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A few times a week for the past couple weeks I have been out in the snow and wind tossing streamers in local lakes which are quickly losing their ice. It seems these lakes spit out a few overly large browns this time of year (mostly to guys fishing bait) and this potential has gotten me a little motivated to explore with a fly rod while the water is still cold and these fish are still supposedly patroling the shallows. This type of fishing is a big change of pace for me, and I think that is why I am enjoying it so much, even though the catching has been much slower than it generally is on the area rivers. I've done a little surf fishing for stripers in my past, and this is about the closest thing to it that I have found out in trout heaven.
A nine foot 6 wt rigged with a floating line has been my companion for this fishing. After a few days of dulling hooks on rocks behind me, tangling line in my feet, not getting my big flies to carry out into the lake when casting with very limited backcast room and huge winds in my face, I am begining to think that this isn't the answer. Step one and two are obvious to me, now that I have a few days under my belt. I need to put on my waders instead of rainpants and get my but out away from the rock walls in the places I have room to wade. Step two is a stripping basket (I now remember why EVERBODY out east used one.)
The floating line is going away, as in the waves I cannot keep tight to the fly on a slow retrieve, the next step is a clear intermediate. Shooting heads would be better, but I don't have any, and this is not something I am going to invest in. I do have a T-200 I could use, but I don't need the fast sink rate, in fact the fish seem to like to come up to a fly slowly retrived under the surface.
The past few days I have been out the usefulness of a light double handed surf type rod have been pretty obvious. This isn't something I wouldn't ever invest in, but a stiff 12' 6 wt (the T&T comes to mind) would be money for this type of fishing. I doubt there is ANY market for anything more specialized than that, but maybe the guys in the Salt need a schoolie two hander? I guess the point of all of this is that the more I fish with the knowledge of two handers, the more places where their use would be effective and benifical come to mind. I am curious as to what other "non-typical" uses for doublehanded fly rods you percieve. And if any of you salty guys, or pike fly rodders (these two types of fishing are what I see as being the most closely related to what I am doing currently) have any suggestions, I would be eager to hear them.
A nine foot 6 wt rigged with a floating line has been my companion for this fishing. After a few days of dulling hooks on rocks behind me, tangling line in my feet, not getting my big flies to carry out into the lake when casting with very limited backcast room and huge winds in my face, I am begining to think that this isn't the answer. Step one and two are obvious to me, now that I have a few days under my belt. I need to put on my waders instead of rainpants and get my but out away from the rock walls in the places I have room to wade. Step two is a stripping basket (I now remember why EVERBODY out east used one.)
The floating line is going away, as in the waves I cannot keep tight to the fly on a slow retrieve, the next step is a clear intermediate. Shooting heads would be better, but I don't have any, and this is not something I am going to invest in. I do have a T-200 I could use, but I don't need the fast sink rate, in fact the fish seem to like to come up to a fly slowly retrived under the surface.
The past few days I have been out the usefulness of a light double handed surf type rod have been pretty obvious. This isn't something I wouldn't ever invest in, but a stiff 12' 6 wt (the T&T comes to mind) would be money for this type of fishing. I doubt there is ANY market for anything more specialized than that, but maybe the guys in the Salt need a schoolie two hander? I guess the point of all of this is that the more I fish with the knowledge of two handers, the more places where their use would be effective and benifical come to mind. I am curious as to what other "non-typical" uses for doublehanded fly rods you percieve. And if any of you salty guys, or pike fly rodders (these two types of fishing are what I see as being the most closely related to what I am doing currently) have any suggestions, I would be eager to hear them.