Change of thoughts on a bunch of things

[Rich Strolis]

Geez,
 where to begin.    First and foremost, I will say that I now see why after spending the bulk of my spring quietly fishing the long leader coiled sighter techniques why one would be lead to believe that fly selection if very low on the totem pole.  Case in point, Friday I had some time just prior to guiding a client.  I spent 30 minutes on the Farmington fishing these techniques and decided to take a tally of my efforts.  In 30 minutes I landed 27 trout up to 19 inches and 12 salmon parr.  All fish fell to a couple of very simple flies that were my anchors, drab with a hotspot, and lightly weighted, I think the heaviest fly I used had a few turns of lead and a 1/8" tungsten bead.  I have been using the Echo 10-1/2' 3 weight exclusively after playing around with several other rods, greys, sage's etc, and find this rod to far outshine the rest (like I said before Pete if you read this, great job).   

To Pete also, I can totally see now after giving it some serious thought as to the benefits of going longer with a rod, aka the 12 foot theory.  My next question is this, in the echo series, how is the 11 foot 4 weight in relation to the previously mentioned rod?  I am very curious as I think these rods would be money.  Looks like I will be making another purchase......     

[Pete Erickson]

Rich,

glad you are digging the Shadows...

dont be shy about sending in comments to Tim and the guys at Rajeff Sport...he love that kind of shiit(be it positive or even negative)

I'm still fishing with the 10'6" the most but, Bret has moved over to the 11 footer the past 2 months and says that it might now be the go to rod for him...I still like how light and responsive the 10'6" is, but I also know that it is really easy to get accustomed to the extra reach of a longer rod, and to never want to go back...case in point, I would feel like a unic going back to my old favorite 9 foot nymphing rods of 8-10 years ago! now that I'm used to 10+ footers.

cheers
Pete

[Tim Long]

Rich 27 trout in 30 minutes is unreal!  I see that you might be starting to agree with my quote.

[Rich Strolis]

Pete,

I will send in my thoughts as I really am 100% diggin this rod.  I was really impressed with the accuracy on the rod.  I was throwing a pair of nymphs on a 18 foot leader the other day right of a significant deadfall, and catching fish within inches of the branches and every cast landed right where I intended it to.  Unfortunately I may have to wait to buy the 11 footer and another 10-1/2 so I have 2 for guiding as I already picked up 2 rods on the program this year already. 

Tim, no doubt, in fact I think I may spin up a fly and call it the turd.....

[Loren Williams]

Tim, no doubt, in fact I think I may spin up a fly and call it the turd.....

The "Turd" has been around for years.  Someone else calls it "rubberlegs"

[Dejon Hamann]

That's neat stuff Rich. 

So, do you think this might be your gradual decent towards trying a competition?

[Tim Long]

touche

[Pete Erickson]

Are you guys making fun of my turd! 

I have the dubious honor of originating that fly's name almost 20 years ago---for those light brown chenille stonefly patterns with flexi floss legs that we have been using over here in Idaho on the South Fork of the Boise and the SF of the Snake. 

My clients(and other guides!) used to make fun of the name "the Turd"  but it just kind of stuck    --pardon the pun.

I'm hoping Riley can help get the turd into this year's Umpqua catalog...great fly, but goofy name...I admit it.

[Dejon Hamann]

I have the dubious honor of originating that fly's name almost 20 years ago---for those light brown chenille stonefly patterns with flexi floss legs that we have been using over here in Idaho on the South Fork of the Boise and the SF of the Snake. 

That's hilarious. I had no idea.

[Loren Williams]

Are you guys making fun of my turd! 

I have to admit I try not to think of your turd, or anyone else's for that matter, Pete!

great fly, but goofy name...I admit it.

I'd expect nothing less from you.  Hope we can fish/hang/drink together soon!

[Rich Strolis]

That's neat stuff Rich. 

So, do you think this might be your gradual decent towards trying a competition?

Dejon,

hats off to you comp guys, but in all honesty maybe when I was in my 20's, but with work, guiding tying flies and trying to always put the kids and wife first I don't think I could swing it.    Deal is still on if you guys get down here to fish the Farmington, love to show you guys some good water. 

The turd is funny, maybe I will come up with my own version called the Polished turd.  As the old saying goes, "You can't polish a turd"....

[Dejon Hamann]

Deal.  I think I might be there the June 5/6 weekend.  Can you get away for a bit?

[Rich Strolis]

Looks like the 5th I could probably meet up with you in the Morning for a bit, then I have to cut out for work.    I'm guiding on the 6th.   I can show you some productive spots, even though the whole river is a total fish factory.  Keep in touch

[Pete Erickson]

Rich,

"The Polished Turd"

   I like it!

[Rich Strolis]

Kind of has a nice ring to it.    Ha.

On a more serious note, I had a question for you on coiled sighter construction.  What is the standard amount of material (length wise prior to coiling) that you prefer.  I used a sighter made out of about 18-20 inches of material prior to coiling and it seemed good, but was wondering if that was too long or short.  Thanks for the input. 

[Dejon Hamann]

I like roughly 12-14inches  of coiled (on the pen) with about 4inch straight tags for tying in.  I was dabbling with 3 colors, but I find 2 just fine and much easier to tie.

[Tim Long]

Rich

Take a 5/16" dowel rod about 8 inches long and drill a small hole in one end.  Thread a piece of mono through the hole and tie a uni-knot in the mono so that the knot will slide tight against the hole.  Put the opposite end of the dowel rod in the chuck of a drill, and while keeping tension on the mono with your free hand, use the drill to wind mono toward the end of the dowel in the chuck.  When you get to the end put your finger over the mono to keep it from unwinding off of the dowel, cut the mono, and put a 5/16" o-ring over the end of the dowel that was in the chuck.  Simply slide the o-ring back every time you want to cut off a new section of the coil for an indicator.  (Boil the mono of course)

Use a uni-knot to uni-knot connection to connect the indicator to the leader.  This connection works well even with the mono being curly.  Tie a perfection loop in the other end of the curly sighter and attach tippet.  Tying the perfection loop can be tricky; however, I use my hemostats to tighten the loop and it works fine.

Directly above the curly sighter I usually have a straight 12" section of 15lb red amnesia.  The contrast between the red amnesia and the yellow curly makes it easy to pick the curly up quickly.

I use uni-knots to tie almost my entire leader, and a lot of time I use it to tie on my fly.

Pete...any time I use the turd fly I seem to catch trouser trout!

[Loren Williams]

I like roughly 12-14inches  .

You would.....