Wouldn't it be funny?

The rain was swelling up LC tribs, so I had big browns on my mind.  I knew where at least 2 were hanging on account of hooking into them opening day. I asked Chris if he wanted to tag along, and he was reluctant.  He hadn't done well yet on this particular river.  I assured him the big browns would be out and about with the high flows.  With not many other options in terms of trout, we hit the river early.  The clarity and flow was perfect, I was all giggly when pulling into the first spot.

Chris brought his spin gear with lures and we covered water quickly.  One of the bigger pools that I've never done well in was on fire .  I'd had 2 short grabs and Chris landed a beautiful 16" brown and had another grab right after releasing it.  While fishing upriver, we came across one of the pools that I'd had a big boy break me off.  As we stood there looking into the water, I grinned and said, "Wouldn't it be funny if we caught the fish that broke me off and it had my fly in it's mouth?" I started swinging big streamers at the top of the pool, and Chris worked the the lower section.  I just happened to look over and watch as he had a big brown grab his Rapala less than 5' from his feet.  It started to flail around and do gator rolls in the shallow water.  He was dumbfounded and didn't even know what to say.  I ran over and scooped him up before he got his bearings in the deeper water.  We were ecstatic!  I was unhooking the Rapala from its lip when I saw some rabbit strip in the net.  I grabbed it and tried pulling it out, thinking it was a fly that fell off my foam patch into the net (which happens often) but when I pulled, the fish moved with it.  I flipped the fish over and my eyes went wide.  My slumpbuster was in this fishes mouth!!  This was THE brown that broke me off a few weeks prior!

The 23" Master Class brown that broke me off on opening day.

After he released the fish, I felt a little better knowing it wouldn't have a big streamer stuck in its face.  We soon took off to head back because Chris had some errands to run.  Watching a friend get into and land big fish is just as satisfying as doing it myself, so I was very happy without even landing a fish myself!