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I got this write up from buddy, Eric Cole, the other day. He and his friends, Court and Nate, fished the recent Parr Lumber Bull Trout Derby and took the winning bull. The payout was close to $600 and they split it up. Congrats you guys! Read Eric’s account of the day below.

My buddy Nate from Parr Lumber asked me a few months ago if I want to enter a bull trout tournament hosted by Parr Lumber. So my buddy Court Hyer, Nate, and myself teamed up and headed out on April 28th in the dark early morning to my favorite bull trout run.

The first hour we landed 8 bull trout but nothing over 24 inches which is the length needed to enter for the longest char. As we were ending the run I told Court and Nate to wind them in so we can move to a different spot where I have caught some big fish in the past. Right then I hear Court yell BIG FISH ON! We knew it was a biggest fish of anything we had caught so far that morning.

After a few short runs we got her in the net. It was a fat 25" 8.5 pounder and by far our best bull of the day. It was not a monster but it was big enough to enter. After that fish, things really slowed down and the word on the water no one was catching much of anything.

At 4 PM we headed to the weigh in. To our surprise not one keeper was entered and we won the tournament and split the cash. We were running 7" AC Plugs and Lymans but the AC caught 8 of the 9 fish including the winning fish.

Eric Cole