Flyfish99
06-18-2005, 08:57 PM
I was up in Pittsburg for the week, fishing the CT River above Lake Francis. The weather went from bad to awful, and , by Thursday, the water level had jumped to 400 CFS. I was able to access the river at the Carr Bridge, and was having some success using a two fly tandem rig featuring a heavily weighted Conehead Wooly Bugger as the principle fly, and a variety of smaller flies , (one at a time), in tandem. I also added some tungsten putty about a foot above the bugger, in order to get down faster. I was fishing an Orvis 8-1/2' "Henry's Fork" 5 wt, a very slow action rod. Total leader length was about 12'. I was having some success with this rig, catching several small rainbows and a few somewhat larger brookies along with several dace and a sucker. Some of the additional water being released must have come from above the thermocline, as the water temp had jumped from 52 to 59, thus explaining the dace activity.
Anyhow, about mid morning, I hooked a fish and felt the unmistakeble head shaking pull and long run of a heavy fish. He took about 50'of line on that initial run, then sulked on the bottom. I was able to slowly gain line, and eventually had moved him upstream to approximately the point where I had hooked him. It was starting to look like I might actually be able to land this thing in the heavy flow, (following him was *not* an option), when I felt a drag on the line, as if I was hung up on a snag. I gave him slack line, hoping he would free himself, but when I tightened the line again, he bolted downstream, snag and all, and ran me into my backing, without slowing down. At this point, I conceded the battle, pointed the rod at him, and snubbed the line. Of course, he broke off in a second, (3X tippet to the bugger, 4X to the point fly, an SJ Worm). As I retreived the now slack line, I felt a fish on. Could he still be there? Am I that lucky? No way! This fish was not anything like the moster I had on originally. He turned out to be a 10" rainbow that had apparently taken the bugger while I had the big fish hooked on the point fly.
Any of you guys have similar experiences with doubles?
Anyhow, about mid morning, I hooked a fish and felt the unmistakeble head shaking pull and long run of a heavy fish. He took about 50'of line on that initial run, then sulked on the bottom. I was able to slowly gain line, and eventually had moved him upstream to approximately the point where I had hooked him. It was starting to look like I might actually be able to land this thing in the heavy flow, (following him was *not* an option), when I felt a drag on the line, as if I was hung up on a snag. I gave him slack line, hoping he would free himself, but when I tightened the line again, he bolted downstream, snag and all, and ran me into my backing, without slowing down. At this point, I conceded the battle, pointed the rod at him, and snubbed the line. Of course, he broke off in a second, (3X tippet to the bugger, 4X to the point fly, an SJ Worm). As I retreived the now slack line, I felt a fish on. Could he still be there? Am I that lucky? No way! This fish was not anything like the moster I had on originally. He turned out to be a 10" rainbow that had apparently taken the bugger while I had the big fish hooked on the point fly.
Any of you guys have similar experiences with doubles?