Fly Fishing the Wilderness (NEW PB BROOK TROUT) || Big Fish Stories Pt. 2 "Goliath 2"

FLY FISHING FOR HUGE BROOK TROUT
It’s hard to describe to some people why a 12 inch native brook trout is impressive. I think I sound like a broken record when I say that usually a brookie fishing trip is as much about the location as it is the fish… but every now and then you’ll catch a brook trout that is worthy of legendary status. In the case of a fish I affectionately named “Goliath 2” both the adventure and the fish are equally as legendary. And yes, I named the fish after the original Goliath from 2 years ago which people still ask me about to this day.
The original Goliath was never caught, so when I found this big brook trout in the middle fo the wilderness I was determined to catch it. After an hour of fishing Goliath 2 hit the net. Fly fishing for these backcountry brook trout is always a pleasure.
I still feel lucky to have caught that fish. For whatever reason that day my hookup ratio was garbage and it seemed like Goliath 2 was the only real success story of the day. I hiked a total of 10 miles essentially to catch that fish, which was worth it. But to pretend like I was struggling on my hike out would be a lie. I hope you all enjoyed the story and as always, thanks for watching.
#trout #troutfishing #fishing #flyfishing

[@jeffs7773]

That brookie was awesome, but your mustache is legendary

[@hardmanfishing]

LOL Thanks I think? 😂

[@wnctarheel9626]

That has to be the largest brook trout I’ve ever seen. Congrats.👍

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!!

[@sledge7583]

To all you youngsters out there, you have a net, it has a handle 😉, your measuring tape can be on the handle 😉. You have a fishing pole/fly rod, your measuring tape can be glued or velcroed on it. Get a sewing measuring tape as they are thin, some less than a half in wide. I hope this helps and you will never be without a tape measure.

[@tonywalkingstick8883]

That's a beautiful Native Brookie. When you're out there, way out, and a baby fawn jumps, runs, and starts bleating, automatically be bear aware and stay still and quiet so you can hear what will suddenly move very fast towards that fawn. It could be a mother bear with cubs, a bobcat, or worse a mountain lion. Lots of people say there isn't any in the Appalachian, Blue Ridge, and Great Smokies, but don't listen to them. Trust me there are plenty. I know first hand. There are two kinds, one is brown or golden and the other is black ⚫️ We want you safe and to keep making these awesome videos. Congratulations 💯 and always tight lines.

[@thrashtildeath710]

I live on the west coast and fish the cascades; mountain lions and bears are a very real danger out here. Myself and the majority of the people I’ve ran into carry at least a .357

[@alexrawleigh3167]

If that is in the Appalachians that is a true record. I have never seen a native brook trout that big in the Smokies. True record for sure.

[@landonedwards7504]

I fully agree that the place and the scenery make the effort worthwhile. But when you connect to a 14" wild Brookie, the intangibles pale in comparison. That said, to have hooked up with a fish of this size in a place of this beauty is what dreams are made of.

[@renaudbonneville]

6:23 I would definitely get my line stuck in that branch. Nice control my man!!

[@andrewhayes1420]

I will always be jealous of all the native trout you have available. There are almost no native trout left in my state, and none closer than a 2 hour drive from me. I am glad you appreciate what you have.

[@hardmanfishing]

They're arguably my favorite fish to chase! Thanks for watching

[@lanecountybigfooters5716]

Ah that little fawn! Brook trout are SO pretty and that's one was gorgeous! Congrats. That creek was well worth the hike in, and it's very pretty, too. Thanks for hiking in and sharing this one with us! I love seeing different parts of the country and wilderness.

[@verdantia]

😮😮😮😮😮 places like this dont have fish! I turn away when i see spots like that

[@Newfoundlandoutside]

Finally thank you I loved when you hunted Goliath 1 can’t wait to watch

[@danlovett3697]

Freakin awesome native brother!!!! My best is about a 10 inches up here in New England... love those little buggers . Nothing better . You're gonna have a hard time besting that one my friend .... but , you never know . One more cast 😉 Thanks for sharing ..

[@mlg2416]

The scene where the deer crosses the creek - such a beautiful place!

[@anthonyjerussi6343]

Congrats on catching that awesome brookie. Beautiful scenery and beautiful fish= the best things in life.

[@trixeld7506]

You should come up to Bennington Vermont it’s called the roaring branch the whole river is littered with 14 inch native brook trout I know of a hole that has like 30 15 inch brook trout maybe even bigger ones and they have the best color you probably will ever see

[@mikeney5113]

What a beautiful trout.congrats.that was a trophy for sure!

