A buddy of mine told me that his boss from Korea was in town and asked me to take him fishing. I told them that the bite would be tough and that there was a good chance we would get skunked but they said it was ok and wanted to go anyways. I took them out and outfitted them both with drop shot set ups.

My buddy's boss was not an experienced fisherman and was having trouble casting and was totally ignoring me when I was explaining to him how to work a drop shot. He kept casting out and just reeling in. Finally, I got a bit irritated and asked him to hand me the rod. I made a really long cast and explained to him to keep the bail open until it hit the bottom. Then I was showing and explaining how he should be working the bait along the bottom. No more than 30 seconds after I handed him the rod, he hooks into and lands a very nice, fat, smallie in the 1.5 lb range! I snapped a few pics for him on his phone and let it go.

I was then relieved and happy that I was able to put him on a fish in the short amount of time we had. The best part of the day was the surprise fish I caught! I have always been one to look at baits, and think of ways to modify them and use them in ways that nobody else does. I took a particular big soft plastic, made some cuts to completely reshape and change the bait completely.

I tossed it out on my drop shot and started working it like I typically do. I get a solid hit and I set the hook! Big Fish On! Initially my first reaction was that I just hooked into the biggest smallie of the fall season. But after 5 seconds after hooking the fish, it made my rod double over and then made a huge run! It took out drag for about 10 seconds straight! It was then that I knew that this was definitely not a bass but either a salmon or big trout! It made a few more runs pulling drag for 3 - 4 seconds at a time! It definitely had my heart racing! Then out of nowhere it made a run straight for the surface and jumped straight up almost 3 feet into the air! I then confirmed that my suspicions were correct! I land the fish and discover that it is a big, beautiful, healthy cutthroat trout! That's right! A cutthroat on a drop shot!

I didn't have a measuring tape but I lined it up with my rod and would guesstimate this fish to easily be close to 20". I did however have my digital scale and it weighed in at 2 lb 8 oz! Exactly 2.5 lbs! This is my new personal best cutthroat trout and I couldn't be happier!

If I never catch anything for the rest of the year in Lake Union I will still be satisfied after catching this amazing bonus fish!

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