The Winston Break

 

The Winston Break

8/07/2020 

 

 I loaded up the float tube with my fishing gear and laid it on the back of my truck bed. My plan was to drive up river around 2 miles and fish my way back to camp. After parking along the road I carried the float tube down to the river. Back at the truck I assembled the Winston Boron 6 weight with weight forward line. Though I have done well catching the smallies on Woolly Buggers in the past the main course for the smallies today would be poppers. At least I would start with a few. There’s nothing like watching the sudden explosion of water on a moving popper. I set the float tube in the calm water shielded by boulders from the main current. Being a week day I was ready for a nice quiet float without many disturbances from other river users. 

 By 8:30 am, when I put in, the morning sky was pale blue with the sun just beaming over the south side of the mountain tree line. The water flowed slowly around river strewn boulders that were exposed by the low water conditions. The wrinkly surface water reflected the sun rays and glimmered as far as the eye could see between the green forested banks. 

 It all started off well. The hot sun shown down and brought heat with it. The cooler water surrounded my lower body in the float tube keeping me wet and comfortable.

As I floated down the river I tried to keep within casting distance of the river banks and protruding boulders. I had missed a couple within the first hour or so but nothing I figured was a big enough gulp to say I missed anything big. By late morning I had landed a couple of smaller smallmouth that weren’t worth picture taking. I knew there were bigger bass in the river so I kept on casting and throwing the popper in every likely area I thought that looked good but they just weren’t hungry. Maybe they already had their morning meal before I arrived. Hopefully by lunch time they would start feeding again.

 In the faster runs I tried streamer fishing with Woolly Buggers and a couple of Clouser Minnows but the bass weren’t interested. I floated over most of the shallower water and concentrated on the deeper and shadier areas along the bank closer to noon. 

 I was free floating down river in slow current when I finally got a good gulping take. I lowered the rod briefly on the snatch and yanked it up. The line tightened and a smallmouth surfaced briefly before going under and fighting in the current. I played him to the float tube and landed him on the apron. “Nice going” I sort of told myself under my breath. 

  After the release I took out a stogie from my front pocket and lit it up. Smoke feathered from the lit end of the Sancho Panza Double Maduro. A couple of relaxing puff and I went back to floating down river and concentrating on smallmouth fishing. 

 I had good footing against a submerged boulder and started casting near the roadside bank. I could feel the heat upon my shoulders as sun shown bright in the blue cloudless sky. I was still puffing on the stogie with my shades on to cut down the glare. There was hardly a breeze so I kept shifting the cigar from one side of my mouth to the other to keep the rising smoke from my immediate vision. My first two casts were across and downstream. I’d twitch the popper with rod tip action to get the popper to gurgle up water as I watched it drift with the slow current and then arc below me. I whipped the line and popper up off the water and behind me and then shot the popper up and across stream from where I was stationed. I took in the excess line quickly and gurgled the popper on the surface. The popper drifted within a couple of feet from the over hanging brush along the river bank. I gave a couple of more short strips to liven up my gurgling offering. Straight across from me there was a sudden gulping splash at my popper. I lowered the rod long enough to give the bass time to close its mouth and then yanked upwards taking up all slack in the line. The line sprung from the water and tightened straight towards the disappearance of the popper. Then snap!? The fly rod collapsed and folded like an open book in a wind storm. It sounded like a sprung mouse trap. I looked and noticed quickly that the rod broke somewhere near the first eye from the butt section. I was dumbfounded.

 

   Holding the cork grip I realized that my yanking hook set was good and there was a fighting smallmouth on the end of my line. I laid the rod on the float tube apron and began to tire the smallmouth out and bring him to the float tube hand over hand pulling in the fly line and leader. I was in shock that the rod just snapped.

  I had got the Winston rod last fall as a replacement for a broken Vapor rod I had used for years. I specifically use this rod for smallmouth fishing in the river. I hadn’t used it but a few other times and have caught some nice size smallies with it previously. I have no idea what caused the break. The smallmouth wasn’t all that huge.

  After I got both the broken rod sections on the apron I held the caught smallie in my hand and made sure the picture included both the smallmouth and the broken rod.

 That was it!!! I was done fishing. I figured I was about a mile upriver from camp. I was rod-less and unhappy. I picked up my finned booted feet and floated down the river like a lost beach ball. I tried to ignore anyone getting into the water with their floats or kayaks. I tried to not appear angry when someone would ask me “how’s fishing?” I was angry. Not so much that my rod broke but that I had to drift a mile without fishing.!!

  Warranty on a broken rod, when fishing, is worse then a warranty on leaky waders. At least with leaky waders you can keep fishing.

  When I got to my extraction point I got everything on the bank. I made a couple of trips carrying some gear to my camper before grabbing hold of the float tube and carrying it back to camp. After that I got on my bicycle and pedaled the 2 miles up to my truck. By the time I got back to camp it was only about 1:30. Clouds had moved in to give some relief from the hot sun but there wasn’t any sign of rain. I thought for a moment, a quick moment, and put the float tube back on the truck bed. I went into the camper and grabbed my 6 weight fiberglass Wonderod. I wasn’t about to call it a day. There was plenty of time left to fish. I drove up river a piece and put the float tube back in the water. After stringing up the glass rod I dipped in the water and sat down in the float tube. The rod was quite heavier than the Winston Boron but I managed to cast the poppers OK and enjoyed the rest of the time on the water fly fishing for smallies.

~doubletaper