Tailing Loops

I finally got a few hours to spare in this unbelievably busy week, so I hit the stream to see what the trout were up to. I'd originally planned to just put on a pair of hip boots that I keep in my car at all times for just such an occasion, but then decided that it'd be a great opportunity to try out my KSOs (that I had on), in the water.

So, once I got to the stream (in this case, the Loyalhanna), I simply strung up my rod (Diamondglass 7'-0" 4wt), rolled up my jeans, and headed for the water.

The first thing I noticed was that the water was cold!

The second thing I noticed was the unbelievable amount of feeling the FiveFingers offered as I walked around the freestone streambed. Far better than the Teva sandals I normally use to wet wade, and obviously leaps and bounds better than hip boots or wading boots, I could feel each and every pebble underfoot.

Whether because of the individual toe pockets, the flexible sole, the zigzag siping, or, more likely, a combination of the three, I found myself walking around in the water far more naturally. While wading in hip boots is normally a cause for abandoning all fishing and worrying about secure placement of each step, the FiveFingers seemed to find solid purchase anywhere my foot fell on the slick, rounded stones in the Loyalhanna, freeing up my concentration, and allowing me to fish as I moved.

The Loyalhanna, like most freestone streams, has few, if any, jagged stones in the streambottom, so I didnt have to worry about sharp portrusions jabbing me underfoot, and the seperate pockets allowed my toes to flare a bit, increasing my footing in the silty sand that covers slower portions of the stream.

When I was ready to head home (or rather, when I had to tear myself away from fishing and head back to the busy schedule), it was nice to have such good traction for navigating up the bank in wet shoes. This, however, proved to be the only drawback of the FiveFingers that I've encountered so far: several times, I picked up stems of weeds and blades of grass between my toes. While it wasn't a huge issue, you definitely cant just bust through the weeds like you're used to doing with rubber hip boots.

When I got back to the car, I took off the shoes to see if the KSOs really kept stuff out, and was pleasantly surprised. While there were a very few tiny bits of sand and leaf litter in each shoe, the total amount was insignificant. In each shoe, I could count the individual bits of 'stuff' that got in. There was about 10 grains of sand in each shoe. Not hardly enough to notice. Overally, I was highly impressed, as I thought the elastic around the ankle would keep largers bits out, but allow silt to get all through the inside of the shoe. Nice job there, Vibram.

Back at the car, I took off my KSOs, dried my feet, and put on a pair of regular shoes, tossing the Vibrams behind my seat to dry. This was at about 6:30pm. Now, in the mean time, they were in my car, not in a normal airflow situation, but this morning they were still a little bit damp, something to consider if you plan on wearing them as an everyday shoe, or in extremely wet surroundings. I'm sure while being worn they'd dry much quicker.

By the way...I had one take on a #22 snowshoe caddis that I didn't get a good hookset on, and caught a nice healthy brown male on a #12 olive wulff. I saw alot of caddis fluttering around, in the #16-#20 neighborhood, but didn't see any trout eating any caddis. My guess is that standard caddis patterns will become effective very soon, and will remain effective until the first good frost.

...this IS a fishing blog, after all.

Like I said earlier, I've been getting into fishing dries.  After Jerry and I fished the Little Mahoning on Saturday, we met up again on the Loyalhanna, the closest thing I have to a "home water".  No the fishing isnt always spectacular, but unless the trout are getting overpressured by the flocks of weekend anglers, I can usually manage to pull one or two in a full evening of fishing.  Sunday was a nice day, and the fish were surfacing all around us...unfortunately, it was to something small and difficult to imitate.  

Jerry was getting some attention with beetles and nymphs, while I was only getting limited glances at my dry and wet offerings.  It was one of those afternoons where you burn through more tippet by switching flies than tangles, fish, or wear and tear.  Finally, I managed to convince a fish, a 14" rainbow, on a #18 Griffith's gnat.  I was pleased to have caught a fish on such a small fly, especially aftercutting my teeth in fly fishing on #8 buggers.  At the same time, Jerry pulled in a fish lower in the pool, for a double hookup on an otherwise slow, but beautiful day.  

