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...)

If You've Never Heard of Bull Trout...

I'd never heard of Bull Trout until I moved to Montana in 1998.  Then as now, they are a Threatened (not quite qualifying for "Endangered") species that cannot be targeted by anglers, except for one river and lake in  NW Montana and only if you have the correct paperwork.  They are a char, more closely related to brook trout and dolly varden than cutthroats (who share their native waters) or rainbow trout.

They are aggressive predators.  I've seen one, on the Blackfoot River.  It was over 30" long and seriously considering snacking on a 14" cutthroat that I'd foul-hooked.  Fascinating beasties. John Arnold of Headhunters Fly Shop and Scumliner Media fame recently published this gem in cooperation with another photographer/producer, Pat Clayton of Fish Eye Guy Photography.


Notice the deep turquoise hue of the water in some of those shots?  I love that color!

Hats off to John and Pat. Very cool collaboration.