This small creek had some HUGE fish... (Fly Fishing for Rainbow Trout)

FLY FISHING A TINY CREEK FOR A HUGE TROUT!! TROUT FISHING BLISS!
IN this video my buddy Bradley and I fish for rainbow trout in a tiny stream. With this being a public stream that gets quite a bit of pressure we decided to schedule this trip when we thought the least amount of people would be on the water. When we arrived nobody was there and the fish were biting. After 6 hours of fishing my buddy Bradley caught an absolutely gigantic trout, bigger than anything I had ever seen in this stream.
As is typical with this time of year Bradly and I were fighting snow melt. It’s not quite as extreme as it is out west when the rivers get high and turn muddy, but it still drops the stream temps quite a bit. The water levels were perfect through and we knew we would at least catch good numbers of fish in this particular creek. So we started fishing, picking off wild trout one by one and enjoying an incredible winter day.
As the day progressed fish were hitting the net, but as you can probably tell they weren’t all that impressive. Not that we were upset by the smaller fish, but it was just a bit slower than we had envisioned when we planned the trip. But just as our hope was slipping away I happened to spot the tail of a much larger fish. Now this fish wasn’t huge, but at around 16 inches it was double the size of anything else I had caught that day. So I sat down and started trying different flies hoping the fish would eat.
I failed. Which isn’t entirely unusual and honestly I don’t know that I would have done anything different given the circumstances. But after briefly hooking the fish I figured we’d better move on so we didn’t waste our entire afternoon messing around with 1 fish. So we continued up the creek with our eyes pealed looking for larger fish like the one I had just seen.. and eventually I was rewarded big time.
At this point I told Bradley my day was made. Catching a fish that big in a creek that small is always a blast, especially after realizing it was blind in one eye, which just added that extra bit of character. But we still had a little over an hour left of fishing so we figured we’d work back down the creek towards where I had spotted that bigger fish earlier to try and end the day on a high note. But as the air temperatures dropped it felt like the bite started to turn off.. and then, just as we were losing hope about catching anymore fish that day, Bradly yelled at me from the creek saying he had spotted a giant…
That is the biggest fish I’ve ever seen in this creek. And by the way, this is all public water. In fact Bradley and I planned this trip out in part to hopefully stay away from the pressure this stream receives. So catching a trophy sized trout in a tiny piece of public water is nothing short of impressive… especially when you consider that we used Bradley’s net to measure the fish at 23.5 inches. After releasing that fish I decided to take one last shot at the fish I had lost earlier and managed to actually get some revenge, but the fish didn’t seem quite as impressive after what Bradley had just caught.
I hope you enjoyed the editing style of this video because it's a bit different than what I usually do. Let me know in the comments below! Thanks for watching.
#troutfishing #flyfishing #fishing #outdoors #nature #fish

[@tonywalkingstick8883]

Way to go Bradley! Jon, y'all made my day. Beautiful fish in a little creek. That's just plain awesome. Enjoyed watching every minute of this video and always tight lines.

[@hardmanfishing]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video!! Thanks for watchingg

[@zumalot]

It was nice to see such incredible rainbows. Wow!

[@davidleimeister5027]

Love the creeks you choose to fish. Beautiful water, great little falls no to mention big bows. Thanks HFA, Jon and Brad.

[@hugewingsfan8]

The way you complain about the fish squirming and flopping 🤔😂

[@andrewleffler6448]

Just got my first fly rod and wanting to give this a try. Your videos are great educational tools for me to know what to look for and how to do it. Now I need to go practice!

[@hardmanfishing]

That's awesome! Good luck out there!!

[@Wgymjim]

It's nice to look at these little creeks and see in them big and healty fish. Love your videos!

[@hardmanfishing]

Little creeks can have some big surprises! Glad you love the videos

[@Bass-Trout.productions]

love your vids and they have taught me lot about fly fishing, keep up the good work

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoy the videos

[@PoutinePete]

You're so lucky that you're allowed to fish now because up here in Ontario we have to wait until the end of April before trout season opens up again.

[@hardmanfishing]

Yep! No seasons here. Thanks for watching

[@tedlivermore6955]

You can fish the year round sections on the steelhead rivers but yeah no creeks like this ,kinda sucks especially this mild winter.

[@Fishin-Ipps]

What a gorgeous little creek. Great stuff

[@hardmanfishing]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@willlynch1524]

Nice fish Bradley!!

[@michaelgellenoncourt2876]

What a pleasure to get that sweet notification!! I'm so happy every time I see that you posted a video!!

[@hardmanfishing]

Heck yeah!! Hope you enjoyed it!

[@michaelgellenoncourt2876]

@@hardmanfishing I sure did!!! What an incredible you had! I can't believe it!

