Low Flow
The winter can be a productive, yet frustrating time for those of us that love to swing steelhead flies. The flows can fluctuate from outrageous to fickle all in a weeks time. Most swing fishermen know how to handle the high flows: just throw on a Skagit, Heavy Tip, and Toss half of a chicken, but what do you do when the flows subside and the water turns gin clear? The temps tell you, that you have to hug the bottom, but if you dared to huck wench cable in this type of water you would nuke every run you hit. What's left, throw a scandi and hope the sluggish fish will take a fly hi in the water column? Sure the scandi will present the fly like it was landing on a tempur-pedic , but it wont invoke the lazy take of a winter fish as they prefer the fly to be in their face. Most of us use to stay home when these conditions presented themselves, but if your like me that felt like giving up, so I searched hi and low for as solution. That solution took me to the Scandinavian Countries! Those guys had the answer--sinking scandis! These sinkers had light enough tips that I could present a fly snuggle soft, yet deep. There was one problem with these sinkers though, the swung like junk. The rear taper of the scandi contained the bulk of the heads weight, making a single density scandi swing with the rear deeper than the fly. This was a huge problem and I swore that I would never use a sinking scandi again, that was until LTS sent me some Triple Density Heads. LTS built their heads so that the thin front taper was the fastest sinking portion of the line, and the least sinking portion was at the back: why didn't anyone else think of this? it was pure revelation. Now when I swing low and clear, I am able to make super soft cast that will put the fly near the bottom, at the winter fishes preferred level...Giving me no reason to hang my rod up when such levels exist. if you find yourself sitting on the couch due to conditions, jump out of the box and figure out what it takes to put a fly in front of a fish. come fish with us we will show you some of our out of the box winter methods .....tight lines
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| Winter is as good as any time to get off the couch! |
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| Swing it! |
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| Conditions like these demand a Triple Density Scandis |
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| Any day fishing is better than..... |
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