West Carson River (Non-Yak)

Was going to drag my Pro Angler up the hill yesterday but the weather guessers were calling for lots of wind so I decided to try the West Carson River up and down highway 88.  Not more than a handful of fish at each spot I stopped at.  Ended up with two rainbows and one Cutthroat, my buddy got two Cutthroats and a rainbow.  The water is a bit high and off color.  I tried out a new 2 wt. fly rod and reel and in between wind gusts I was amazed at how well it presented the fly within a dinner plate sized area I was trying for.  Ended up with the mother of all wind knots so I used microlight spin gear.  I sold my GoPro Hero and got the new generation GoPro, these videos are the first from the new generation unit:


notice the other Cutthroat following the hooked one at the beginning of the video:

A 2WT?!?!? Sweet! I've never thrown one yet but I bet those fish put up quite a battle on that stick. Dries?
Thanks for the report & video 

Thats AWESOME!!!  And we might be there on Sunday    Thinking of taking the fly rod and trying for the first time to actually catch something with it.   Thanks for the inspiration!

A 2WT?!?!? Sweet! I've never thrown one yet but I bet those fish put up quite a battle on that stick. Dries?
Thanks for the report & video

It's a 2wt St. Croix Ultra Legend 7'6" with a 2/3 Redington Drift click and pawl reel loaded with a 3 wt line to load the fast rod better  (don't need a reel with a drag for the smaller trout I am targeting, I can always palm the spool if I need to).  It does not cast real far but holy crap it is accurate!  Had a dry on it but did not catch anything, too windy to see what was flying around so I tied a mosquito on it as I knew there had to be a ton of them around, before the wind got real bad we saw hordes of skeeters at Silver lake, just like a giant bait ball in the water these skeeters were tightly bunched and looking for victims, take plenty of bug juice if you head up!

A 2WT?!?!? Sweet! I've never thrown one yet but I bet those fish put up quite a battle on that stick. Dries?
Thanks for the report & video

It's a 2wt St. Croix Ultra Legend 7'6" with a 2/3 Redington Drift click and pawl reel loaded with a 3 wt line to load the fast rod better.  It does not cast real far but holy crap it is accurate!  Had a dry on it but did not catch anything, too windy to see what was flying around so I tied a mosquito on it as I knew there had to be a ton of them around, before the wind got real bad we saw hordes of skeeters at Silver lake, just like a giant bait ball in the water these skeeters were tightly bunched and looking for victims, take plenty of bug juice if you head up!

I'll bet that rod throws as well or better than my 7'3" Echo 2 wt. And it's very easy for me to cast 20'-30' of line (not including 9' leader) and a size 14 Elk Hair Caddis. If I'm trying hard, and the wind is cooperating, I can cast to targets 50+ feet away. And don't think you need to use it for trout. Bluegill are a ton-o-fun on a 2 wt, and are usually very close to home.

And did you ever see this article? Your rod came out doing very well.

http://www.flyfishohio.com/2-Weight_Shoot-Out/2-Weight_Rod_Review_Summary.htm

I admit I only picked the Echo because I'm a bit of a cheapskate.

Scott

By the way....Nice fish/C&R:smt003

Scott, yes I did see that article, I am a St. Croix fan (I have two 5 wt St. Croix Ultra Legend rods)  which made it an easy decision for me to pick up another St. Croix rod.  The only problem I had was the 2wt shootout is a little dated and I had to buy the rod from St. Croix direct at a clearance price  (tempted to buy another for a spare).  I am using a cheap WF Scientific Angler 3 wt line and it was easy to do a roll cast or shoot line out 20 to 30' without doing a double haul. 
What reel and line are you using on that Echo?  I am looking for a inexpensive rod and reel to use for a loaner and for my son to learn on.  It would be easy to convert someone to using fly gear with something that casts easy and accruately but my St. Croix is just too expensive to let someone thrash. 
I tried a nice little Hardy click and pawl reel at Kiene's but wow!  the noise that thing makes is just crazy! 

Rock,  usually I don't even lift the fish out of the water but I wanted to get them on the camera as Dan (Headwaters Kayak) was begining to doubt I actually catch any fish.   

Al, if you get there at first light you might have your pick of a spot to fish until around 8 or 9 am when the hordes descend upon the water to try their hand at fishing, might be a zoo this weekend! 

I think that 2nd trout following the hooked trout in that video was a "rescue" trout, kinda like coast guard trout,...y'no?

I think that 2nd trout following the hooked trout in that video was a "rescue" trout, kinda like coast guard trout,...y'no?

if so, it should be fired because as soon as the hooked trout got a bit frantic the "rescuer" took off like greased lightning!   

I'm a bit of a Lamson slut, so I picked up a used Velocity sz 1 off of ebay for just over a C-note. I went this route, as I plan on using the rod for Dollie Varden up in AK, and could possibly hook up with a fish in the 20" range. Even bigger if I happen to hook a Pink. The reel even came with a 3 wt line of unknown origin, which I am now using on a different nymphing rig. Of course, this past weekend I was noticing the tip of the line wasn't floating - so maybe the  free line was worth what I paid for it. Picked up a matching spare spool at the same time from the same seller. I think I'm all in for $170 for both, shipping included.

Other ultra light reels that caught my eye were the Orvis Battenkill barstock in a size 1, and the Ross Evolution in a size 0. I didn't much like the White River reel that was mentioned in the  2wt shootout. I think the BBS1 is discontinued as well, but still readily available on eBay.

I'm using a Rio Trout LT in WF2. But it's a RIO line, so is more like a 2.5 wt, if not heavier.  No complaints here, but that's the only line I've tried.  Lot's of people in the glass/bamboo world like the Cortland 444 Classic (peach). But they tend to use DT lines.

What did you get that rod for at clearance? I too own a couple other St Croix rods (spinning) and think they're a good bang for the buck.

And nice cutties BTW. I hope to get into some Greenbacks this weekend. Maybe some of the Colorado subspecies on the trip back home in July.

Just thinking about a rod for beginners though: If you can handle the soft and slow action of fiberglass, the Cabelas Classic Glass Rod is supposedly on sale again - $79.95.  I really like my 4wt, and they make a 6' 6" 3wt. And in general, glass is a lot tougher than graphite. But you have to let the rod do the work.   S   L   O  W    your cast wayyyy down.  Put a line that's about two sizes too big on it, and your beginner is casting to fish 25'-30' away in no time. Plus, a fish on glass is a gas...

Scott

Kiene's fly shop in Sacramento had all their test lines loaded on the Batenkill reels and they were sweet!  I did not get one because I did not need a drag for the smaller fish I am targeting. 
I do have an old 4/5 wt 6'6" medium graphite rod that I learned on a long time ago, I may just use that with a new reel on it and call it a day for a loaner/beater rig for my son to learn on.
The St. Croix 2wt rod was 217.00 on clearance which was almost 100.00 off.