[@WildBlueDiscovery]

Nice ! Some big ones!!! Tightlines

[@henryleslievermont6004]

Huge Rainbow for sutch a small brook/creek 👍 Enjoyed 🎣

[@hardmanfishing]

Glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks for watching

[@ryancoleman1]

Are the creeks feeders to larger streams? also do you have any lakes in WV that have lake run bows/browns by chance? I'm in NY and an avid steelhead guy. I do really really well but I've been fishing for them for 30+ years and perfected my craft... I haven't small brook fished for wild trout other than lake run wild bows I'm years... we get some slammers up here I'm the finger lakes tribs.. mostly all wild reproduction aside of a couple finger lakes. It's incredible.. great lakes trips are all steelhead and browns and domestic bows but finger lakes trips are another story

[@hardmanfishing]

@@ryancoleman1 Yep the creeks feed some larger streams of course, but we don't have lake run trout / steelhead in WV. The lakes for the most part get too warm to hold trout.

[@charlesjohanesen1651]

nice video nice fish, keep it up🙂

[@BryceK60]

Holy cow nice fish you guys always provide awsome fishing vids enjoy you guys and your videos so much keep it up.

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!! Glad you enjoyed it

[@user-fl5qe1xt3r]

That was impressive Bradley he was ready for the set and was down there with the net like flash new exactly where to be nice work

[@user-bk9nx8gb8r]

Your videos have inspired me to try fly fishing. Been spinning trout for years

[@hardmanfishing]

That’s awesome!!! Glad you enjoy the videos

[@Luxury.Girl-]

wonderful video 😊

[@Stevensfishingreel]

sweet video, makes me wanna go out and fish now😂

[@bengibson2383]

Awesome video, those are some very nice rainbows man. We’re the bigger bows stocked or wild?

[@hardmanfishing]

Great question, could be either. There are stocked fish in that river system so anything’s possible. But it’s a wild stream

[@cooltuber1404]

Exact same thing I was pondering ? Thanks for asking and thanks to hardmanfishing for replying ! 👍

[@TravisDuff]

That water looks juicy! Good stuff

[@shad3128]

Juicy?? Lol it's like 2 feet deep

[@steveg6978]

21 in is the latest I ever snagged...good show !

[@xplicitfishin]

Great video as always! Those were some huge fish for such skinny water.

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!! It was an awesome day on the water

[@currentfisher]

I love how quickly Bradley landed that giant 😂

[@hardmanfishing]

He’s a pro 😂 and he knew if he didn’t land it quickly he’d be in big trouble

[@user-fp8lp8ku5s]

Been watching HardMan since he made the Walmart fly fishing challenge. Videos are amazing Man. Your the reason I wanna learn to fly fish 🐟

[@hardmanfishing]

Heck yeah!! You should definitely give it a go!

[@jeffrey4869]

I admire you for getting out there in the cold. My fingers wouldn't allow that. lol

[@hardmanfishing]

My fingers aren’t too pleased either… but when I catch a good fish they don’t seem to bother me much lol

[@BIGTROUTAXR]

Very good by from Italy 🇮🇹🍕🎣

[@chach3]

I broke off on monster rainbow on that stream a few years ago. It was easily 24"+ That stream always produces some crazy fish.

[@hardmanfishing]

That's crazy!!

[@fishingwithjackson3941]

Love the vids

[@hardmanfishing]

Thank you!

[@user-vx7sb5bm5q]

If that fish Bradley caught was in one of the great lake streams you would swear it was a Steelhead.

[@hardmanfishing]

I wish it was a steelhead! We don't have any down here unfortunately

[@tonycamplin8607]

What a fantastic fish, well done Bradley. An amazing stream. I've never seen one like it here in the UK. Can hardly believe what big fish live in it. Were you wearing just ordinary boots and going into the water with them. If so your feet must have got frozen!

[@hardmanfishing]

Nope I had on dryft waders!! Thanks for watching

[@tonycamplin8607]

@hardmanfishing Thanks for your reply, glad that you were but I couldn't decide looking at the video.

[@troutobsessionnz]

thats a good fish for a creek like that

[@benrudman3917]

You have a deliberate way of Holding your line with your fingers, I’m assuming for strike detection. I try to watch over again and I’m curious if you will share how you do this sometime. Thanks. -Ben from MD

[@hardmanfishing]

For sure! I can maybe touch on it in a video. But I hold the line between my pointer finger and middle finger rather than holding the line directly against my rod. This helps out a lot with strike detection because I'm holding the line and when I'm tight lining I can feel every single bump. I do use it as strike detection sometimes, but usually strike detection occurs by watching the sighter

[@michaelnguyen2144]

oh wait. this production go harddddd. good work g.

[@michaelnguyen2144]

what was the weight of that rod?

[@hardmanfishing]

@@michaelnguyen2144 3 wt! and thanks for watching

[@allentucker6116]

Great video! What rod and reel are you using?

[@cjschmitt4882]

I'd like to thank all the fishermen for fishing the shit out of our waters we live on so that there are no fish to be had for residents, thank you!

[@hardmanfishing]

what in tarnation are you talking about 😂

[@cjschmitt4882]

you know ;)@@hardmanfishing

[@hardmanfishing]

@@cjschmitt4882 If I did I don't think I would have asked the question...

[@mikeyrickley9113]

Sweet vid dude, I love how beautiful those wilds are. Just one question do you euro nymph/what rod length and weight?

