Where are the tout !!!!!

[willowhead]

PICS Please

[William Anderson]

Otter, congrats on getting out on the water and having a good time of it. I hope you have a wonderful father's day and some great fishing after. I'm out of pocket for a few days, but I logged on to see what was going on and I'm loving this story. It's days like the these described that keep me completely engaged in this sport/activity/lifestyle. Nice approach to that last piece of water too. Would have been a little olive soft-hackle on the top dropper.

Incidentally, I read somewhere recently about tying up a few small flies on 6-8" tippets with a loop for a loop to loop connection before the sun sets to be fished after dark. I haven't tried it, but give it a go and let us know what you think.

w

[Otter]

“Decisions , decisions, decisions, I do enough of that at work, why do they follow me to the river”, muttered William as he scanned the contents of the fly box. Has to be an olive, which one though he pondered, he stared at the box, glanced at the riffle and then back to the box. A size 14 greenwell’s perhaps, stewart style, hmmm.



“The standard dressing looks appealing, though I haven’t fished one in a while”



As William considered this all important decision his attention was drawn to a little nondescript pattern in the corner of his box, he teased it out from the foam and looked at in puzzlement. It slowly dawned on him, it was one of Mike Connors’s softwings as depicted on the forum by Otter. He laughingly announced to the world, “I should keep this for the inside riffle”. It comes well recommended, there are olives about, what the heck , top dropper MC softwing, middle dropper standard greenwell’s.



And so Williams decision was made, part curiosity, part logically and part fun.

As William put the final touches to his cast something caught the corner of his eye, a small movement on the far side of the river in a little bit of slack water. Just a mere flicker. William looked intently at the spot and thought he seen the merest of dimples on the dark grey scum laden surface. Out with the trusty binoculars and they soon confirmed the presence of a trout gently but regularly taking from the meniscus. William could not ignore the strong possibility that this was a good trout. The wet fly leader tippet was carefully laid out on a rock and a new one of 14ft formed with 7x at the point. A size 20 dry fly with a black CDC body and a wisp of white CDC wing was carefully tied on. The last few inches of leader was degreased,

Ready to do battle, William walked downstream and began the arduous and dangerous wade across the tail of the pool below. Big trout have to be earned and that’s why they are big, few anglers have the determination to learn how to find them and less have the determination to go to extremes to catch them. As William neared the slack back eddy he slowed his wading to inching his way upstream, the whole process of getting into position took 45 minutes to complete.

William stared at the slack water and breathed a sigh of relief when he seen a gentle sip , the trout was still feeding. From what William could see , the trout was doing a circular route and taking at three separate points, 2 on the upward path and one of the downward. The best plan was to target the point on the downward path and the cast must be made just after the trout took the first morsel on the upward path. If he had guessed wrong and the trout was moving anti-clockwise then he was doomed to failure. William made at least a dozen casts in his minds eye before letting out sufficient line downstream enable him to make the cast, whist still holding the fly.
The cast would mean holding the fly in his left hand, draw some line upstream with the rod tip, do a downstream roll and let the fly go at the same time, then make a perfect forward cast. William was glad the fly was dressed on a barbless hook.

Primed and ready to go William watched the trout take the first morsel, raised his rod drawing some fly line upstream, commenced the downstream roll and let go the fly….

To be continued

[letumgo]

wonderful...

[hankaye]

Otter, Howdy;

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...

chuckle ...chuckle ... chuckle

You certinaly know how to make sure the audiance returns.

hank

[William Anderson]

"And so Williams decision was made, part curiosity, part logically and part fun."

That's just way I pick patterns too. I just wish I had the kind of patience and skill to pull off such a caper. Oh wait, he didn't catch it yet. If only he can keep from falling on his ass again.

w

[Otter]

Primed and ready to go William watched the trout take the first morsel, raised his rod drawing some fly line upstream, commenced the downstream roll and let go the fly. In perfect harmony the line released , lifting the fly downstream into a perfect position to do a forward cast. Slowly William brought the rod forward , accelerating to a perfect stop, as the loop formed William raised the rod and quickly dropped the tip, the fly line falling gently on the surface in a series of loops. The tippet floated over the drop zone the fly landing gently on the surface. William released another foot of line flicked the rod tip inside and forward driving another foot of fly line into the slack water. The trout took the second morsel on his upward path, William gritted his teeth in anticipation, starting intently at his fly and praying to the river gods that it would be his day.

He never seen the rise, the tiny fly simply disappeared with the merest hint of a bubble on the surface. It seemed like an eternity before it registered , but William lifted the rod firmly but not aggressively. The line tightened as the wee hook drove home. The trout for a moment was unaware of its predicament and gave William no indication of its size but that was to change in a instant. The rod tip snapped over and quickly buckled under the pressure of a great trout. It quickly made for some bankside debris but applying massive sideways strain William managed to prevent catastrophe 1-0 to William. This was not a trout that wished to concede and tore downstream almost brushing Williams waders as it passed. Unprepared for such a move William was all arms and legs, performing contortions more suitable to a drunken elephant. Trout 1 – William 1.

Line tore of the reel. when William finally got everything back under control he was amazed that the small hook had held. The trout was some 15 yards below , sitting midstream, quietly assessing its situation almost sneering at William “ your move sonny”. William smiled, the river Gods were still on his side. He waded quickly downstream past the trout , stumbling more than once. Somehow he managed to reach the gravelly shallows the far side. Still 1-1 he thought, time to play his hand. He lifted the rod high putting firm pressure on the trout, slowly it reacted fighting the strain. William could feel every tremor and immediately dropped the rod as he felt the trout start to move and once again applied strong side strain . Every direction the trout moved William counteracted by applying pressure from the opposite direction. Not once did the trout gain the upper hand , never able to build up a head of steam. Inexorably its runs grew weaker and weaker and finally it surfaced giving William a first glimpse of its magnificence, a sight that William would not forget for many years to come.

It slipped into the almost too small net and William carried it ashore and carefully laid his prize on the grass for a quick photo. Back to the river he held the trout gently in the streamy water until it gained its strength, a strong flick of its tail and it was gone. William stared at the river , lost in thought and with an overwhelming sense of happiness. Glancing at the ROLEX , one hour and eleven minutes since he first spotted the rise, WOW.

This was the stuff of dreams and William knew it. He also knew that it can only happen once in an anglers life and no matter how challenging or how big some future trout could be, it would never instil within such a sense of being at one with nature. God, he felt so lucky and so priveliged to have had his oppurtunity.




The riffle seemed a blur as his still shaking hands tried to tie on his cast of wet flys.


To be continued

[letumgo]

Wow...

I feel like applauding...

[willowhead]

WWWWWWWWaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy to cool........... That brought back a lotta memories..........not so much of landing Big Trout (that's been a pretty rare thing for me)........but just the over-all experience..............stalking, and approcah/positioning decisions, and parying and trying to make a perfect cast..........and then playing fish..........WOW!
Tkx!

[tie2fish]

Nicely crafted, Otter; props ...