I got out yesterday on the Columbia, beautiful day, beautiful run, water was gin clear and trout were active. Of course I didn't catch any fish! A newbie always looking for tips.
Setup: Echo TR 6126, with a Rage Comapct 450gr. New line and it casted a lot better, not blowing anchors anymore. Using a 10ft poly leader intermediate with about 3-4ft of flouro tippet. Because I was focusing on casting craft opposed to catching, I held steady on a size 8 muddler minnow.
Setting: nice run, walking sped with some variation across the width, steady slope from shore, probably 20 deg. Fish surfacing about 30-40ft out, so did not need to cast a mile. My guess is the fish were in 6-8ft of water.
Method: Casted about 40-50 ft straight out, mended up stream (this right?), let it swing while maintaining tension, followed with rod tip. I started stripping once it swung in, but after reading above, maybe I should have let it swing? Also, sometimes as the line was being pulled by the current midswing, a let a little more running line out to increase the swing time while maintaining tension. After a few casts, I moved upstream a little and continued on.
A little frustrating as my buddy was catching fish on gear in the same water, and can't help but think due to the conditions that the fish must have seen the fly once or twice. So wondering a few things:
Should I have gotten deeper? (threw on a skagit head and sink tips?)
Different fly, maybe with some more weight? Diff pattern?
Different tip set up on the Rage to get a little deeper?
Am I doing something wrong with mending?
My understanding is that the fish, though rising, are still swimming/sitting on the bottom 1-2 ft of the river, so getting a fly in front of their faces is the best odds.