Trey
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Trice, I used to have the Sage ESN HD 3wt 10’6. It was a great rod, but I sold mine off as soon as I started fishing my first T&T Contact II. Not to dog the Sage by any means (it is a really good rod) but the Contact II is better in every category that matters, from the lower stripping guide to sensitivity to casting, ect. If your looking at new esn rods in that price range, don’t overlook the Hardy Ultralight LL. I recently bought the 2wt and it’s my go to rod. As a side note, if I was to buy an esn rod for the first time it would be a 2wt. I just bought my son his first euro rod and I got him a 2wt. I really don’t see the need for a 3wt. I’ve caught numerous bows over 20″ on the 2wt with ease and no additional stress on the fish. Supposedly T&T is coming out with a 2wt 10’9 that I’d really be interested in.
I think everybody nailed it. Without seeing you in action it is hard to tell, but I bet Alex is on to something with your leader setup. You have to be tight. NO SAG! AND NEVER HAVE ANY SLACK IN YOUR LINE FIGHTING THE FISH, ESPECIALLY WITH BARBLESS HOOKS! I fish two different T&T contact IIs and very rarely lose a fish. I’ve had days where I’ve had three or four trout spit a hook on me, but those are few and far between. The T&T Contacts are extremely sensitive and you very well might be feeling more fish than before or even just bumping the bottom might seem like a fish compared to your old rod. It sounds like you’re doing everything right though (setting your hook downstream, keeping your rod upstream and staying next to or behind the trout).
My 12 year old son just decided he wanted to fly fish with me. To make it as easy as possible, I set his leader up with 30ft of 15lb nylon butt section, 4 feet 12lb amnesia, 18″ sighter, and 5x tippet. His smaller fingers could hold the mono good. It worked well for him (along with me constantly telling him to “keep your line tight!)
Maybe you could convince the professionals Alex, JC, or Jimbo to fish with you and see if they can point anything out. Don’t give up though! That’s a killer rod.
Sorry, I didn’t mention why I like that light. It cures fast, and doesn’t leave the resin tacky. It does exactly what you expect the light to do. Depending how often you tie, the rechargeable batteries save some money in the long run. If you go on theflyfishingforum.com you’ll see nothing but rave reviews.
I have a Silver Creek UV light. I haven’t used anything else that compares. They are pricey, but amazing. And they come with 2 lithium rechargable batteries with a wall charger. I’m not a huge fan of the Silver Creek UV resins, but the light is second to none.
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Count me in.
Trey Cross
The White and Norfolk are pretty big rivers, but that time of the year the flows might not be too bad and can be wadable. If the flows are low, it would be hard to not fish those two rivers. They are pretty dang amazing. Just be super cautious and aware of any increases and flow throughout the day. You can monitor it online and they also have alarms with increased flows, but if the flows start coming up, you have to get off the water ASAP because they come up ridiculously quick. If you have the chance and means to get a guide and a boat on the White, do it. Everything in Arkansas is cheap including getting a guide. That’s the only place I’ve ever hired a guide, and it’s because they have a boat and can paddle for you. It’s a pretty cool experience.
The Little Red River has lots of wadable areas also and gets overlooked. It’s a killer River also.
There are also other rivers and streams that gets stocked with lil bows . If you want to fish any of those I would just get with any of the local fly shops.
Make sure you report back on this forum with your experience! We all will want to hear about it.
This is a great idea! I’d be willing to help out and very interested in competing if there are any available openings.
I personally think this would be great for our fishery.
The crowding has been a bit better lately. Once guys/gals start getting skunked because the newly stocked trout start getting smarter the river gets less crowded.
I fished last Thursday and only saw one other fly fisher between Rio and Ponderosa. I know the weather scared off most, but if there was freshly stocked trout there would have been a lot more traffic on the water. Worked out great for me though. Added some layers and a beanie, occasionally knocked some ice off my guides, and had a killer day. Even picked up a beautiful holdover for my second fish of the day.
I caught my lil guy above barking dog below the weir.
I picked up one a few weeks back that made me wonder where he came from also. Seemed too small for a state stocker and wasn’t in a state stocked area ?
I do both throughout a day. I fish streamers or nymphs depending on the water and particular situation. I find both equally as effective depending on the circumstance.
Like doug mentioned above, I prefer smaller simple streamers. Sometimes a double steamer set up also. I typically fish black, olive, white, or purple. I also really like a sculpzilla.
Sad to hear about the condition of the fish, but the efforts of all that helped is greatly appreciated!!
Alex and JC really nailed it. You can’t be afraid to frequently change flies and change location to where there is nobody else. I have found after the fish start getting lockjaw later in the morning is to move to a different part of the river where typically nobody else would fish. You’re not going to have as big of numbers, but I found that I still continually can catch fish all day long. But, Alex had a super good point about changing to a very realistic small fly with a really good drift. Also sometimes just waiting half an hour and go back and hit those same fish again works.
The middle of the day the fish are very weary and they know that predators can see them and also they can see you a lot easier. More times than not I’ll catch a lot more fish middle of the day on a very cloudy overcast day.
I completely agree Cody. I think actual local land owners would learn. A lot of them have a respect for the fishery. I think the biggest problem is vacation rentals. Many of these vacation houses are owned by people from all over Texas and the U.S.
What makes the problem worse is that some of these rental houses provide them spin fishing rods with power bait. I’ve seen it multiple times, and seen them keeping fish on a stringer multiple times. I have called/text the Game Wardens on these occasions, and they were actually able to catch a couple of them and write a few citations.
It be would kind of the vacation rental owners and/or managers to inform the guest of the regulations on that section of river. It could save the renters the cost of a citation for each trout they retained. Of course, anybody fishing the river should know the regulations before they fish, but unfortunately that is not going to happen.
