3-15-05 - Karl drifts the Root, his first time out with the centerpin.

FISH ON! Karl battles a fiesty steelhead with that 13' rod!

YEEE HA! The skunk is broken and it's Karl's first centerpin steelie.

Throughout the day we checked out various spots, including the wier which is all frozen over.

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