Lunkers on the 4 Weight

                                                           Lunkers on the 4 Weight 

                                                                       3/12/25

 The clouds in the sky looked like a bunch of puzzle pieces spread out on a powder blue table cloth. The morning air was still on the chilly side when I stepped out of my truck onto the parking area. There were already quite a few cars, which I expected, in the parking lot. The state had stocked the Delayed Harvest creek two weekends before and the shop just stocked Lunkers last Saturday with the donations from a fund jar they keep on the shop counter. The day was suppose to warm up to 50+ degrees around noon and sunny. I’m sure the  fisher people couldn’t wait to get out and do some casting after the cold, freezing weather of winter blues. I had fished the week before but wasn’t going to wait any longer for another outing.

 I decided to piece together my 4 weight Douglas 9’ fast action fly rod for todays session. I attached my Cheeky Reel with WF5F line. I knotted on a fas-snap to the tapered leader and snapped on a Woolly Bugger. I know some fishermen claim the fas-snaps don’t let the streamers move significantly but I catch many a fish using them and can change patterns quickly without shortening my tippet. Of course I don’t use them when I use nymphs or dry flies but using streamers I don’t usually do without.

 I put on my chest waders and felt wading boots. I put on my Eddie Bauer fishing jacket, grabbed a few cigars and headed to the creek to catch me some of those Lunkers.

 Guys were lined up along the creek. They were spaced out enough for casting room but I didn’t want to crowd anyone. Besides they were all nymph fishing with the rhythmic flow of casting upstream, following their indicators with their rod tips as the line flows downstream. Then with a high hefty roll cast upstream begin the process all over again till some one catches a fish of one decides to knot on another offering. If they ever have synchronized nymph fishing in a fly fishing competition I bet some of these groups of guys would come in the top three places in the event. 

 Being that I would be casting buggers and streamers I stayed up creek from these nymphers for room for my buggers to swing down creek. This left me starting in the faster riffles as the other guys were fishing the slower flow below. No matter, I was sure there were fish spread out along the creek. 

 I stepped into the water and immediately felt the coldness of the water around my ankles and legs. I waded out a couple of yards for casting room behind me and tossed my bugger midstream in front of me and let it swing. I added a little weight to my tapered leader to get the bugger down further below the moving current. I started to catch a couple of smaller rainbows on the bugger before I got a good test on the 4 weight.

 I casted across the flow near the far bank a little upstream. I lowered the rod and let the bugger swing beneath the current. I felt a hard tug and that was all I needed to feel! I whipped the rod up and back pulling fly line towards me. The fly line shot up from the surface water and the tapered leader tightened under the strength of a healthy rainbow. While battling the rainbow in the quick current wasn’t an easy task. He was wild and strong. I kept a tight line on him but I wasn’t controlling his whereabouts. He tugged and yanked as he swam about. When he surfaced, at times, he yanked harder like a Doberman trying to yank his favorite toy from the owners grasp. My 4 weight flexed so deep at times I was worried so I had to let line out and even loosened the drag. Time again I had him coming towards me and he would just forcefully pull away taking line. Not that I finally convinced him to come in quietly but I was able to scoop him up in my net. He was surely one of the Lunkers that had just been stocked within the past 2 weekends.  

 By the fresh bruise on his lip I imagine he had been caught before. Maybe he got away from the last person and thought he’d get away again. He was wrong. I tilted the net into the water and he swam free. 

 After that ordeal and rod performance I was thinking that I should go back and get a 5 weight with heavier backbone? I didn’t want to lose my place and I figured what was the odds of catching more Lunkers? As time went on and fishermen moved out I made my way down creek to slower current. Sticking with the Woolly Bugger I was doing all right catching a trout now and then among the nymph fishermen. I noticed, except for one Lunker, most of the nymph guys were catching average size trout in the 8” to 10” range. No one else was using streamers so I just figured the bigger trout wanted more meat, than little morsels, so my streamers were effective with bigger trout.

  By noon and there after the sun brought warmth. Along with it its rays reflected off the water like light reflecting off high grade diamonds in a well lit showcase. The glare was pretty much unbearable I suppose if one wasn’t wearing polarized lenses. About 1:00 a small hatch of stoneflies started to emerge. The slight breeze was helping them scoot upon the water towards the far bank. Trout began to rise and me and a fisherman on my right were in the right spot to cast drys to the surface feeders. After he saw me catch a couple of the feeders he too began to fish drys. 

 As more stoneflies blew and winged themselves across the water more trout were feeding. Most within a couple of yards from the far bank. There was a couple fish feeding just under overhanging thin branches. I made a sidearm cast and my cast dropped my stonefly dry just under the overhang. This put my line straight across from me and with that a nice easy drag free drift into a feeding zone. 

 The thought process that goes through my mind with what I think is a perfect cast and presentation is kind of nerve racking. Will the trout take it? I’m oblivious to anything around me. I can hear the trout caught by the nymph fisherman to my left splashing but I dare not look. I see the splash, in the corner of my vision, of the dry fly the fisherman to my right just casted out but I’m not concerned in the least. I watch the elk hair wing, of my dry, slowly drifting on the surface. My fly line pinched between my left hand fingers with my right hand gripped around the cork handle waiting any second to yank the long length of line back to set the hook on the first take. A fish splashes at my dry and I yank back spontaneously! The long length of line tightens and a swirl appears on the water just a moment before a trout rises to the surface splashing wildly. By the arc in the rod and strength I feel within my grip I got a feeling that this catch isn’t the average size we’ve been catching. He swims towards me and upstream tugging and shaking. I wind in some line keeping the rod up though the top section bows and flexes down towards the fighting trout. He turns down creek, still swimming towards me, and I pull in more line. A 1/3 of away, the creek width, he decides to turn and swim towards the far bank. There’s no stopping or slowing him down. Line peels off the reel, through my tensioning fingers, through the rod eyes and out through the tip top. The guy beside me notices the arcing rod and comments I have a good trout. 

 Being the current is calmer than up in the faster current earlier, I’m quite more relieved about not over stressing my 4 wight. He put up a good cross current fight and battled all the way to the net. Another fine Lunker rainbow lays in my net. I notice he’s a bit chubbier than the last few. A quick picture for my blog and I let the rainbow swim free. 

 After a few more smaller trout catches, with my dry flies, the stonefly hatch peters out. I decide to wade down creek a little while before heading home.

 Further down below I’m casting Woolly Buggers in a deeper section of water before the flow enters upon shallower riffles. There had been other fishermen fishing this small section of water earlier and catching a few trout. I lit up another cigar and was just casting out to nowhere in particular. In fact my mind was far off thinking about the long drive home and what I was going to do afterwords. I felt a hearty tug as my bugger was about at the end of the swing. Instinctively I pulled line and twitched my rod upward. After I felt the rod arc again and the weight of my catch I pulled back the rod with a little more force to make sure the hook penetrated. Another tough battle followed. He surged in different directions throughout the small deeper section he was in. It was almost as if he was looking for a way out of a circus ring. Shallow water was upstream and the creek shallowed below the deep section he was in. He had nowhere to go but to try and free himself or give up and let me net him. He finally succumbed to the pressure and let me net him. 

  With that I called it a day and headed for the truck. There were still a few guys enjoying the warm weather casting and fishing. One such fisherman was doing pretty well catching fish while the others were trying their best. 

 Back at the truck I changed into driving clothes and headed out. I was planning on meeting my son Thursday at this same place. I already determined on using a 5 weight instead of the 4 weight. If there isn’t much of a wind, maybe I’ll take out my 5 weight G2 Scott rod?

 

~doubletaper