This past Monday, I went back to the "secret" steelhead spot. Of course it isn't really a secret, I just don't want the thousands of people who read this blog every day to turn the place into a zoo. Okay, maybe there are slightly less than a thousand people who come here. Umm. Maybe much fewer than. Whatever! You know what I'm sayin! :)
This time around, I was joined by Ted and Mark. It was nice to have company for a change.
Arriving before sunup, I put on my gear while in the car as it was raining pretty hard out. By the time I finished up, it had slowed to a drizzle. I walked to the river and got right in to the spot from last week. Ted and Mark were a little ways behind, so I figured I'd go ahead and catch that huge steelhead before they show up. ...That didn't pan out.
Ted and Mark came to the water and spread out above me. After a mostly dry morning, the rain came and went. But no where near the downpour that I experienced last week. Unfortunately, the bite was, like the rain, hit or miss. However, I'd have to classify this as a more productive steelhead day than most. Considering most are pretty darn quiet.
All three of us had bumps. Personally, I hooked up with another good sized fish that broke me off after a few seconds of brutal thrashing. The fish was sitting in the riffles below a tailout. Again, I was using my newest fly creation that was so successful the week before.
For those keeping score, that would be two (fishing) days in a row where I've hooked a good sized adult to only have the 12lb tippet busted. This is causing me to reevaluate whether fluorocarbon is indeed the best way to go. I'm getting a lot of mixed opinions from others. So, sometime this week, I'm going to do some tests to see if I can figure out how best to proceed.
I can't help to wonder what could of been. It would be stupid to continue with the status quo. I've got to figure out what the problem is. I'll report back with my findings.
The rest of the day consisted of a few bumps, but nothing more. Mark took off in late morning and eventually Ted and I moved upriver. This new spot looked fishy enough, but neither of us got so much as a nibble. As it was getting dark, I decided to try and find Ted to head back to the cars.
Thanks Ted and Mark for joining me. It was great to have others around.
4 comments:
Hey Rick. It was, indeed, a pleasure to meet you and Ted. I think I'm on the right track chasing those elusive Steelhead and as soon as I can get to the fly shop I can replenish the one fly that seems productive for me. I'm looking forward to the next time we can swing some flies together.
Mark
try using maxima ultra green as your tippet material.
Hi Jordan.
In the past, I've used Maxima UG. However, the reason for switching to fluoro was that it sinks more than mono.
I may go back to it. But first, I need to test out everything a little more carefully and try to figure out exactly what is failing.
I had a similar problem with flouro.After breaking off two very large fish on the Mad last year I switched to Maxima and haven't broken off another fish.As far as flouro sinking faster than mono it is unimportant.Fishing with t-10 as you do you are fishing no deeper than 3 feet and less than that in the faster riffles.The speed at which your tippet sinks is inconsequential in these conditions.Nymphing is another matter....
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