New Rod

After our fishing trip to Alberta (which Dustin has yet to post about), I decided it was finally time for a new setup. I briefly tried Aaron's new rod and realized I needed something stiffer than what I had, but still wanted a 5 weight as the fish in the places I fish are generally small. After minimal research I decided on the Powell Tiboron XL- 9 foot 4 piece 5 weight.

It is lightweight but apparently has excellent casting distance.

I also picked up a new reel. I again opted for price, but this is still a substantial upgrade over my ten year old L.L. Bean package. I got the Redington Surge reel.

I like the setup. The cork is a little weird on the handle, and some of the reviews said it was a little small, but it fits my hand fine.

To test it out I headed up the Poudre Canyon with Lani, and my friend Jared. Recently, there was a massive fire in the canyon, followed by heavy rains. This caused a ton of runoff, and the bottom part of the river has been really dirty for the past month, so most of the good fishing is higher up. However, we were in our shitty corolla that burns about a quart of oil per 10 miles when going uphill, so we opted to try and fish a little lower down. 

It was midday so not too active, but I had gotten some suggestions from a local fly shop. The Poudre is much different than what I am used to fishing in Alberta. It seems that up there fish will take just about anything if they are active. They are very particular here- if you do not have the right pattern, or right size there is no chance of catching fish, and I have never caught anything on tippet bigger than 6X. The suggestions were all for size 18 or 20 nymphs, with a variety of patterns, but I was incredulous so I started out with a hopper-dropper setup with a larger nymph. I didn't catch shit, so switched to a 2-nymph setup with a size 18 pheasant tail on the bottom and immediately started catching fish. 

The water was warm so they were not hitting hard; I missed several, lost a couple, and landed two. The new setup was great; casting actually felt effortless in comparison to my old rod, and so I found I could cast a lot more accurately.

Definitely worth it to get a new rod. I am still figuring out how to fish the Poudre, but probably will take the advice from this fly shop more seriously.