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Interesting recent Washington commercial catches

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#1 · (Edited)
While Mako shark are the only one of these species that have realistic value as a fly fishing target, I still find it fascinating what can be found off our coast. From another saltwater forum:
There's been a lot of excitement the last month or so with my son giving me abundant reports of exotic fish that are regulars of the So. Cal commercial fleet. Just to give you an idea of the volume that exists off of our coast here are a few of the stats: in 2, 10 day trips in October, he landed over 100 Swordfish (from 100-600lbs), an equal amount of Mako and Thresher Sharks, and a smattering of Imperial Louvar and Opah.

The fishing is focused in the hottest strips of water from La Push to Garibaldi and from 125.00 -126.25 West. The outer garbage dump was very hot one trip.
After reading this I am now 100% sure that we saw a small Mako shark when tuna fishing this year, and I will be prepared if the opportunity presents itself again next year. Swordfish, while arguably the greatest gamefish that swims, seem a very unlikely fly rod target in the PNW due to the depths they frequent. Not sure if Thresher can be taken on fly gear but are well regarded as a sport fish. Imperial Louvar also being a deep water fish, seem an even more unlikely fly target than Opah but definitely add to the mystique of what can be caught offshore in the PNW.

Louvar can reach 300lbs:


Anyway, thought some of you salt junkies might find this interesting.
 
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#4 · (Edited)
Not sure if Randy saw it, or noticed the "different" looking shark with the super pointy nose, and short, triangular fins. It was about the same size as the omnipresent 4-5' blue sharks, so it would have been easy to miss. Especially with all the activity at the stern. I was up on the bow and had a much better, somewhat elevated view.

Edit: If I hadn't been in full-on tuna mode, and believed what I was seeing, it would've been a piece of cake to selectively present a fly to the Mako, and not the 2 or 3 blues there at the time. That is if I had a rod rigged with a wire leader.
 
#3 ·
I've been following that thread closely. I met Max, the kid in that picture, while I was working out of Westport. The boat he was on, The Miss Abby, worked together with my boat while we were fishing. If I recall Max is all of 18, and is one hell of a hard working kid. Been fishing his whole life. Really enjoyed the time I spent around him. Was super excited to see he is having such great success.

Such an amazing world out there. A true offshore boat is my number one goal right now. I WILL get out there and get to dialing some of that stuff in.
 
#5 ·
Such an amazing world out there. A true offshore boat is my number one goal right now. I WILL get out there and get to dialing some of that stuff in.
I'm starting to seriously consider a blue water boat myself. Not that I plan on giving up charter fishing, or bumming offshore rides any time soon, but there's a lot of "experimenting" I'd like to do.
 
#13 ·
There are always lots of makos off Washington during tuna season. They are not as affected by water temperature than some of the other exotics. It seems to me that it's much more likely that you got spooled by one of those than by a bluefin.

I did some shark fishing out there a few years ago (what else is there to do at night on a drifting boat?). About one in six fish hooked were makos, with the rest all being blues. Even a 50 pound mako could rip out a couple of hundred yards of line in a flash, and they didn't all jump. There was a story from a trip that I missed, About a fish that spooled a guy who had 1800 yards of 80 pound braid on a heavy duty offshore reel. There are some Monsters out there, and you're not stopping them with a fly rod!
 
#15 ·
There are always lots of makos off Washington during tuna season. They are not as affected by water temperature than some of the other exotics. It seems to me that it's much more likely that you got spooled by one of those than by a bluefin.

I did some shark fishing out there a few years ago (what else is there to do at night on a drifting boat?). About one in six fish hooked were makos, with the rest all being blues. Even a 50 pound mako could rip out a couple of hundred yards of line in a flash, and they didn't all jump. There was a story from a trip that I missed, About a fish that spooled a guy who had 1800 yards of 80 pound braid on a heavy duty offshore reel. There are some Monsters out there, and you're not stopping them with a fly rod!
Good point. I assumed it was a tuna since it didn't jump or cut me off, but I could have gotten "lucky" with the hook placement. A mako is possible though. We were on an extended drift and I was fishing the fly deep in our chum line. I suppose it could have been a really big albacore, but we were boating fish in the high 20's, if not over 30 pounds, and none of those fish took even half the line this one did.

