I lost a monster trout. Such a frustrating day on the river.

[McFlyLures 0]

If you haven't ever fly fished the quality waters on the San Juan River in New Mexico, you are missing out. Trout are everywhere, and its difficult not to hook a few. The problem there though is that your best bet for hooking trout is with small midges in the 28-32 size verity. Also you need to use really light tippet like 6x. Flourocarbon is best. Because the river is fished quite heavily, the trout come accustom to knowing what is a fly, and what is not, so you need to fish really light. These are not small trout, and therefor its difficult to bring them in. The small hooks rip out of their mouths, and the light tippet snaps when you put any pressure on the fish. Fighting a large trout can take you 10-20 minutes before getting it in, and by that time you have lots of chances to loose them.

This trip was one of the more frustrating I have had on this river. I hooked 3 large trout, and lost all 3. One of those monsters was over 20". Frustrating indeed. However I did manage to land countless other smaller fish. It was a great day though even working through the frustrations.

I was using a rod I tied myself. The blank, and components were purchased from the "hook and the hackle". I find this rod to be excellent for the money, and a great streamer and larger nimphing rod. However it is a bit stiff for what I needed today, and the loss of 3 fish proved it. The rod always preforms well though, especially for casting.

The reel I was using is a Sage 2250, and the line was Rio Mainstream WF5F, a simple $40 fly line. You don't need much more then the mainstream line on this river due to not having to cast very far often.

I think I would have faired better with a 4wt fly rod that had a bit more bend to it. Less pressure on the fish, and less chance of ripping that hook right out of their mouths. I even bent a hook on one of the fish.

 

[Dave G. 0]

My favorite rod for large trout and LL salmon in the size range you are speaking of and fishing with small flies is currently broken ( car door got the tip). It's a surprising selection but one that has proven it's worth to me. It's an older blank, a Sage Graphite II 6 wt rod. 6wt to hold the fish, and that blank for it's fine forgiving tip ( I think the tip is 3.5). So I have to send it off to Sage for a new tip section ( about $50 when all is said and done but it will be right again). I have 5 wt rods that the tips don't perform as well as this rod when it comes to tip forgiveness . I've still lost my share of fish even with that but it helps level the playing field because you need the power and forgiveness combination on those heavier more powerful fish. Rod/blank selection is very important in that situation.

[McFlyLures 0]

My favorite rod for large trout and LL salmon in the size range you are speaking of and fishing with small flies is currently broken ( car door got the tip). It's a surprising selection but one that has proven it's worth to me. It's an older blank, a Sage Graphite II 6 wt rod. 6wt to hold the fish, and that blank for it's fine forgiving tip. So I have to send it off to Sage for a new tip section ( about $50 when all is said and done but it will be right again). I have 5 wt rods that the tips don't perform as well as this rod when it comes to tip forgiveness . I've still lost my share of fish even with that but it helps level the playing field because you need the power and forgiveness combination on those heavier more powerful fish. Rod selection is very important in that situation.

yeah, I hear ya with the trade off of power, but forgiveness. As you could see, any pressure on the fish was snapping the 6x line or the midge was pulling out. Just any slight pressure. I couldn't turn these fish very well. I had that one right there, took a swipe at it with my net, and I missed. It sure was a frustrating day. HAHA

[Bimini15 0]

I was using a rod I tied myself.

 

Now, that's the video I want to watch!

 

I liked the video a lot. The locale, the fishing and the humor. Good job.

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

That was great Mac, very Hank Pattersonish.

[Dave G. 0]

 

My favorite rod for large trout and LL salmon in the size range you are speaking of and fishing with small flies is currently broken ( car door got the tip). It's a surprising selection but one that has proven it's worth to me. It's an older blank, a Sage Graphite II 6 wt rod. 6wt to hold the fish, and that blank for it's fine forgiving tip. So I have to send it off to Sage for a new tip section ( about $50 when all is said and done but it will be right again). I have 5 wt rods that the tips don't perform as well as this rod when it comes to tip forgiveness . I've still lost my share of fish even with that but it helps level the playing field because you need the power and forgiveness combination on those heavier more powerful fish. Rod selection is very important in that situation.

yeah, I hear ya with the trade off of power, but forgiveness. As you could see, any pressure on the fish was snapping the 6x line or the midge was pulling out. Just any slight pressure. I couldn't turn these fish very well. I had that one right there, took a swipe at it with my net, and I missed. It sure was a frustrating day. HAHA

 

Mmmm, well first off you need to change up your hook setting technique for midge fishing. In the video you are setting the hook as if woolly bugger fishing. For midges I find a line slip method best, I keep a loop of line under my line fingers at the rod, maybe a foot or so of line ( this is separate from the big loop at the water line). On the bite , just lift the rod and let loose that little loop at the same time. The fish should now be on the rod but let him run a little bit, he won't even know he is hooked till the pressure comes on and do that gradually. With midges if you set hard you already started a flesh tear for they hook to work loose in. Those small hooks take a very slight pressure to set and they hook more solid than you might think. I've caught many fish over 20" using a lift technique and fine tippet with small flies. In our local ponds it's the main way we get them in mid spring and mid fall. Setting the hook is the same basically in a slow running river, you do have currents of course and that is part of the challenge.

