Christmas Eve 2012 Report

About 30 degrees and a gage height of ~3.00 feet at Oatka today.  Skunked but a start time of 9:15 and fishing big streamers may have had something to do with that.  Still, it was wonderful getting out and having the creek all to myself the whole time.  Can't wait to go again!

Merry christmas everyone!

Heavy rig casting (nymphs, streamers, sink tips, and maybe sinking lines?)

My post this morning got me thinking about all the trouble I had been having trying to cast heavy rigs.  Lefty's pointers in this video really helped me understand what I'm doing wrong.

It seems any slack line through the cast caused my major issues with line tangling and "jerkiness."  Well the jerk at the end of my normal back cast caused that slack line!  It isn't normally an issue with dries because they don't have the weight to jerk the line back and cause slack.

So the lessons learned are

1) make sure as much of the line is at the top of the water as you can with a roll cast

2) constant load on the rod during the back cast via a side-armed, circular motion (sounds like a Belgian style cast now that I think about it)

3) finish with a high overhead cast with a little pull on the end to help straighten out the leader

4) make the rod tip circle, not your hand

Finally some room to breathe...

The summer and fall have been a hectic time for my fiance and I.  I wrote previously that we purchased our first home together, so you can imagine that the last few months have been a whirlwind of activity, especially since we decided to host Thanksgiving this year for both our families.

Needless to say, there hasn't been much free time for some fishing.  What makes it a little better for me (but not for our fishy friends) is that many of our area streams have had such a low flow for the summer.  The last time I went out to Oatka a couple of months ago, I felt so bad that I didn't even feel like fishing again until some extended rain came.  It never did.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I'm finding myself with a little more time...to not fish hehe.  Every time I procrastinate a little and visit some of the fly fishing blogs/sites I frequent, I'm amazed at how devoted to the sport these writers/authors are as well as how much time they have to devote to it.  It seems this part of my life keeps getting busier and busier, though some of the fault is my own (hobbies like hydroponics, home brewing, fly tying, etc.)  I've also never partaken in the excellent lake run fishing we have in the region though I had hoped to begin this year, hopefully next year will be the ticket.

In anticipation of that I've added some some old/vintage toys to the arsenal to a fill out a spot in my collection.  I had recently found an interest in glass rods after following The Fiberglass Manifesto's blog as well as several glass builds by Jordan of JP Ross Fly Rods.  Both spoke of unique abilities inherent to fiberglass, so I thought what the heck, and found a Fenwick 857 from 1978-79 in great condition on ebay for $62!  I had previously won another auction for a Medalist 1495 from the earlier 1970's (before they moved production overseas) and after a good bit of lawn casting with a Cortland DT7 Sylk line, what a great match it was!  I'll have to test it where it counts and with a few other lines just to be sure, but it loads the rod well and casting is so effortless out to 40-50 feet.  The slower action is, I think, a wonderful thing as well and loads the rod more deeply, contributing to its casting ease I'm sure.  I'll have to remember how heavy a presentation it presents on the water too and judge line choices from that as well.  I meant for it to be a steelhead/streamer rod, but if it needs to be pressed into service as a dry fly rod, I'd like to know if it can.

Lastly, my family's annual snowboarding trip is coming up a bit earlier this year, scheduled for the week between Christmas and New Years.  Whiteface is the destination and I was excited to discover that the AuSable River, Fran Betters' home waters, is right there running through Wilmington and Lake Placid.  Not planning to fish at all, but hopefully I can get some good pictures of that historic water!  Until next time.