sunday afternoon

welcome.....

ya know, it's funny. As I'm wandering down the stream on a Sunday afternoon I have all these terrific thoughts on what to spew about in my blog, but I sit down to write and poof... Need to bring a note pad. Anyway, this early season mission consisted of a couple elements most notably tree climbing. It's a neat time of the year, low clear water and no leaves means presents a good opportunity to scout out a couple favorite holes from a more arboreal perspective. and so I did. Brad and I have played this game before on the Rush, tree scouting and casting director but I did a solo mission seeing as it was mid day and I'd already fished the holes a bit. You can learn some interesting things from this view. I was looking for structural elements more or less, bottom contour, undercuts and the like. I was surprised to see a 30-40 foot long submerged tree in one of my spots, that explains a few lost fish but now I know a little more on how to position myself and play the fish to stay out of the snag..

I was also trying out a new line. I normally fish a 15 foot type 2 sinking line on a 6wt in the early season but I opted for a 30 foot type 3, on my old 5wt croix. nice medium action rod, although a little too light to pick up a lot of submerged line, more reason to strip it all the way in.
Likes: line sank like a rock and was in the strike zone faster from point of impact, and stayed longer on a swing and downstream hang. it did well in the cold, air temps around 30 or so and being new, plenty slick.
Dislikes: Need to throw a 6 or 7wt, preferably a 10 footer. Line sank so fast, mending beyond initial impact was minimal. seemed to hit with a thud, felt like I was beating the water to a froth.

I did manage to get one grab...In the early season I dig deep in the fly well and try out some things I may not fish in may and beyond. This outing was sculpins, olive and brown mostly and fished deep and slow...seemed like a good plan with the cold water and all..Granted it was mid day but still? 10 trips to the fly box later I finally relented, out came a big nasty. This big nasty is a seasoned double muddler, in a pretty sky blue/tan and silver. New, this fly was 5" or better but now at prime fighting weight it's about 4, a little sparse as well. Nonetheless, it's swimming just right and hanging in the zone like a champ. One the third or forth drift, whap, then nothing. Sometimes it's all about one big bite, and going with what got you there....