The Curmudgeon
Written By: Len Harris
Photos by: Len Harris
Curmudgeon
definition:
cur·mud·geon
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
1 : a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old male trout
- cur·mud·geon·li·ness /-lE-n&s/ noun
- cur·mud·geon·ly /-lE/ adjective
A typical life expectantcy of a small stream trout
varies. If a trout finds a good stream or "home" and
it has the necessary cover and forage, a trout could
live to an age of around 12 years.
Five years ago I found such a "home". I walked
around the bend in a stream and it was before me. It
is a *WOW* hole. A *WOW* hole is one that totally
screams out "Large Trout Home".
The top of the hole has a current line for oxygen and
feed source. The hole itself is an old farm field
bridge that has caved in ages ago. The boulder at the
base of the bridge causes a severe step drop in depth.
A step drop is where the depth of a hole goes from 2
feet to 8 feet deep in about 2 feet distance.
The rest of the hole has some cover on the left and a
couple ambush points for The Cumudgeon to attack his
prey. The hole is about 8 feet deep in the center.
This allows the trout stay in this hole year round.
I scouted the hole from downstream in a crouched
postion for a short time. It was March and the
vegetation was limited. I watched the water. I saw no
obvious feeding action.
This hole was so far off the main roadway it
screamed Large Trout. It was way too far of a walk for
the casual angler.
I thought for a long time how to attack this hole.
The water was cold in March, so any possible large
fish would be in the slow moving deep water. I needed
to make a cast way up into the current to hide the
splash of my cast.
I was worried that a smaller fish might spook the
hole first and I would not have a chance at The
Curmdgeon. I figured if i was going do it...It would
be on the first 5 casts.
I casted for an hour at the hole with not even a
whisper of a fish in the hole. From my experience, I
learned that Old Male Trout are very territorial. When
they are really old they chase ALL other trout out of
the hole. They are Crusty and Ill Tempered.
After the hour I decided to walk out into the hole
and carefully map the bottom for structure. The best
way I knew was to actually wade the entire hole. I
started at the edges and worked my way to the fast
water funnel. The fast water funnel end was clearly
over my waders so I poked my pole into the depths.
Something flew out of the depths and did a circle in
the hole and then stopped on the other far side of the
hole.
From the wake the fish made in its circle..It was
obviously a Big Fish. I had thrown the kitchen sink at
this fish and had not even gotten a bump.
I visited this hole annually for five years. About
ten times each year. I varied my casts. I varied time
of day and night. I even sat on the hole in the middle
of the night with a chub tail and a night crawler. I
caught NO trout.
Last fall I was talking to a friend about The
Curmodgeon. He asked what I had tried so far. I told
him all of the tricks I tried. He asked me if I had
ever tried to ANGER the trout. Make it so angry it
would hit out of anger. I had my friend tell me what
he meant by that.
He said that an Old Trout that big would be
territorial and if i casted in and ripped the
presentation through the hole at 100 miles an hour...I
might anger it enough into hitting. I had tried
everything else...So what the heck.
Second cast.....was bringing it as fast as I
possibly could. It slammed it. It went deep and
hunkered down on the bottom. After a change of
direction battling it, I got it to the top of the
water. I was not disappointed. It was well worth five
years of hunting this fish.
I dubbed him ***The Curmudgeon*** and sent him on his
way.