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

Maybe just to add what Dave said, try fighting the larger fish using side pressure instead of the vertical tip high method. I know it helps me on larger trout.

[McFlyLures 0]

 

I was using a rod I tied myself.

Now, that's the video I want to watch!

 

I liked the video a lot. The locale, the fishing and the humor. Good job.

 

Thanks! that means a lot.

 

You can watch the video of me tying the rod, its on my channel, also there is a link on this video (about the time I show the rod) and you can click it to view the video. I am not sure though those annotations and clickable content work on this forum.

[Dave G. 0]

Maybe just to add what Dave said, try fighting the larger fish using side pressure instead of the vertical tip high method. I know it helps me on larger trout.

I agree, and with a fish right out in front, hook set and tension up river not down. At least in my experience.

[McFlyLures 0]

 

 

My favorite rod for large trout and LL salmon in the size range you are speaking of and fishing with small flies is currently broken ( car door got the tip). It's a surprising selection but one that has proven it's worth to me. It's an older blank, a Sage Graphite II 6 wt rod. 6wt to hold the fish, and that blank for it's fine forgiving tip. So I have to send it off to Sage for a new tip section ( about $50 when all is said and done but it will be right again). I have 5 wt rods that the tips don't perform as well as this rod when it comes to tip forgiveness . I've still lost my share of fish even with that but it helps level the playing field because you need the power and forgiveness combination on those heavier more powerful fish. Rod selection is very important in that situation.

yeah, I hear ya with the trade off of power, but forgiveness. As you could see, any pressure on the fish was snapping the 6x line or the midge was pulling out. Just any slight pressure. I couldn't turn these fish very well. I had that one right there, took a swipe at it with my net, and I missed. It sure was a frustrating day. HAHA

 

Mmmm, well first off you need to change up your hook setting technique for midge fishing. In the video you are setting the hook as if woolly bugger fishing. For midges I find a line slip method best, I keep a loop of line under my line fingers at the rod, maybe a foot or so of line ( this is separate from the big loop at the water line). On the bite , just lift the rod and let loose that little loop at the same time. The fish should now be on the rod but let him run a little bit, he won't even know he is hooked till the pressure comes on and do that gradually. With midges if you set hard you already started a flesh tear for they hook to work loose in. Those small hooks take a very slight pressure to set and they hook more solid than you might think. I've caught many fish over 20" using a lift technique and fine tippet with small flies. In our local ponds it's the main way we get them in mid spring and mid fall. Setting the hook is the same basically in a slow running river, you do have currents of course and that is part of the challenge.

 

Thanks for the tips. I learned how to fish from a friend that is a guide in Northern CA, where we use much larger nymphs. He always said to snap down stream and make sure and set hard since the line always has slack. Good thinking on this when fishing tiny midges. I will go ahead and try that, thank you!

[McFlyLures 0]

That was great Mac, very Hank Pattersonish.

Thanks, he is a funny guy.

[126lineman 0]

Nice video McFly. If I could only give you one suggestion, it would be to try to keep your rod tip lower while fighting the fish. Try about 45 degree rod angle, keeps more pressure on the fish so he is less likely to have his way with you. Thanks for the video.

[McFlyLures 0]

Nice video McFly. If I could only give you one suggestion, it would be to try to keep your rod tip lower while fighting the fish. Try about 45 degree rod angle, keeps more pressure on the fish so he is less likely to have his way with you. Thanks for the video.

Yep he spanked my butt hart huh? HAHA

[Piker20 0]

I would agree with 126lineman. Fishing larger species in flowing water I've had success with the rod held just level with or even under the water surface. Makes the fish less likely to pull down against you and seems to tire them quicker.

[Dave G. 0]

Something we do in Maine in faster water than you were in is walk the fish into the shallows and get them out of the main current. I've also gotten larger fish to take cover in the shadow of my body form up against my waders ( LLS are good for this), rather than try and net the fish I just slowly reach in with hemostats and release the fish, pluck the emerger out of its mouth and let the fish swim off naturally. It never was out of the water, greatly reducing that part of the stress on the fish.

 

Looking into the water you were fishing I bet you could have gotten away with 5x tippet. And 5x Climax is thin and gives about an extra lb of strength over some others. It would be possibly a 2lb gain over the 6x tippet you were using. It's down side is if it gets kinked up it's kinked up for ever, unlike Chameleon that I prefer. Chameleon is good too though, has good abrasion resistance and a bit more stretch than Fluorocarbon. Fluorocarbon is good till it gets a nick or scratch in it.