[@leemowers9395]

Thanks for sharing.

[@deerhuntingdawg]

Stud Speck! My PB is 12 1/2 from the north GA mountains

[@avid.venture]

Awesome bro. What a beauty of a brookie 🙌🏻

[@Lemurs]

Amazing dude

[@TylerEmmel]

What an amazing Brook trout! Also really enjoy seeing your overall love for nature, well done!

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!!

[@e50s65]

When you set the hook on a native brookie stream and it feels like a rock but then starts the head shakes is so electric! That moment must have been incredible.

[@mpfishing5530]

Happened to me and it broke tippet above my indicator clean off. I was chasing it around the hole with my net for a solid minute after, it was easily 10+ inches. Woulda smashed my old 8.5in pb

[@hardmanfishing]

It was!! I wish I had been recording for it, I quickly panicked. Thanks for watching!

[@e50s65]

@@hardmanfishing I never miss your videos man. Peace and love from GA!

[@jpmarx660]

Beautiful brookie.. nice job finding and landing it 👏

[@aurelienlinnenkamp9885]

So good. The brook trouts are really beautiful. BRAV0 🎉

[@kirksoutdooradventures]

Beautiful brookie! Only takes one good fish to make the hike all worth it! Nice work

[@RadGhost-gt5sq]

So cool, I’m still trying to find hidden areas around me like this!

[@michaelsmith7193]

That was awesome! And you certainly deserve that fish! Greatly appreciate all you efforts!

[@hardmanfishing]

Glad you enjoyed!!

[@adams13f]

I've been waiting on this one!!!!

[@richardallenscroggins9101]

Nice Brooke caught one up in stream west of Gettysburg

[@levimesser6414]

You need to come up to fish some spring ponds in WI! I just managed a personal best brookie this last week too.

[@jimgollach6202]

The further in you walk,the fishing is always better, always will be like that. The long walk is always worth it. Enjoyed watching. 👍

[@hardmanfishing]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@bernie5970]

Beautiful fish! Looks like a small creek in Appalachia (?).

[@thomasbosak5276]

Thanks for a little detail on what you were using

[@radability2892]

Let's goooo the goliath series was my favorite.

[@caleshtcincredibles]

Super fun video dude that brookie was a tank ! Beautiful fish you see often ...

[@stevebishop9928]

I have watched several of your videos and have came to the conclusion that you are very good at Fly casting. you make it look easy, it is not!

[@chrisbullock9652]

Really enjoy your videos. I love the artistic content, bringing your obvious love of the natural world into your fishing experience.

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!! Glad you enjoy the content. It means a lot.

[@PlantedElement]

My son and I are heading out fishing for the first time this weekend and I appreciate that he too can watch your videos! What a story and beautifully location.

[@hardmanfishing]

I'm glad you enjoyed!!

[@patjordan1955]

Nice!

[@jonpetty1008]

Amazing video + series. Brookie of a lifetime for sure

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!! There's more to come!

[@SteveCrosd]

What a beautiful stream

[@WildBlueDiscovery]

Awesome brookie! You put in your dues to catch that one!! Congratulations!

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!!

[@iluvoutdoors17]

Awesome! Reminds me of some of the Brookies I caught up in the Adirondacks. Absolutely really enjoy your videos.

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you! Glad you enjoy the videos

[@robbieallan6522]

Stunning fish 🐟 do you know why you didn't record? It wasn't a mistake its because that experience and that moment the fish took the nymph was just for you and the great outdoors! You'll forever have a memory of a beautiful huge brook trout on a beautiful June day 2023. That's how I viewed my pb trout wild brown just over 4lb in a river where a 2lb fish is a real prize and nobody saw it I had no camera and I wasn't going to take such a Stunning fish to prove it as it deserved to live on plus because it gave me the privilege of catching it. Great video and yeah you can see your in shock 😆

[@rolyskirv]

In Tasmania we get brooks over 6-7 pound in lake plimsoll and Clarence lagoon, you should do a big trip one day

[@tommytaylor4458]

Had the pleasure to catch 2 -15” plus natives in the same stream on the same day!! Sure you could do the same on that stream!

[@hiddenwatersflyfishing]

Years ago (2016) I was in the Smoky Mountains wandering some stream next to a road. I didn't know how to fish well at the time and was spooking every fish. I walked past a spot that I had fished and got nothing but, when I got close to the hole, a huge fish took off. It had to have been 12-14".

