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| Christiaan Pretorius |
Chasing some of the Northern Hemisphere's largest trout led Cody and me to Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. While several groups were in Kamchatka from
Tailwaters, we chose to accompany Ron Foster to the Zhupanova River. Catching those bruisers with big shoulders and rod bending stamina demanded articulated flies in streamers and mouse patterns. Predominately, black streamers produced the best catches, and thanks to
FlyCastaway's guide Christiaan Pretorius of South Africa, and his wonderful fly, I was able to hook, fight, and land two Rainbow Trout of a lifetime--one in Russia and one in Alaska.
Spending his first year on the Zhupanova, Christiaan tied a particularly fabulous pattern. Graciously, Christiaan allowed me to name the fly and to keep the fly. I named the pattern
Mooschka and used the color scheme as the descriptor to round out the name.
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| The Pink Mooschka |
I fished the
Pink Mooschka in Russia and Alaska's NakNek River with astonishing results. Ultimately, I chose to sacrifice catching bigger fish to bring the fly home safely. I can't wait to see what
Mooschka does to the Bass!
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| 29 7/8", 7 lb. 7 oz. Zhupanova River Rainbow Trout |
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| 27", 7 lb. NakNek River "Chrome" Rainbow Trout |
Sounds like a long way to go for fish, but dang, those are big trout!
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