Big browns are known carnivores and will often pounce on a sinking or suspending minnow imitation. (Photo by Jeff Samsel)
A steady rain smacking the windshield as I wound toward a remote river access point made me almost giddy. With dark skies and a bit of extra flow, the river’s notoriously finicky wild browns would be more cooperative than normal. Like always when conditions suggest that brown trout might be willing to bite, I was excited at the prospect of connecting with a big, buttery, hook-jawed fish.
Trout tend to get lumped together when anglers think about their behavior, the locations they favor and the offerings they are most apt to eat. Just as largemouth and smallmouth bass act differently from one another, different types of trout vary in their behavior. Maybe because rainbow trout...