Patience and Persistence - Bull Trout trip I

Folks, I do not know what is worse on my aging body; hiking all day and fishing some, or not hiking at all and casting an eight weight all day. Both fun, but both hurt. Turns out my luck to a turn for the better yesterday. Although my last couple of fishing trips have not yielded fruits, the patience and persistence of this angler finally paid off. We were in the water at around 8 am (2 hours later than I like to be). Within the first 30 minutes I had caught one whitefish, so at least the skunk was off. About twenty minutes later I hooked, for a brief 5 seconds, what i thought was another whitefish. I had been lazy on the hook set and it came off after only a few little shakes. I casted to the exact spot again because once you find one whitie, you have found them all, and the same fish grabbed on again. It gave those few initial shakes but then it hunkered down on the river bottom and didn't want to move. I was thinking that this must be a pretty nice whitefish. Then it moved..... and I couldn't stop it. Whitefish? Negative, ghostrider. My first bull trout of the season went 25 inches and 7 lbs, weighed and measured. A nice specimen, indeed. Funny story: As Micah was running for the camera, I unhooked the beast shown here and held him in the water to try and keep him happy. While down in the water, he mustered up what was left of his strength (was no match for the new Redington Wayfarer Six 8 wt) and managed to flop out of my hands and into he water. Well I had been walking around and the mud was stirred up - zero visibility. I thought he was gone for good. I did not see him swim away though, so I decided to reach into the water, which was about knee deep, and feel around. Sure enough, as I was up to my elbows in freezing water, I felt a fin, then a tail. I was able to pick the fish back up, get some video, a picture or two and then send him on his way back out into he river. I love these fish! What amazingly powerful fish they are. And smart too. This one had me hung up around a log twice, and into some bushes hanging over a cut bank two or three times. I was lucky to get him in the end. I went 3 whitefish, 2 red-band rainbows (natives) and the Bully. The rainbow trout here are just spectacular. I've never seen trout like these. The Metolius is slated to see the return of steelhead and a historic run of sockeye in the coming years. Although I support the rehabilitation and restoration effort, I cant help but think of what it is going to do to the pristine river I have grown to love. I can only hope the powers that be will realize what a treasure we have here and do everything to protect it, even if it means closing it to angling for a time. Hopefully it wont come to that, but the cause is worthy of it. Anyway, here's to many more bull trout to come. Maybe I'll get another 30+ incher this year. Tight Lines!