Prut River

My First Trout Ever… (July 14, 2020) I had the luck of catching my first trout in the Prut River, nestled in the picturesque Carpathians, in a village called Vorokhta. Traveling through Ukraine's cities and landscapes, I always bring my spinning rod and a few boxes of lures along for the ride. This time was no different. Back then, knowing nothing about trout fishing techniques, especially in that area, I packed some small spinners and a few crankbaits. Among those crankbaits was one that mysteriously appeared in my collection years ago and had been shuffled from box to box, but never actually touched water. It was a SALMO HORNET 4 (H4F) — a medium-sized, sinking crankbait. And the spinning rod that always travels with me in my car is a Favorite Rapid RAPTZ-692ML-T 2.05m 3-14g Ex.Fast. Even though this rod isn't really made for trout fishing and the lure was picked completely at random... still, I showed up at 6:00 AM, intuitively picked a promising spot, found an interesting riffle with decent depth and a nice current, made a few casts, and by 7:30 I felt a powerful strike, and then... Then came the song — the song I love most while fishing — the reel's drag singing and the emotional battle with a wild, beautiful, powerful river trout. Emotions were running high, and I could barely contain myself from shouting with joy, remembering this was a protected area with locals nearby who definitely wouldn't "forgive me for my success"))). Especially since the day before I'd asked them about fishing here and where to catch anything, and they all said the same thing — "there's no fish here." Then they told me where to find it, but according to them it was only in private ponds belonging to their relatives and friends. I could barely write down all the addresses they rattled off... But my instincts didn't fail me that day, and as you can see in these photos — I was lucky enough to hold a pretty decent-sized trout in my hands. After a quick photo session, that trout was released back into its element, and after catching another one on a spinner — a tiny little thing — I walked away with a winner's mood, head held high, ready to share my excitement with my family. P.S. Unfortunately, I had to let go of both the trout and the lure that day. With the first one, parting was easy, but with the second... it hurt. Especially since I've never been able to find that same SALMO HORNET 4 (H4F) crankbait again. So that's how my first experience catching wild trout on a mountain river in the Carpathians went.

Ukraine, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Vorokhta, Lesi Ukrainky Street

14.07.2020

Spinning fishing

Brown trout

Free