When Delaware River smallmouth guide Blaine Mengel mentioned he was catching 20-inch-plus "brownies" on jerkbaits during the late summer on the northern section of the Delaware, being a hardcore bronzeback angler I figured he was referring to smallmouth bass. But arriving in Hancock, NY, at the appointed time last week, I found myself in the middle of trout-fishing country. We were fishing the special regulation area on the West Branch of the Delaware were brown trout find the coldwater discharge of the upstream water supply reservoir very much to their liking. But instead of fly fishing for these meat-eaters, Blaine uses jerkbaits.
After trying without success to finesse a brown into taking a small, baitfish pattern jerkbait, Blaine realized the high and dingy water demanded a bolder jerkbait. He pulled out a Sour Grape XCalibur Xs4. Over the next couple hours, Blaine landed seven brown trout between 16" and 25" on that dirty-water color.
However, trophy toothy browns are a slippery lot that don't like to pose for pictures. "You can't lip these fish like smallmouth," said Blaine as another one shot out of his hands and back into the river.
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