[@williamcrawford7857]

I'm surprised that you haven't been to Labrador or New Brunswick for some seriously big Brook Trout.

[@hardmanfishing]

I'd love to get up there one day!!

[@BradysBSinOutdoors]

What a fish man! This video gave off some real Steve Rinella vibes. Well done!

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!

[@bradley4294]

Awesome walk and hook, just wonder if you are in washington looks like my backyard

[@jaylu655]

Amazing fish, I live in ohio where there isn’t any native trout and I aspire to catch native brooke trout like you do

[@marty4485]

I do enjoy your videos but I wish you would show us your setup. Please

[@GBGlass1]

Really nice, I personaly actually caught my new pb on brook trout and so did my buddy however not close to the size of that one you got there, good job mate

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!!

[@big1dog23]

Caught a really big one in NC once, but I have a feeling it was a holdover stocker. Some of the Beaver ponds in CO used to hold big ones, but they obviously weren't native.

[@briljantje9583]

Well, John, this number II was at least an easier catch than Goliath I. Well done, pal.

[@brocmiller7635]

Awesome catches man. Nice stretch of water. And to get a tank like that is amazing. 🎣🎣🎣 I feel the hook up struggle. I tie my own barbless to take it easy on the fish but it can greatly hinder some native situations. Here in south central pa I was in the mountains like a month ago and lost 6-8 fish in the 6-8” range which is really nice for the super small creek it was. But that day still hurts the ole loins just to think about. Lol

[@hardmanfishing]

Yep!! Barbless nymphs / dries are tough if the fish are smaller than 10 inches (which are most of them). Thanks for watching!

[@mikewolfe6496]

Great story. I caught a very large brookie, along with several other natives, in a well known WV catch and release stream. However, I don’t believe it was native. I was close to the mouth where it emptied into a stocked trout stream and I believe it was a stock fish that had just been there for years. Guess I will never know for sure. Very nice fish! Thanks for sharing

[@hardmanfishing]

Yep that happens quite a bit! You can learn to tell the difference between a stocked fish and a native fish... but when you're super close to a stocked stream it can be tough. Thanks for watching!!

[@Trails_trout_surf]

you gotta try maine their native brook trout are like commonly 15 inches in some places

[@SebLikesCars99]

wassup hardman fishing! you should come to south africa for fly fishing, the fly fishing is huge here in sa and the rout are massive!!!

[@stevebishop9928]

Adams are like worms, when all else fails, tie on a # 12 adams!

[@yoursweatersux]

I think it's about 12 inches to be honest but that's still a great fish

[@scotthurley4967]

Awesome Native!! I've chased these all my life, and that is the biggest I've ever seen. You just might have a record fish. Did you get any kind of measurement? Didn't pop up on my screen. Congrats you deserve it. You put countless hours into this!!

[@hardmanfishing]

Yep it was 14 inches! But it's not a record, I have a buddy who caught one that was 15 inches (which is my goal). Thanks for watching!

[@dirtypanda9337]

Beautiful fish so awsome. What reel is that your using???

[@soundbwoikilla764]

Chunky fish! I thought for sure you must have caught a 12" brookie doing as much fishing as you do. I caught a 13" and 12" blue ridge brookie last year in similar, low and slow pools. Kinda surprised me as the bigger dudes tend to be much more leery and cautious in those conditions.

[@Skilza0922]

Awesome vid. Im wanting to buy two new fly rods (both under 150) one for streamers and one for a dry drooper rig. Do you have any recommendations?

[@acrandell75]

Curious as to what type of waders you are wearing on these long walk in trips?

[@jeffrey4869]

Jon, you've outdone yourself this time with that native! It's the biggest native brookie I've ever seen. Congrats!! Did you get a stream temp? lol

[@hardmanfishing]

I did not, I forgot the thermometer. I'd guess it was upper 50's MAYBE low 60's

[@BrianJones-xd9ol]

Nice fish! What camera set up do you use?

[@TheSlabCampBoys]

Dude, unbelievable footage! What gear are you using to film with, it's like playing a VR/first person video game, haha

[@hardmanfishing]

Mostly GoPro with a chest mount!! Glad you enjoyed

[@ccmusic2249]

A MONSTER of a brookie. I love the Appalachian brookies. I know they have 5 lbers up in Maine, but they never seem as colorful or unique as the Appalachain brookies and i certainly dont see as pronounced blue halos around their spots like the Appalachians. Do you notice the same?