[@hardmanfishing]

I was using a 10 foot 2 wt! Bradley I think was using a 3 wt but his was also a 10 foot rod I believe

[@mikeyrickley9113]

Thank you very much i appreciate it

[@SolitaryManager]

What's your rod/reel set up for small creeks like these? I've been wanting to get into fly fishing but I'm not too sure where to begin. 90% of the fishing I do is in small creeks where super long fly rods are not ideal.

[@jinwoopark6084]

dude, i love your shit. it's so bad ass. keep it up man.

[@hardmanfishing]

Thanks buddy!! :)

[@briljantje9583]

John goes tenkara. And is pretty succesfull 😉

[@hardmanfishing]

I should try tenkara in this creek, it would be fun 😂

[@mlg2416]

What flies are you using? Went out today in CO and was a complete bust. High winds didn't help.

[@chesterpielock8824]

Patience

[@Awaggs99]

How do you keep it off the bottom without a strike indicator new to fly fishing maybe this is a newb question

[@hardmanfishing]

You don't necessarily... you want some amount of contact with the bottom of the creek. The goal is to keep a tight line so that you can feel the fly ticking the bottom of the creek... But not so much so that you're constantly getting stuck. But not having an indicator allows you to make constant adjustments as you fish. Whereas if you use an indicator (bobber) you set it at a pre-determined depth which means if it's any deeper or shallower than that you're not really fishing all that effectively. Sorry this was a longer response but hopefully it sort of helped, I'm not sure I'm the best at explaining it.

[@Awaggs99]

@hardmanfishing thank you for that explanation this will be my first year trying fly fishing rivers and creeks ive only fly fished lakes so still learning some stuff haha

[@ryan89870]

What mono do you use?

[@GS-xt8fu]

Are those stocked brood trout? I grew up in WV. Not used to seeing them. It makes you wonder how a trout is getting enough to eat in that small hole in the stream.

[@goganlole1038]

biggest indicator for stockers that i use is the size of the fins, the longer they are in the water the bigger the fins will grow. I would guess that they were stocked around 10-12 inches and then grew to that size or wild, definitely not fresh out of the truck though

[@dylanphilliber496]

So awesome! What are some indicators you look for when deciding what spot to choose?! You guys always find beautiful places with huge fish!

[@SCYCOFISHINGHUNTING]

If the water looks juicy that is always a good sign e

[@mtb_flyfish_skate]

that's the biggest rainbow trout i have ever seen

[@alanstrober6296]

Broodstock fish.

[@patrickerbacher6019]

I haven't been fly fishing for too long but can somone explain how and or why he's using a nymph without a strike indicator?

[@aidanmcgowen6024]

Euronymphing?

[@Filmer-hands]

can some one help me out, should i buy hooks with out the spike so they unhook better? do they exist lol i just see everyone unhooking them so easy.

[@user-se8yv4lc3v]

I believe you are talking about the barb. You can simply crush them down with pliers or buy flies or hooks without barbs.

[@RussianBot-kp8wn]

They're called barbless hooks, if your interested in throwing the fish back than that's usually the best option👍

[@raywhitehead730]

February, 2024: this week, the largest Rainbow Trout in Maryland ever was caught in Antietam River. It was 17 pounds. It broke the record by about 2 pounds.

[@hardmanfishing]

I saw that!! Pretty cool stuff even though it’s such an ugly looking thing 😂

[@appleseeD552]

WELL DONE BOYZ!! LET'S GOOOOO!!! 😀👍 Way to stay with it and CAPITOLIZE!!😀👍 Gorgeous, just GORGEOUS catches my friend!👊😁 I'm a HUGE supporter of catch and release...and I'm a little curious here....please don't misunderstand...like I said, HUGE supporter of catch and release n'all, but, have you and Andrew cooked any of SOME, not many as I've said REPEATEDLY, of the catches you've caught?🤔 Again, totally BIG on catch and release...just curious is all. Please keep these vidz comin boyz...and as always, peace.👊😎

[@hardmanfishing]

Of course we've kept fish! I just don't do it as much anymore. I should make a catch and cook just to prove to people I do eat trout LOL thanks for watching

[@griffinlind5987]

100th view

[@hardmanfishing]

The big 100!! Thanks for watching

[@user-je6ze8ze7i]

What sate are you fishing?

[@Gianni_Gribbins]

FIRST CAN I GET A PIN LOVE YOUR VIDEOS AND LIKED

[@cindycoup5020]

Where are you fishing at?

[@jimmysegovia146]

Where are these places at? Thanks

[@deandee8082]

salt creek? lol

[@dongfloppin22]

Welp I hate to say it but im gonna have to go ahead and assume that you voted for Joe Biden. And I'm a man of noble intelligence

[@nathanielchoate69]

What makes you so sure

[@dongfloppin22]

@@nathanielchoate69 your probably a rich man from North of Richmond

[@Don-du7du]

If you're a man of noble intelligence then you can't be a Trump supporter😉

[@nathanielchoate69]

@@dongfloppin22 I’m actually a poor man south of Atlanta

[@tedlivermore6955]

​@@Don-du7duNo intelligence ,Biden supporter