More Float Tube Trout And The Other One That Got Away

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Originally uploaded by ...olson family...

Yesterday morning proved the value of being close to your fishing spot. I hit Quail Lake on my float tube at sunrise and quickly landed a “pan fryer” rainbow trout, as my cousin BJ calls them. On my next cast I noticed that I had wrapped my line around my leg while I was stripping the fish in – a small technical difficulty. After I sorted out my fly line I went tight on another fish. I set the hook and immediately gave up all my slack line to this fish. I started to apply drag as I quickly ran out of fly line. Once the fish got in my backing I went for the brakes before I got spooled. Applying minimal pressure, the loop connector between my fly line and backing snapped – a major technical difficulty. So not only did I lose another monster, I lacked a replacement fly line making my system completely inoperable. I paddled off the water, went home to pick up a new fly rod (had time to pick up milk for my two year old), and got back on the water with enough time to get another rainbow before I had to get on with the rest of my day.

Lessons of the day: fish near home, have extra fly line handy, and NEVER use a store bought loop connector when fishing for Colorado trout. Ironically, I had tied my own triple nail knot loop for my line to leader connection because I distrusted the loop connectors that came attached to this line. I had forgotten about the one attaching the fly line to the backing…Doh!