By Darold Givens
"An Unbiased Account"

Friends,
Joe O'Brien, Bob Kruger and I went to DelValle today, even with reports of
poor fishing, the water is too high, too muddy, too much debris. We trolled all
the way from the ramp to the dam. It was mid morning when we got our first
trout. It was OK, approx. 15 in. We kept it in the live well tank. It was caught
on Joe's pole with a jointed rapala, trout design. We moved around and
caught one more on bait. This got boring so I said lets troll back to the ramp.
Immediately we caught another fish, about the same size. So we decided to
stay in the same area and troll in circles.
Another fish took Joe's line and I started to reel. The line felt like it was
hooked to a log. I told them that this was a big fish. It started to come to the
boat and then it was straight below the boat. It was like an anchor. Still no
fight but a lot of dead weight. When it surfaced, wow! Bob grabbed the net
and the fish barely fit. It was brought aboard and lifted for photos. We were
then frantically looking for a scale or rule to weigh and measure the fish. I
put him back in the water to refresh him and wait to get a measurement. The
fish then made a jerk and that was it. It returned back to where it belonged.
      
We fished some more and got two more 15" ers and lost another. When we
returned to the dock, I took my camera to the bait shop and they were able
to print pictures for the wall of fame. It was definitely the biggest fish of the
week. The lady sized up the picture and figured it would go 12 pounds. Yes
we did feel good about releasing it so maybe one of you can catch it again.
The other 4 fish went home with Bob and Joe to be dinner.
 
Mother of all Trout
Foster City Rod and Gun Club