Just Flick It

Working my way up a tiny mountain stream, I often find myself not really casting, but just flicking a dry fly up into the current with a short wrist snap. I'm working within a twenty foot range usually in these spots. It's the kind of fly fishing where a well designed rod truly helps to get the fly into the desired spot of a feeding lane...and, landing a dry fly softly is an important aspect of fishing in tight quarters. Most fly fishermen don't care to fish in these tiny canopied streams, because it's more fun to cast a line and fly in a traditional manner. I don't blame them. I like that too. But, I also like getting into stream areas where the trout don't get much attention from anglers.

I fish 6'6" and 7' fly rods a great deal of time each year because of the many opportunities I have to fish in these 'fish tunnels' as I call them. Most of the time these rods are 2wt gear and are over lined with a 3wt fly line for enhanced loading. Not easy fishing by any means, but the reward of getting wild trout into the landing net is worth it. Hmmmm...I wonder how long I'll be able to do this before my body starts screaming at me??? Getting old is wonderful.

There are three rods that I rig up for these streams and the fly rod that goes with me most of the time? My Winston WT 7' 2wt fly rod. Why? Well, I have to be honest here. The other two rods are rare as can be and I'm careful about where they go fishing...they go on 'Sunday Drives' in safe places only. So, this WT 7' 2wt is my workhorse rod for tight, canopied, trout streams. It also is an excellent casting rod when the stream opens up into a meadow and I need to cast a longer line to small pockets of water. Yup, it's good to go past 30 feet and accurate too...even when over lined.

The two lines I have found best for this WT 7' 2wt rod are the Winston Energy WF2F line, and the Rio LightLine WF3F for over line situations. They work for me on this WT rod in everything I ask from them.

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