More Stocked Trout (ft. Franz, Chubs, and a Lonely Bullhead)

This past Friday, I went back to the local stocked brook in search of more trout. Trout are tasty. Trout fight. Trout are pretty. I like trout. 

Afterschool, I got my mom to send me to the creek with trout. I was supposed to go with my friend Eric, but Eric never showed up. Neither did Ricky, Mike, or Chris. I was all alone...

3 minutes in, I nailed a nice trout. The guy bled a little, but he was going on my stringer, so that was okay. This guy's dorsal fin was pretty messed up, but he wasn't ugly. 

 After that first fish, I called my friend Franz, who lived nearby and was supposed to be free today. I told him the trout were here, and they were biting!

He came within minutes.

 In that time, I got another nice trout, this time hooked perfectly in the corner of his mouth.

Then Franz comes. When Franz comes, the bite suddenly dies. We didn't catch anything for about 10 minutes. Funny thing is, we have never caught a single fish on any of our fishing trips. So if we didn't catch anything, we were never going to fish together again. :) Luckily, I picked up a small drab chub to break the bad luck streak.

Reassured, Franz picks up a big, beautiful, spawning creek chub on half a nightcrawler that I was totally jealous of.

Check out those tubercles!

Meanwhile, I picked up another nice trout, this time on a worm, instead of some undignified paste.
But I gotta say, that undignified paste does work!

We managed to take pictures that would just block our face.

Franz lands yet ANOTHER creek chub.

Franz reigned as king of the spawning male creek chubs. He landed 8 or so,all male, all spawning, and all with an awesome set of tubercles. I got 2 drab females. This is the ironic part. I wanted chubs, he wanted trout. I had trout and he had chubs. Franz is a mostly saltwater, big fish guy. I'm a species guy.

Then Franz finally gets his trout (on a worm). It just had to be the biggest.

Man, Franz really wanted that trout!

Some time and more chubs later, Franz lands another trout, again on a worm. This one was the smallest, but the most colorful.

Franz being distracted...

Franz does his best Olympic diver impression. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here.

Franz's second trout slapped him in the face, much to my amusement.

 Many drab chubs later, I FINALLY get my spawning male creek chub. And not a tiddler, either! And check out those tubercles!

It wasn't an ugly thing...

The light was fading fast, or my eyesight. I forget which. I land another trout, giving me 4 trout and Franz 2. Franz unfortunately had the biggest and the most species caught (see below). Not that I'm competitive.

As Franz reels in his bait to de-rig, he finds a tiny yellow bullhead on the end of his line. Franz, being unmanly, refused to touch it, letting me de-hook and release it. Luckily, I had caught this species before, so there was no hard feelings.

Franz was hungry...

Here the trout are scared by seeing Franz's scent. Yes, it is visible.

Don't we look happy?

Fishing with friends is always better than alone. And yes, the fish were tasty.