All The Way
Watching a wild trout land into the bottom of my net is always a thrill. On average, I catch trout in the 8" to 14" size within my home waters, and also in most of the small streams I fish across the Southwest. I say that because it's not what I consider a "fight" with these trout, as to what I experience on the San Juan River with 20 plus inches of fat, angry rainbows, and browns. No, when I have a tight line with my Leetle Fellers, it's more like a dance...a fast dance. On very narrow streams, the most important objective when setting the hook is to keep feisty trout from darting into the undercut of the bank...they can get there in a flash! To manage this, upon setting the hook, I squeeze the line between my finger and grip, and slowly strip line, while keeping the trout in open water. There is no time or enough stream width to get the trout on my reel. And that's why I love Winston fly rods...the tip section is magic, as it flexes with head shakes ...
