Trip Report: Fishin' With Mike

Today I had the pleasure of fishin' with Mike. Mike is a big time fisherman and my soon to be brother in law. I built him a fly rod to commemorate the occasion of his wedding but I couldn't wait for him to see it! 

 The "Pannie Snatcher" is a 7'6" three weight built to snatch panfish from the depths of L.G. Lake. This build turned out much better than my previous two. My goal is to always show some improvement through each fly rod built. Anyway, Mike and I got this morning and eagerly checked the weather with hopes that storms would not be in the forecast today. They were after studying three or four weather websites but we decided we'd brave the elements whatever came at us. We headed a few miles from home and hit the stream around 11am. This was Mike's second time out and he's getting good at casting. We casually fished a few long slow pools before approaching a nice little scour hole with some good current. Mike took a few casts and had some trouble getting a drag free drift. He handed me his rod and I demonstrated how to flip the line into the current a little in order to get the longest possible drag free drift. Near the middle of the drift my indicator bobbed under the surface and I set the hook.

This nice trout fought hard but was no match for Mike's great work on the net and a few crafty moves on my part to keep the fishing from disappearing under a nearby undercut. After a few quick pics he returned to the water and swam to the depths.

Next, we entered an overgrown pasture where Mike tied into this beast. Hey, a trout is a trout! The fish on the left flopped out of Mike's hand and landed perfectly. This section of the stream sees good pressure and as windy as it was Mike was laying down casts like a pro. We continued up stream catching a few fish here and there.

This powerful trout came on a long cast with the sun shining. I had a good feelings as the fly landed perfectly beyond a big submerged rock. Again some crafty net work and a little dancing to keep him from escape. We continued upstream with the sun shining and wind blowing.

This chunker fought valiantly but came to hand pretty simply. 

Most of the fish I caught were bigger than usual and it was great to get out fishing with Mike! All fish were caught using nymphs drifted deep. Total we pulled in around 12-15 fish combined, all released to fight another day.