We Should Go Biking

While at work I got a text from Robbie.  The text simply said:

                We should go biking today

This was not an unusual request from my Son with a seemingly one-track mind, and the weather was perfect for just about anything…..including mountain biking. Yep, not an unusual request at all—but an unusual day indeed.

You see, this was the day that for the first time I no longer waited for Robbie.

I no longer waited for Robbie to finish unloading his bike.  I no longer waited for Robbie to put his gear on.   I no longer waited for Robbie at the top of the hill.  I no longer waited for Robbie at the bottom of the hill.  I no longer waited for Robbie to make it over an obstacle. 

I no longer wait for Robbie—Robbie now waits for me.

Product Test - REO Streamertip

Robbie and I began our Sunday morning with one of my favorite movies, Streamer Fishing for Trophy Trout starring Kelly Galloup. By the end of the movie we were all kinds of jazzed up to go fishing so we gathered up our gear, choked down some food, and headed to the Eno River to chase some largemouth.

Based on an earlier trip with Tbone, I figured the top water bite wasn’t going to be great, so I decided to try throwing a streamer to see if that would entice a big fish. (Watching Kelly Galloup may have had some influence also). Robbie, on the other hand, was planning to use his old faithful, the Stealth Bomber.

I had been using a sinking line with good success in reservoirs and had great success on the New River last year chasing smallies, but I had not used one on the Eno and decided to give it a whirl. Several months ago I purchased a 6 weight sinking line for shallow or slow current rivers but hadn’t used it yet. Today was going to be the test run.

 We hiked into one of my favorite secret places and it wasn’t long until we got into fish. But the white dungeon I had on wasn’t producing the aggressive strikes I was looking for so I tied on a black one and moved upstream. Three casts later the fly was hammered! “Ummmm, Robbie? You should come up here, I may need a hand.”

The fish hit like a truck, but the pull quickly changed to feel more like a small largemouth. Typical behavior of the Eno River crown jewel. When it came up from the depths I knew I had a great fish--a thirteen inch Roanoke Bass. I was really wishing I had bought that scale. This one is easily a citation.

I later switched to a root beer dungeon and picked up several largemouth with the largest being sixteen inches. No monsters today but the sinking line and dungeon setup worked great. Robbie also had a good day with multiple species of sunfish. However, as we walked back to the truck he was ready to trade in his floating line and start streamer fishing….just like the old man.

I was using a 7ft 10in 6wt Redington Predator, with the REO Streamertip WF6F/S6, and my own version of the Kelly Galloup Dungeon. The photo below shows some of my flies and all the sinking lines I own.

Over the past year I played with them trying to find the one I like the most. The problem I was having with both the 300 and 200 grain lines was controlling the depth. It just seemed that if the water was less than four feet deep I would get hung up all the time. But using a weighted fly on floating line did not allow a fast retrieve in deep water.

The REO Streamtip line casts amazingly well even with a four inch Dungeon tied on. But more importantly, I was able to drop the fly deep and then bring it up to go over a log without getting hung up. I could fish the shallow water just as easily as the deeper stuff. Well, deep for the Eno River is about five feet. If I’m going to fish much deeper than that I would want to use my 200 grain.

For the fun factor, I like the REO Streamertip by far the most. It is really fun to fish with. My other sink tips have their place but man, what a kick it is to have castability and control of fly depth with varied retrieve rates. I plan to fish this setup a lot.

I was going to sell my Redington but it’s not for sale anymore. Sorry if anyone was interested.