This is the biggest trout I have ever caught, measuring 22.5 inches. It is a brown trout (Salmo trutta), caught on the Owyhee River in eastern Oregon, June 1, 2007. A friend, Vince Martino, helped me land it.

I have fished the Owyhee River about nine times since I moved to Idaho five years ago, and this is the first brown I have officially landed. I have hooked into one other brown trout in this river, but in the excitement of reeling it in and scrambling for a camera, it broke my line. What I used to catch this beauty will remain a secret, since there are no secrets better kept than those that everybody guesses.

"My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy." - Norman Maclean