T
tomitrout
Active member
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2010
- Messages
- 1,539
Well, that was fun.
Sittin' on the bank of the Letort a week or so ago, got a text from a friend in VA. "Coming up for the race on Sunday, wanna float the Potomac for smallies on Saturday?"
Finish my refreshment, think about it for a minute....
"yeah, count me in."
Now I'm need of something heavier than my 6wt bamboo trout rod. Run to BassPro after the wknd, waggle some sticks and walk out the door with a decent TFO 7wt stick, Lamson reel and a Rio Gold WF floater. Pockets are now a bit lighter, but filled with new toys. Test cast the rod the next day, cool, I made the right choice, this rod sure throws a nice loop with a nice smooth rythmn.
Fast forward to 4am Saturday, alarm goes off, coffee is made, car is loaded and soon enough I'm meeting my buddy at the put in below Dam 4. Unload the raft, shuttle the trailer and we're on the water 7ish. My first time playing this flyrod smallie game, so I tie on a Clouser to start and snag the bottom within ten minutes, end up losing the fly, awesome.
Pick out another new streamer, tie it up and toss into the eddy behind the island we're parked beside. Mike's futzing around with something in the boat, I'm not paying much attention to my fly, realize by now I'm probably hung up again, try to lift the fly and yep it's stuck. Give another tug...wow wait, that got a reaction. Hit it again and yeah, I'm hooked up. New rod, new game, first fish and suddenly I've got a bit of a tussle on my hands. Few minutes later and we've got the new boat record in the net. Taped her out at 19"+, we'll call it 20". Hell of a way to start the day!
From there we just floated along after getting hammered by that early morning thunderstorm, picking up enough fish along the way to keep it steady. Mostly fiesty little guys in that 10-12" class coming up out of deeper holes or from under cover to eat our streamers. Mike did pick up a couple sunnies and finally a small bass on a popper before going back underneath. He finally got hooked up with another decent fish after lunch, a strong 14"er that was hanging out off the backside of a rocky point. Fished until 2:30ish with steady action, anchoring here and there to wade some spots, trading seats off and on between rowing and casting.
Good times, can't wait to get back again. Definitely a fun distraction from harassing the trouts.
Sittin' on the bank of the Letort a week or so ago, got a text from a friend in VA. "Coming up for the race on Sunday, wanna float the Potomac for smallies on Saturday?"
Finish my refreshment, think about it for a minute....
"yeah, count me in."
Now I'm need of something heavier than my 6wt bamboo trout rod. Run to BassPro after the wknd, waggle some sticks and walk out the door with a decent TFO 7wt stick, Lamson reel and a Rio Gold WF floater. Pockets are now a bit lighter, but filled with new toys. Test cast the rod the next day, cool, I made the right choice, this rod sure throws a nice loop with a nice smooth rythmn.
Fast forward to 4am Saturday, alarm goes off, coffee is made, car is loaded and soon enough I'm meeting my buddy at the put in below Dam 4. Unload the raft, shuttle the trailer and we're on the water 7ish. My first time playing this flyrod smallie game, so I tie on a Clouser to start and snag the bottom within ten minutes, end up losing the fly, awesome.
Pick out another new streamer, tie it up and toss into the eddy behind the island we're parked beside. Mike's futzing around with something in the boat, I'm not paying much attention to my fly, realize by now I'm probably hung up again, try to lift the fly and yep it's stuck. Give another tug...wow wait, that got a reaction. Hit it again and yeah, I'm hooked up. New rod, new game, first fish and suddenly I've got a bit of a tussle on my hands. Few minutes later and we've got the new boat record in the net. Taped her out at 19"+, we'll call it 20". Hell of a way to start the day!
From there we just floated along after getting hammered by that early morning thunderstorm, picking up enough fish along the way to keep it steady. Mostly fiesty little guys in that 10-12" class coming up out of deeper holes or from under cover to eat our streamers. Mike did pick up a couple sunnies and finally a small bass on a popper before going back underneath. He finally got hooked up with another decent fish after lunch, a strong 14"er that was hanging out off the backside of a rocky point. Fished until 2:30ish with steady action, anchoring here and there to wade some spots, trading seats off and on between rowing and casting.
Good times, can't wait to get back again. Definitely a fun distraction from harassing the trouts.