January Slab of the Month Entry: South Fork Snake Brown Trout

Chummist Adam Berry shows us that Winter Brown Trout need love too...

Comments

[FishnTerp]

well done sir. Frame that one.

[Bent Rod Media]

nice

[Stretch Armstrong]

My arms are burning

[lover]

That is just great.

[joker status]

nice fish

[Montana Fishing Outfitters]

Now that's a porker!

[Skeptical]

I'm sure this will draw massive hatred, but that photo looked photoshopped. Note the weird halo effect around the fins, especially when you view full sized (full sized image). I'm sure it's probably legit, but it looks really odd to me.

[CarolinaPanthersSuckBalls]

It is photoshopped you $###@......he has everything in the background black and white, which takes time to do. hard not to make some mistakes when outlining the fish especially if you are not a pro. you can especially see the mistakes on the acceleration of the dorsal fin. GREAT FISH MAN and GOOD EDITING

[me]

Skeptical makes a valid point...closer inspection reveals that both the fish and guy have some odd, ragged and very sharp edges around areas that would be difficult to accurately cut and paste. My suspicion is that the guy and fish were cut and pasted into the wintry scene to make it appear that the fish was from this month, while it could have been from some time ago...but what do I know. Nice fish either way.

[Richard Cranium]

He should have cut and pasted some new teeth.

[Stinkpalm]

That is not photoshopped. The background is exactly what the South Fork looks like right now (I live down the street). There are plenty of big bad ass browns in that river that feed this time of year (it is a tailwater). Nice work man. You get my vote for Slab of the Month.

[fishface]

Dang!!!!

[connor]

yeah... not photoshopped. clearly not photoshopped

[Hillary Clinton]

My investigation reveals that this young man is innocent of any shenanigans.

[Adam Berry]

Not Photoshopped at all. It is like the guy above said, this is what the South Fork and Idaho look like this time of year. Kind of bleak, I know. I think it is funny you think it is in black and white. If you go to tetonvalleylodge.com/blog there is a video titled "First Video of the Year". I invite everyone to check it out and our other videos as well. That video has this fish in it. I caught it on the 2nd of January on the lower section of the South Fork below the canyon. 7lbs on a certified scale.

[FishnTerp]

I am pretty sure I know why it looks like that from my own experience. If you take a picture with a good camera that has a lot of pixels (i.e 8 to 10 megapixels or more) then shrink it down to a smaller size format on a computer, color transitions around curved surfaces can look jagged because so many pixels are crammed down into a smaller size and the shape is compressed. It's the opposite of stretching an image with poor picture quality into a larger size and seeing it get blurry. If you're still skeptical try pasting a couple pics into micrsoft word then greatly changing the pic size by dragging at the corners and you'll see what I mean. I have the Olympus Tough 8000 (an amazing camera by the way) and it can take pics up to 12 megapixes - when i take pics on that high of a setting i've had this rough pixelation happen when i view them on my computer. It is usually only on curved surfaces and only between starkly different colors. Look at the bottom where his coat boarders the river, there's no weird border.

It's strange but pixelation compression and stretching can really mess with the image. If you ask camera people 10 and 12 megapixel settings are actually meant for images you plan to blow up to 10x12" or bigger to frame and hang. I set my camera to 5 megapixels now for this reason - I am guessing this pic was taken on a 10 or 12 mp setting.

Also, on the arm stretching, I don't see it as being an issue here. You can still see this size of his fingers and hence know the scale of the fish. Personally I would rather see the detail of a beautiful fish than my ugly mug when I look at pictures of my trips, so I usually take one pic with it reached out at least a little bit to highlight the fish. It's much better than when people have the fish cradled right up against their stomach and I can barely see it. There's a reason we spend so much time chasing tese beauties, so let's see them. I get the point about stretching the arms being a cheap move, but I think it's acceptable here since it's such a great fish. If it was a average, unimpressive-looking 8-inch baby fish that was held right against the camera to look like it was 2 ft, that would be a different story.

On an unrelated note, someone please ask Jesus to unfreeze the Potomac River.

[Stinkpalm]

Nice video Adam. I had a hunch that fish came from the stretch below Lorenzo. Keep up the good work.

[minder]

you Richard Lickers are funny

[Adam Berry]

It was caught a few miles above Lorenzo. We took out at Lorenzo. There are big fish below but it isn't as consistent so we don't fish it often.

[pegboy]

Stretch Armstrong is a prick - just a loser computer boy - total hater, he just needs some attention.

[Boga's are for knobs]

using a boga on a trout is a great way to damage it's internals..way to need to get a weight..

a 25" trout should never be put on a boga, ya weiner..next time hold it by the gills!!

[TVL noobs]

Good call out on the Boga...and the damage it causes to fish! These guys are good fisherman and the fish is legit, but they have a history of showing no respect to the trout and are completely classless. Their posts frequently display extremeley poor handling of fish, bleeding fish, fingers in gills, etc. Heck, they don't even use a fish friendly net that is so common amongst guides these days. You would think that since TVL has been outfitting since the age of dinosaurs (Just ask Randy Berry, he will tell you in no uncertain terms how great he and TVL is!) that they would be a leader in guiding and flyfishing etiquette...but they are the exact opposite. Arrogant, ignorant, and elitest....that describes Randy, and the apples didn't fall far from the tree. Teton Valley Lodge is the joke of the Guide Industry in South East Idaho.
Bottom line...these guys are clowns!

[Logan Peterson]

I hope everyone realizes these guys are just pulling those big fish off their spawning beds too. I bet they are just lining those fish and sight fishing for them. Anyone with a rod and faint idea of how to use it could being doing this, should be illegal. I am from the area and how pricks like them have no respect for fish and is the reason of the falling of that fishery.

[Adam Berry]

The previous posts are obviously from guys who don't like my family. I no longer work with my family at the lodge and can't speak for them but my guess is that they may guide for some of our "competition" in the area, if you can call them that. Probably tired of having their clients asking them why the guys in the green boats seem to have a fish on every time they see them. Sorry you confuse our confidence for arrogance. It is easy to be an elitist when you are elite. We all know we are the best in the area and have been since 1919. The guides that are let go from the lodge for not working hard enough go on to be head guides at any other outfitter in the area.

On the spawning beds comment, check out the vid on tetonvalleylodge.com/blog. None of these fish were caught on reds. The browns aren't even on the reds in January. Every fish caught in this video was on a streamer and the big fish was caught in the middle of the river using a swing drift.

We look at fishing different than a lot of people. It isn't about being on the river, or having a nice day, the beauty of the fish. None of that. We are about catching the most and biggest fish possible on any given day. Anyone who tells you that it isn't about catching fish can't catch them.

If you want to see more of us crushing 'em on the South Fork or the other rivers in the area check out tetonvalleylodge.com.

[keep killin em]

with the boga, loser