[@maxlima-xh1be]

🇧🇷👍🏼

[@patrickcaines1457]

What size rod do you use for most of your trout fishing ? 5wt 9ft? Thanks!

[@larryhudson4511]

My monster quest was named Blackie

[@jwood8221]

Goliath #2!? 👀

[@plsullivan62]

What state is this, and what rod are you using?

[@elijahlexplore346]

You should do some fly fishing challenges

[@hardmanfishing]

I've got a few ideas up my sleeve!!

[@DawsonandOliver]

What happened to the other bfs?

[@zachkillen9038]

What did the measurement end up being? Finally got a tape and we caught 3 10+ brookies today, I got one at 11 1/4"

[@hardmanfishing]

Yeah I for some reason didn't put it in the video, but it was a legit 14 inch native! So it ties my personal best (or maybe was a hair bigger) than the fish I caught last year.

[@josephbevacqua573]

Low water, no water

[@peytonfessler4559]

bro i swear he missed the fish on his fry fly

[@user-fl6nr7et8l]

I love your channel and your easily one of the best fly fishermen on KZbin but I hate to break it to you, that is a pretty puny fish at least by the standards of lake run brook trout which are frequently if not averaging out at 24 inches and 4-5 lbs. The perception of brook trout as a small stream fish is almost exclusively American being that fish in most of Canada and historically the northeast and parts of the Midwest averaged in the pounds. I guarantee with one trip to a pristine brook trout hole in the north you will break your record with a fish at least 20 times that fishes weight.

[@hardmanfishing]

Okay first of all thanks!! But second of all I never said this was a record fish. But for where I live / fish that's an enormous brook trout. You can't look at fish and think "well somewhere else in the world they get bigger" because you'll never be satisfied with where you fish. If I catch a 20 inch brown out of my local creek it's a giant, but anybody from new Zealand could claim its tiny. I'm well aware of the northern brook trout, they're even on my bucket list. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy and appreciate catching big Appalachian brook trout.

[@user-fl6nr7et8l]

@@hardmanfishing Yeah I probably could have been a little nicer in saying that and that certainly is a large fish by Appalachian standards but its always been a pet peeve of mine albeit a dumb one when people say brook trout in general are a small fish when brook trout are larger than smallmouth and northern largemouth bass, also I really want you to take just one trip to Labrador because you would easily catch a 6 lb brook trout in one of those lakes and with your skill maybe even one of the fairly rare 10 lb brook trout

[@user-fl6nr7et8l]

also I haven't seen you catch a lake trout which would be another opportunity in Labrador, in fact they are often caught in the same rivers and streams as brook trout as well as arctic charr, Atlantic salmon, and sea run brook trout. It would also be cool to see some videos in other regions for instance fishing for Mongolian taimen (the largest member of the salmonid family growing over 200 lbs. at maximum, or going to the alps and catching marble trout as well as tremendous browns and Taimen, or even just going for Alaska king salmon and rainbow trout. There are a lot of salmonids which people either don't care about or don't know about that would be cool to see such as Ohrid Trout, Black sea salmon, Mexican trout, or white spotted charr.

[@MrRickyb1991]

youtube really cuts audio and ruins youtubers intros over generic instrumentals now adays... smh

[@kieranweaver7808]

Not braging i live in pa and me and my dad catch 23in native brookes

[@hardmanfishing]

I can almost guarantee it wasn't a native, probably a stocked brook trout. Only areas with true natives that large are a lot further north.

[@mattd1130]

You caught a fish and a stick A fish stick 😩🤦🏻‍♂️

[@EngGuy63]

You need to come to Canada, where brookies of 10lbs are possible

[@ChaseHub]

epic intro music and stuff

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!

[@keithhart3689]

My biggest Native brook trout I ever caught was 23.5 inches about 4 lb. in Canoe Creek outside Cloe Pa. in 1969

[@frogsnacks]

That is a legit monster. That's about the size of my biggest native up here in Northern Ontario, excluding the Nipigon river and Superior coasters, that area is unreal though so I count them separate, my biggest of those was 26" and 8lbs.

[@JP-dz7zu]

There used to be some monsters in PA over 20” back when I was a kid. Now 10” in a lunker size.

[@mpfishing5530]

@@JP-dz7zuhat’s what happens due to invasive brown trout and the absurd amount of trout being stocked over wild populations

[@henryleslievermont6004]

That is a HUGE Brook Trout WOW! Enjoyed seeing the Fawn as well 🎣🎣🦌🦌

[@hardmanfishing]

The fawn scared the crap out of me!! haha thanks for watching