are suspect, many fish are caught, never weighed and end up to be 6 and 7 pounders.

We weigh most big fish so when we give a weight, you know it's pretty accurate, if we don't weigh it we will state it's an estimate. I wish more would do the same and I realize some say it is not good for the fish to be weighed, but we harvest most big ones as they are at or past their peak and most likely will deteriorate and eat allot of smelt while doung so.

Big John

John; Best of luck with the surgery. And thanks for the good fishing and good times on The Barge this year. Cal P.

Thanks, looking forward to fishing from your new ride.

Keep in touch,

Big John