Four Months with my Swift Epic 686, plus Backstory

Introduction

Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for August, 2015.  There were two historically significant events at this temporal nexus:

1. The Fading Angler spends a day with a guide in southern Minnesota's Driftless Area.  Guide Dan brings along a 4 weight TFO Finesse rod that seems to mesh better with my casting "skills" than the stiff 7-foot Sage Approach 3-weight I brought along.
2. The Fading Angler gets a chance to test-cast the brand-spanking new Sage MOD at Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig, MT.  The MOD is Sage's "moderate action" rod, sitting somewhere between the actions of the fast ONE and "advanced slow-action" CIRCA models.  Very quickly, something amazing happens:  I am able to shoot line at the conclusion of forward casting strokes.  I'd never been able to do this before.

This was chronicled in more detail here on the blog last year: Fly Angler: Headhunter or Head Case?

Being a scientist (at least in my own head), I immediately implemented a new top-secret operation and intelligence protocol:

Fading Angler's Cientific Exploration Purporting to Learn Actual Nowlegde and Truth, better known by the codename FACEPLANT.

(You might want to grab a coffee, Diet Mountain Dew, pint of beer, or a double bourbon before continuing. Oh, and a grain of salt.  Bring the shaker...)

Fiberglass Fishing Cures Many Ills

Last Thursday 9/1, we fled life in central Minnesota to reestablish sanity near a trout stream in southeastern Minnesota.  We went back to the Minnesota Driftless.  After parking the Mobile Hotel® and completing a few chores, I grabbed the 'glass and headed for the creek.  I reached for Mellow Yellow (4 wt Redington Butter Stick) without even thinking and tied on my favorite low-light dry fly: a size 14 parachute Adams.  Ten minutes later I brought a 10"-11" brown trout into my net, right behind campsite #15.  I thanked the creek as the fish swam from my hand, and headed back to the Mobile Hotel® for s'mores and bourbon.  All of life's problems had faded, if only for an hour or two.

Friday saw 3 short outings within the vicinity of the campground.  Recent flooding has very much altered the character of the creek.  I couldn't even scare trout out of my most productive runs and holes from May and June.  They were devoid of macroscopic life.  After much experimentation with dry fly refusals at the Bottomless Pool, I got a few takers on a size 18 red lightning bug.  Wait, there was one impressive swipe at a hopper on a random toss to he head of the Pool, but only one.  Large fish don't get large by being stupid.

Saturday was a graphite day and will be discussed at another time.

Sunday morning, I headed out with two 'glass rods in hand (hands?): Mellow Yellow rigged for little dry flies, and Monday rigged with indicator, weights, and two nymphs.  With no surface action to be had, the 6 wt Epic saved the day, fooling several browns deep in the Bottomless Pool with lightning bugs and zebra midges.  Color mattered.

The fiberglass felt good.  Slow down, you're casting too fast.  You need to make the weekend last... After all, it's both physical therapy and psychotherapy.  I should totally bill myself $250 an hour.

Photo by Eddie Rivard

#glassisnotdead #feelingroovy

Fly Rod Thoughts: Swift Epic, Redington Butter Stick, and Sage ONE

The hand makes things clearer

Disclaimer

To quote our current POTUS: "Let me be clear: ..."  This is not a product review of any kind.  These are the observations, musing, and otherwise random thoughts of a guy with a progressive neuromuscular disease who knows very little about casting a fly rod.

Catches and Misses

"Gotcha!" I yelled to nobody.  As far as I knew, there wasn't another human within a quarter mile or so.  This can only mean one thing:  I've started talking to trout.  This particular one was connected to the other end of my fishing line.  I missed him (or her) a couple of times before I finally set the hook with decent timing.  The fish ran back at me after I pulled it away from the willow where I'm sure it wanted to hide.  My line went slack because I wasn't fast enough, so I was sure it had self-released when the tension was lost in the line.  In short order, the eight-inch brook trout was in hand and released.  Father's Day was shaping up nicely.  Much better, in fact, than the previous two days, where I'd only managed one little brown each day.  Those were short sessions with several brief hookups, but only one tally mark each day.  No worries.  We anglers can always formulate rationalization and tales of the ones that got away.  I don't mind them getting close and then escaping.  I prefer to identify the species, but I'm in it for the supplemental dopamine.

Butter Side Up - Perpetual Motion

I spent a few hours last weekend fishing with my 7'6" Redington Butter Stick on a small creek in the Minnesota driftless area.  My goal was to formulate and solidify some thoughts about using this little 4-weight throwback from modern fast-action graphite.  My first actual use of this rod was two weekends before that, when I took my daughter with me on a short morning hike.  I had her set up with my 7' 3-weight St. Croix Imperial that I purchased exactly for these streams.  While demonstrating some "technique" for my daughter, I was mentally struck by how lively the Butter Stick felt in comparison to the Imperial.  I was impressed with the feel, and with how I was still able to lay some casts into a mild breeze later on in the day.

Over the next two weekends, the Butter Stick became something of an enigma for me.  On occasion, I would lay out the most beautiful (for me) dry fly cast at 30' to 40' distances.   Others, I couldn't get line to shoot, or forward casts just piled up instead of rolling out.  I also determined that I wouldn't be using this for any kind of nymph fishing other than single-nymph.  But you really can't complain when it allows you to pull 3 brown trout out of a crystal clear hole in 15 minutes with a size 18 dry fly.

Source: desktopnexus.com

I'm certain I will spend more time with the rod I now call Mellow Yellow.  But I am reminded of an old joke:  Cats always land on their feet, but toast always land butter-side down.  So, what happen when you tie a butter-side up piece of toast to the back of a cat and drop it out a window?  It spins about a foot off the ground.

I feel a little like that cat right now... dizzy and confused.

Anyone reading this should grab their salt shaker and remember a couple of facts:
  A) I am not an accomplished fly caster
  2) I am brand new to fiberglass.  Just experimenting.

This is just a story.  A very sad little story.  Or maybe a cry for help.  Do not hold this rod responsible for my inadequacies or arrogance.  Renowned dry fly casting expert Eddie Rivard liked the Butter Stick when he tried it.  I will come back to this and try again.  I probably need to concentrate more on the cast than on the fish.

Besides, I have a new fiberglass toy to play with this weekend.

Butter Side Up - Preview

It's no secret that I've finally gotten around to playing with my Redington Butter Stick here in the Minnesota Driftless Area.  I've been teasing that I'd write more about it soon, because I had actually planned to do so by now.  Truth is, I'm still learning NOT to cast this fiberglass rod like a graphite stick.  I even resorted to some lawn casting at the campground last Saturday afternoon before I trekked downstream past sundown.  I need one more weekend with my mellow, yellow friend before I start telling stories about it.

One quick tale:  While I was lawn casting out in front of the Mobile Hotel®, our campsite neighbor popped up from his chair and watched me for a few casts.  He and his wife, both retired, recently decided to take up fly angling.  He watched me make several casts and then asked, "How do you get it to unroll like that at the end?"  I was simultaneously pleased and horrified... Talk about the blind leading the blind!