21" Kamloops rainbow trout, caught on Big Moore's Run in Pennsylvania, using a Heddon Black Beauty 8' 1 and 3/4F rod and Hardy lightweight reel; October 3rd.
15" brown trout, caught on the same stream, same day with the same combo, and even the same fly. (By the way, if you like "catch and release" fly fishing, Big Moore's Run is something special. It's only about 10' wide, but a typical day will produce a dozen trout between 14" and 25" and many smaller fish. The stream has trout well over 30" in it. It's the best small stream trout fishing I've experienced, east of the Rockies.)
David Westpfahl fighting a salmon on the Pere Marquette River in Michigan. He's using a Julius Vom Hofe hard rubber and German silver reel with an adjustable drag and a 10' Leonard cane salmon rod.
David with a nice king salmon from the Pere Marqette. He used the same reel as the picture above but switched over to a more robust Hardy cane salmon rod. Big Julius fly reels are lethal for salmon fishing, although for some reason beyond my comprehension they often don't get the same respect as his brother Edward's reels. David wrote, "Your description was correct - the reel is fully capable of fighting and landing salmon! The sound of this reel is musical, and it kept my friends informed of the status of the contest."
King salmon (didn't measure this one) from the Genesee River in Rochester, New York. Caught on Morrum 3600 reel, a medium light Bass Pro Shops graphite rod and a J11 Rapala. October 6th. (I don't always fish vintage tackle.)
38" king salmon, caught on the same river with the same tackle as above, on October 10th. In 4 hours of fishing, I caught 3 kings, battled 3 more that threw the hook, and had three other strikes that didn't result in hook ups.
