# Muskrats and Trophy Browns



## ottadad (Aug 28, 2014)

Fishing has been good to me this summer on the lower provo. Lots of great memories and beautiful fish. I just wanted to share some pictures and a story I thought some people might find interesting.

I've recently kindled a love for mousing. It started out on the green river, but I've since discovered it can be quite successful on the provo as well. I've been trying to get out more lately since my first child will be arriving soon and my first year of law school starts in only a few days. It's always exhilarating and I doubt I'll ever forget the first time a big ole moonlit brown trout slurped my mouse fly on the lower provo. Last night a buddy and I had a different mousing experience however. I casted to a bank that had produced multiple fish the past few weeks and felt a powerful tug on my fly. I set hook and felt the fly dart down stream with surprising force. Suddenly however, the tug stopped and all I felt was dead weight on the end of my line. As I reeled my line in I was surprised to find not a fish, but a muskrat hooked on to my fly (I'd say about a 15 incher ;-)). It was horrifying to unhook, but I definitely wasn't going to loose a mouse that a guide on the green had tied for me. It took a little while but the little guy was released unharmed and quickly swam back towards the shore. As I watched him swim away, out of the corner of my eye I caught another muskrat assaulting my buddy's fly in my headlamp. Luckily he didn't manage to hook himself, but who knew? Watch out for those pesky muskrats... they'll eat your mice.

I didn't capture a good picture of the muskrat I caught last night, but here's a few of the guys I brought in this summer:


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Exceptional fish, thanks for posting.

.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Those are some purty fish!


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## martymcfly73 (Sep 17, 2007)

Stay out of my spot.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

Way cool story and pics! Nice to see someone so successful at their sport--flyfishing is tough


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## willfish4food (Jul 14, 2009)

So does catching a muskrat like that fall under your fishing license or a furbearer license? 

Kidding aside. Great looking fish, and cool story!


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## Stimmy (Sep 10, 2007)

do you "skate" or swim them across the surface? something want to try!
Well done!


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## ottadad (Aug 28, 2014)

Cast to the bank, mend downstream, twitch the rod and swim it across the current, and then hold on!


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