Keep It Tight!

 A big splash hit my dry fly! Instantly, he is shooting toward the undercut of the bank hidden by tuffs of grass. My immediate reaction is to squeeze the line between my finger and the rod's cork grip. "Don't let that guy enter the undercut," I keep telling myself. There is a bit of an open area just upstream from where he's thrashing about, and I begin back-stepping to maneuver him there. Taking him upstream kept the line tight, and held him between the two banks of this narrow mountain Rio. He's slowing down ever so slightly, and I begin reeling him in. Finally he slides into the net, I relax the muscles in my body, breathe deep, and admire the prize. Yup, this fiesty, fat, fourteen-inch wild brown trout was just the fish I came here to catch, and it made my day.

On these narrow trout streams, there is no way an angler can let a trout run out a line, lest you lose him in a deep cavern underneath the bank. Nope, you must squeeze that line tight against the grip and keep him in open water. No line runs, just holding on to keep the line tight. Those first moments after the hook is set creates a challenge for both the trout and the angler. The trout is fighting to lose the hook. The angler is fighting to keep him on the hook. This is when having the right fly rod is worth whatever amount of money you shelled out for it. Which begs the question, "What amount of money are you willing to spend to get trout reliably and consistently into the bottom of your net?"

A rod with the right flex profile and action is critical for bringing a wild trout all the way back to you and into the net. Especially in these tight narrow Rio's of mine. On many of my streams, the drag on the reel is worthless. There's no way you have the time, or stream width, to allow him a run against a gentle drag setting. That is, if you don't want to lose him. What is valuable on these Rio's? A tip section on your fly rod that moves with each yank of the line, with just enough firmness to keep the trout on the hook, yet not too strong to jerk the hook free from his jaw, or break the tippet. And you want to feel that flex move progressively down the rod toward the cork. What's a rod like that worth? Well, that depends on what motivates you...