{"id":1047,"date":"2014-02-01T07:48:57","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T15:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/?p=1047"},"modified":"2014-02-01T21:22:48","modified_gmt":"2014-02-02T05:22:48","slug":"hank-the-tank-evolution-of-a-monster-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/01\/hank-the-tank-evolution-of-a-monster-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"Hank the Tank Evolution of a Monster Cut"},"content":{"rendered":"

I knew Hank was back the moment my skater bug got just crushed, with a quick shake of his head though he was gone again.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s alright though.\u201d\u00a0 I said to myself almost shaking with re-assurance as Hank\u2019s predictability sunk in.\u00a0 Robert Benkhe writes that a west slope cutthroat trout can spend it\u2019s whole life in just one to two miles of stream only going upstream to spawn in the spring only to drop right back to the same spot each summer.\u00a0 After crossing paths with Hank or Hank the Tank as he\u2019s become known last year in the early summer I\u2019ve started to learn his haunts.\u00a0 Both initial contacts with Hank it happened down-stream of his summer long home in a small well aerated pocket, but clearly as the water in the main stem drops the same sort of O2 building drop occurs up-stream at the mouth of a small tributary and that\u2019s where Hank spends his summers in the temp stable, well oxygenated, food rich spot he loves so much.<\/p>\n

Six days later the river level had dropped and I could see the perfectly formed seem I was, barely deeper than Hank is tall if the spot wasn\u2019t so perfect you would never see a fish so big in a pocket so small.<\/p>\n

\"Hank<\/a>

Hank the Tank 1st time<\/p><\/div>\n

Even though I knew right where Hank would be I started at the bottom of the small pocket and worked my casts inside to out with instant success.\u00a0 In just four casts I had landed three nice little 12-13 inch cutthroat but not the one I was looking for.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t wait any longer; I moved my next cast up still staying about four feet down from where I thought Hank would be, not wanting to line the smart old fish.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if he heard the splat of my grey Chernobyl ant or if he just saw a flash of movement down-stream to his left but without hesitation he turned and ran from just the spot I thought he\u2019d and slammed the bug with one hardy gulp.<\/p>\n

\"Hank<\/a>

Hank up close<\/p><\/div>\n

The fight was on, out across and down to the spot where he bashed his face on a shallow ledge just down-stream of the spot I was standing just the same plan as last year but this time I was ready.\u00a0 I turned Hank back out into mid-stream where he proceeded to burn across river at least five nerve racking times.\u00a0 Finally I was lucky enough to bring Hank to hand, the same great fish two years in a row.<\/p>\n

\"Hank<\/a>

Hank the Tank 2nd time<\/p><\/div>\n

As a kid growing up on the Methow River I just used to know certain holes always had great cutthroat and now I\u2019ve come to learn those same cutthroat I fish now are very likely progeny of the fish I had caught as a child or in the very least old friends like Hank the Tank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I knew Hank was back the moment my skater bug got just crushed, with a quick shake of his head though he was gone again.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s alright though.\u201d\u00a0 I said to myself almost shaking with re-assurance as Hank\u2019s predictability sunk in.\u00a0 Robert Benkhe writes that a west slope cutthroat trout can spend it\u2019s whole life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[155,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fish-news","category-fishing-report"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27r3u-gT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1047"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1050,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047\/revisions\/1050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfishersproshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}