Butte man lands Big Hole lunker Monster brownBy Justin Post of The Montana Standard - 06/16/2009
Bob Kingston and Gary Keeler of Butte bought their first raft as teenagers and have been floating the Big Hole River ever since.Now in their mid-50s, the longtime fishing buddies have their best fishing story yet.On Friday evening, Kingston caught what appears to be the elusive, monster brown trout that has been the talk of many area anglers in recent years.The beast measured 35 inches and made its way to the raft cooler following a roughly 30-minute battle between man and fish, said Kingston, who is having the trout mounted. The fish weighed slightly over 20 pounds after it was wrapped in a damp towel in preparation for the taxidermist."He just kept going wherever he wanted," he said of the fight.Kingston caught the fish with a five-weight fly rod rigged with eight-pound leader and two stonefly nymphs above Mallon's, west of Wise River, after launching from East Bank. "I was just throwing my fly right by the bank and it gobbled it up," he said.