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THE VALUE OF A FULL-SINKING FLY LINE:
I raced over to the WAFFLE HOUSE and had brunch. A bowl of �grits�, three scrambled eggs, three strips of bacon grilled near dry, hash brown potatoes and black coffee would hold me till the next morning. I learned to eat �grits� along the Gulf Coast >> With spoon or fork, make a volcano like hole in the middle of your grits. Pour a good squirt of maple syrup in the hole. Then black-pepper the circle around the hole. Love em. And grits are good for ya. ANYWAY, met George and Bill and headed for the river. The river was up and a bit off color. I rigged my 5-wt rod with a full-sinking line. To the loop in the end of the fly line, I tied on 4-feet of 5x tippet. To that I tyed on a size-10 Crackleback. I tye size-10 Cracklebacks with red 8/0 thread so I can easily see them mixed in with the size 12�s which have an olive head. I walked down the gravel bar with George and made a dozen casts, taking five rainbow�s, and quit. That was too easy for me, so I stopped fishing. I do it all of the time, on streams nationwide with this rig, when streams are a bit up and off color as the case was here. And have, on streams nationwide since I designed the Crackleback pattern in 1951(pattern-sheet that tells all in our catalogs). Cast across the stream and allow the line, tippet and fly to sink. Hold your rod pointing down. And begin a short steady skipping of the rod tip. Skip the rod tip side ways to the stream, not up and down. Allow the fly to cross through those feeding lanes as it moves down stream. Trout have to make a split decision to hit or not. On medium to large streams, make a dozen casts over the same water, to be sure to cover all of the feeding lanes. Later when Bill moved down stream to us, I demonstrated the fly and method again, taking one more fish. Six fish in a short section of stream is my limit. Even with catch and release, we will lose fish to stress. And I can clean out a pool with a sinking line and a size-10 or 12 Crackleback. You can too, be kind. We then sat on the gravel bar waiting for the blue winged olive hatch that never happened. Thank you �full sinking-line� and my Crackleback, or nothing would have happened for me that day regarding trout. Question, ask for Ed. (see next)
SAME DAY AS ABOVE:
Same day as above. Before we trout fished, we visited a favorite stretch of smallmouth water. Because I carry a trout fly box everyday in my shirt pocket for that possibility of a quick afternoon trip, I did not have a smallmouth fly with me. Bill gave me a Size-4 sinking Madam-X. That along with the F-C Pearl Shiner is about all I carry for �sub-surface smallmouth bass fishing when I have a smallmouth box with me. I used the same 5-wt rod as above(wishing I had brought a 6-wt), and used the sinking-line as above. I looped a four foot 4x tippet to the loop in the front of the sinking line. To that I tied on Bill�s Size-4 Madam-X and quickly took two 14-inch smallmouth bass, fishing the Madam-X just as I did the Crackleback above. The next fish(smallmouth) was a real trophy smallmouth. It measured to 1-1/2 inches above the top gold wrap, above the bottom of the reelseat on the SAGE �SP� 8-1/2 foot three piece rod I was using for the day. The rod was to light for this fish. The bass had its way with me. And most really large smallmouth bass are hen fish. So I rested the fish often until I could trap it against a gravel bar. I rested it again, then measured it against the rod, and released it. George was fishing along with me as we moved down the stream, and he took several small bass, green perch etc. The key to success here again was that extra fast full-sinking fly line, and four foot tippet. To conclude, it should be noted that we guys mentioned here are dry fly and top water fly fishers for trout and smallmouth. But I�m always ready to deal with no hatches, high and or off colored water wherever I go, any season of the year. This day I was prepared, and success was mine. I carry two reels, or a reel and an extra spool in our F-C Dual �FLAT-FLAT reel-bag(Item 756 in our color catalog). This day, I simply slipped the reel-bag inside my shirt, as I did not wear a vest. The sinking-lines I use are the CORTLAND 444SL �STEADY-SINK� Extra-Fast Sink or the SA MASTERY �UNIFORM-SINK� Type-4 sink. Again, if you have a question, ask for Ed.