Page 61 - Flathead Beacon // 2.24.16

OUT OF BOUNDS ROB BREEDING MY LOVE-HATE
MOUNTAIN EXPOSURE OUTDOORS IN BRIEF FILM COMPANY CITED FOR BREAKING
IRELATIONSHIP HAVE A VERY NICE FLY ROD, ONE I
point where it needs to be.
With my fully lined reel mounted on
the rod, I like that balance point to be just ahead of the grip. You can balance the rod on your index nger, try it. Even- tually you’ll nd the balance point, and if it’s signi cantly ahead of the grip, that rod is going to feel awkward to cast.
That’s been the case with that 10-footer, despite being a 4-weight. And while I’ve caught plenty of trout with that rod, my shing buddy, The Professor, gets tired of me whining about it when we retire to the pub at the end of the day.
I dug it out again last week, putting a di erent reel on it to see if I could improve the balance. I was motivated by a nice sh I lost the day before on that much faster (read sti er) 5-weight. The sh seemed spent so I applied a little extra pressure to bring it to the net. Just as I leaned in, the sh went the other way and my tippet snapped.
That 10-footer is a much softer rod. Heck, it exes almost all the way down to the grip. So the next day I took it to the river in hopes it would protect the light tippets that produce more strikes.
It did, kind of. When I hooked a nice sh that noodle bu ered every run the trout had to o er. Unfortunately, as I tried to ease the sh toward the net the rod just kept bending and the sh stayed out of reach. I nally horsed the trout close, but with that rod warped in the shape of a cursive C I had no control.
Then the sh made one last run, right between my legs. I could only watch as it looped the leader around my ankle and was gone.
Another round of purgatory may be in order for that 10-footer.
FEDERAL WILDERNESS LAWS
long coveted, and nally added to the
arsenal a few years back.
The stick in question is a 10-foot
4-weight that is marketed as a special- ized nymphing rod. The idea is that the longer rod allows extra control when using short-line nymphing techniques such as high sticking. When nymphing I often have just a few feet of y line beyond my rod tip, and there’s little or no cast- ing involved. I follow my ies through a run with the rod tip, then pick up the line and with a form that is part roll cast, part ing, drop the ies back at the head of the run to repeat. That long rod helps me keep my y line o the water, reduc- ing drag.
It’s repetitive, but that’s the point, especially in winter when trout can be a little lethargic. You sometimes need to put the y in front of a sh again and again, almost annoying it to strike.
But that extra length comes at a cost: weight. That longer rod is heavier than the 9-foot 5-weight that is my go-to rod for most river trout shing. And I feel that weight if I’m on the water for extended periods.
That’s partially a result of the weight of the rod, but also the weight of the reel. I generally like as light a reel as I can a ord on a given rod. With that 5-weight for instance, I use an especially light, undersized reel.
A light reel is a good thing, but one that’s too light can throw o the bal- ance of a rod and make it seem heavy. It relates to the balance point, sometimes referred to as swing weight, of a rod and reel. Some rods are heavier near the tip — or in the case of my nymping rod, lon- ger — and a larger reel moves the balance
The owners of a Missoula-based lm company were issued 38 state and 11 federal citations for violating bull trout regulations and lming illegally in the Bob Marshall Wilderness area.
According to a plea agreement announced by o cials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Zach and Travis Boughton, owners of Montana Wild, along with their associate Anthony Von Ruden, were ned $5,950.
The lm rm produced shing lms in and around the Bob Marshall Wilderness that showed the company’s employees illegally shing for bull trout, which is a federally protected species.
The defendants were issued state citations for intentionally shing for bull trout in closed waters, failing to immediately release the protected trout and failing to report a bull trout on an FWP Bull Trout Catch Card.
The federal citations were for unlawful commercial lming on U.S. For- est Service lands without valid permits. Commercial lming is prohibited in designated wilderness areas.
“The over-handling of bull trout that took place by these individuals on this trip will no doubt have negative impacts on the bull trout shery,” FWP Region One Fisheries Manager Mark Deleray said.
Deleray added that South Fork Flathead bull trout make up one of the strongest and most valuable populations across their range.
According to FWP Warden Captain Lee Anderson: “While the regulation preventing someone from intentionally shing for bull trout can be di cult to prove, it is extremely easy for the angler to follow. Every angler out there knows if they are intentionally shing for bull trout.”
Anderson called the investigation a great example of interagency cooperation.
Email outdoors news to news@ atheadbeacon.com.
Montana Cabinet & Canoe LLC
125 MARKEN LANE, BIGFORK, MONTANA
montanacabinetandcanoe.com • 406-837-4185
[email protected]
Rob Breeding writes and teaches when he’s not shing or hunting.
ROCK
YOURMOP
136 MAIN STREET > KALISPELL 260-4010 > WWW.SHORTYSMT.COM
WALK-INS WELCOME
FEBRUARY 24, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
61