Fished with Abe from Waunakee.
He landed about 20 browns in the AM. The above fish is the biggest he landed. His other decent sized was a 17ish incher.
10 minutes after getting on the water Abe lost the biggest small stream brown he has ever had on. It was on for about 4 second. I was higher up than Abe and got a good look at the approximately 27 inch male brown. The trout was so powerful and only hooked on the top part of the nose and it pulled out on one of the power runs it made.
The monster male brown had Abe's pole bent in half. I was hurrying down the bank with my net in hand looking for a place to get in the water and net the monster. The line just went limp. Abe was disappointed to say the least. Abe said it was the "Most" powerful small stream trout he has ever hooked in his life.
On the way back to Richland Center I told Abe that he saved 300 dollars by not landing that fish because he would have certainly mounted it. Abe rolled his eyes each time I gave him the hand gesture on how long his lost trout was. Abe is a seasoned trout angler and has been at it for 5-6 decades he said. He told me:
"I just couldn't control it at all. It went where it wanted to and all I could do is hang on and hope for the best."
When I dropped off Abe we shook hands firmly and made a tentative date to go back after it in 2 weeks.
You always remember the ones you lose longer than the ones you land.