3-15-05 - Centerpin Convert ;)
Waters Fished: Root River
Fish Caught: 1
Outing Date: 3-15-05
Weather: Partly Sunny
Air Temp: 30's
Water Temp: 33F, rising to 36F
Water Level: normal, around 150 cfs.
Water Color: brown, visibility 1-2 feet.
Fish Species: Steelhead
Pattern Fished: Spawn
Pattern Color: Chartreuse Mesh
Fishing Quality: Tough but we pulled it off!
Today I joined FAT and Karl Kaufman at the Root.
Karl was down from MN and had spent Monday on the water with Rich.
In the afternoon, he switched over to the Pike but had ended the
day 0/a few. Rich had asked me to come out and spend Tuesday on
the water with Karl..who was I to argue!?!
Based on everything I had heard while being knocked
down with the flu we'd have our best luck drifting spawn. Now, Karl
is a hardcore fly guy. Rich is a hardcore fly guy. And I am a hardcore
fly guy. But I'm totally hooked on the centerpin, and well if I'm
gonna fish bait I'm gonna do it in the most effective manner I know.
Karl was game to try it out, and our day started!
We spent most of the day moving around the lower
stretches - Karl picked up the side cast pretty quick. Since I only
have one centerpin at the moment, Karl did most of our fishing.
At one point, while sitting bankside, I was fishing while Karl took
a break (that 13' rod can get heavy after a while). The float went
down, I shouted "Karl, FISH ON!" and handed him the rig
as I slid down the bank towards the river!
We somehow managed to get the handoff going without
losing the fish or ending up in the drink...from that point on it
was all Karl's battle. He managed to work the fish downstream to
a point where I could net it...YES! The smile on Karl's face tells
me I've just made another centerpin convert...well OK, I'm pretty
sure Karl will still fish the fly most of the time ;)
And all of that happened before 11:00 AM. We continued
to work the water all afternoon - I broke out the spinning rod to
drift some spawn with as well but we never had another takedown.
It was indeed a tough bite and I personally am glad we did get a
steelie to show for our 9 hours on the water!
MP

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