We fished for a few hours with little further success...a few bites and rises, but no major activity...and after a while, Jerry headed up to his van and returned with his 3 wt. Diamondglass rod.  I'd asked about the Diamondglass line before, so he made sure to bring it along for me to try out with the Cortland Sylk line he's got it rigged with.    As we traded rods, me accepting the Diamondglass in return for my 3 wt Avid, Jerry advised me to take my time and slow it down, as the rod was considerably slower than most.  He had a very light 7X tippet on, so I decided to stick with my MO of the afternoon and tied on another #18 Griffith's Gnat.  I worked some of the mustard colored Sylk line out of the tip top then threw it into my first loop on the rod.  

As was to be expected, I was a little quick on the draw, and the first loop collapsed ineffectively, running out of 'oomph' well short of turnover.  Lifting the line again, I false cast a few times to get the hang of the action, finding it was definitely slower than my Avid, though not by a vast margin.  Within a few more practice casts, I was throwing tight, delicate loops in the thin line, across the modest distance to the rising trout in the feeding lane.  

Jerry seemed to discover this at about the same time, remarking that the "Moderate-Fast" descriptor didnt really describe the Avid exactly, and that he felt it was closer to a Moderate.  For his part, Jerry had tied on one of his beetles, which seemed to excite the trout in front of him, as he had several risers come to the beetle as I got to know the Diamondglass.

As I fished with it, I found it to be a pleasant little rod that forced you to slow your cast down before you could appreciate its exceptional smoothness.  My Avid is certainly more crisp, and seems to communicate better what it's doing during the cast, while the Diamondglass is seamlessly smooth and delicate, loading and unloading with an unmistakeable feel that manages to be definite and tangible but also silky smooth and inseperable at the same time, with load transitioning into unload without any distinct point at which it hapens.  In short: while I like my St. Croix for its precision, versatility, and the way it "talks to me in plain language", I like the Diamondglass for its delicacy, smoothness, and the way it almost seemed to cast itself.  The Avid is certainly the more useful rod for me, but, with enough space to cast and maneuver, that Diamondglass was a true delight to cast, and if I ever see one at a price my budget can justify, it'll be near-impossible to pass it up.  I was casting Jerry's 3 wt. 7'-0", but I'd probably go for the 8'-0" 4 wt.  to better round out my quiver.  

As we fished, Jerry remarked a few times that he really wanted me to catch one on the glass rod, just as I wanted him to get a fish on the end of the Avid.  While he eventually got a few bites on his beetle, I drifted that Griffiths gnat again and again, with only casual interest from the otherwise active, feeding trout.

Suddenly, though, with little flash, one trout decided it was time, and firmly attached himself to the fly with a quick rise and sip and the fight was on!  The first thing I noticed was that the soft rod made a good hookset a whole new issue, as a flick of the wrist was just as likely to simply flex the rod as it was to actually drive the hook home.  Lucky for me, the trout had taken care of that, lodging the #18 hook firmly in the corner of its jaw.  As the healthy 12" brown ran and leapt, I was grinning from ear to ear, enjoying the grace with which the rod came alive with a fish on the line.  Just as Jerry had described it, the rod "danced" as I fought the fish, eventually pulling it within range of my net.  A quick scoop, and the fight was over.  I freed the brown and was back to fishing quickly, but the memory of the fish on the line will be one that will make it hard for me to pass up a deal on a nice, light glass rod.

Eventually, it was time for Jerry to head out, so we bot made the walk back to the parking area, where we traded rods back and Jerry changed out of waders.  For my part, I slipped my Avid into the passenger seat of my car, and, waders still on, I headed for Mill Creek.  Fishing had been slow here on the 'hanna, and I didn't expect much out of the smaller creek to the north, but I wasn't done fishing, and I figured that Mill creek would be less crowded, even if it was slow.

Little did I know, that while I would indeed have my chosen section of mill creek all to myself, the fishing would be anything but slow...