As much as I want to catch big fish, there is a limit to what I'm willing to do with a fly rod. A fifty pound bluefin on the fly would a be a bucket list fish. A hundred plus pound bluefin (or bigeye) sounds like either an exercise in futility, or extreme punishment. The same with mako. A five footer would be an amazing experience within the realm of possibility on albacore fly gear. I'd have to think twice about casting to a mako over 8'. Anything over 10' would max my pucker factor meter.

I have been spooled no less than 10 times in the last 5 years. Most of which I couldn't even turn their heads with 30 lbs of drag & 6-700 yds of 50-80 lb.braid.

Next year I'll run some heavier troll gear with more 80 or 130 lb braid.

I can't imagine remotely standing a chance with fly gear, but hey...I'm willing to try anything lol
Like I said, there's a limit to what I want to hook with fly gear! Care to speculate on what kind of beasties you were connected to?
 
#14 ·
I have been spooled no less than 10 times in the last 5 years. Most of which I couldn't even turn their heads with 30 lbs of drag & 6-700 yds of 50-80 lb.braid.

Next year I'll run some heavier troll gear with more 80 or 130 lb braid.

I can't imagine remotely standing a chance with fly gear, but hey...I'm willing to try anything lol
 
#16 ·
I got spooled the same day you did as well on a diff vessel. (50 lb braid x 400 yds) Definitely felt like a big tuna to me. I've landed albacore up to 40 lbs & they don't pull nearly as hard as the fish that have spooled me.

It's pretty rare up here in my experience to hook sharks on the troll. Most sharks are inherently lazy/opportunistic. They want an easy meal not to chase it @ 5-7 kts. I'd say over half of the times I've been spooled have been on the troll.
 
#17 ·
The captain I worked for this summer had the same thoughts regarding sharks. Said he's never caught them trolling jigs in the 35 years or so he's been doing it.

Then this year we caught a good handful of blues on the troll. Go figure.

The changes off shore seem to have everything kinda topsy turvy. Ran into quite a few other things that seemed to defy conventional logic as well.

Man I can't wait to get back out there

I got spooled the same day you did as well on a diff vessel. (50 lb braid x 400 yds) Definitely felt like a big tuna to me. I've landed albacore up to 40 lbs & they don't pull nearly as hard as the fish that have spooled me.

It's pretty rare up here in my experience to hook sharks on the troll. Most sharks are inherently lazy/opportunistic. They want an easy meal not to chase it @ 5-7 kts. I'd say over half of the times I've been spooled have been on the troll.
 
#19 ·
I got spooled the same day you did as well on a diff vessel. (50 lb braid x 400 yds) Definitely felt like a big tuna to me. I've landed albacore up to 40 lbs & they don't pull nearly as hard as the fish that have spooled me.

It's pretty rare up here in my experience to hook sharks on the troll. Most sharks are inherently lazy/opportunistic. They want an easy meal not to chase it @ 5-7 kts. I'd say over half of the times I've been spooled have been on the troll.
Hard to say. Until reading Nick's post above I never would have thought a blue shark would eat a troll lure. I highly doubt any of these spoolers were blues though. Not that they aren't strong fish, they just don't have the same kind of speed.

Based on that, we can probably limit the suspect list to mako or one of 3 tuna species. If you've caught 40lb albacore and these were stronger, they would have to be a very rare grade of albie. I know what albacore (and presumably other tunas) feel like on the line but not sure if there's a discernible difference with mako. Whatever it was that I hooked felt like an albacore grab, then took off in a straight line towards Astoria. The only difference from the others was about halfway into the backing I was thinking "Holy shit, I'm going to get spooled!". It finally did slow some but I didn't have much left on the reel and it was either stop it or break it off.

The captain I worked for this summer had the same thoughts regarding sharks. Said he's never caught them trolling jigs in the 35 years or so he's been doing it.

Then this year we caught a good handful of blues on the troll. Go figure.

The changes off shore seem to have everything kinda topsy turvy. Ran into quite a few other things that seemed to defy conventional logic as well.

Man I can't wait to get back out there
On the one overnight trip I did, I woke up and went out on deck about 1 or 2 AM. It was amazing how much life was attracted to the lights around the boat. I could have refilled the bait tank with a smelt net. The combination of the lights, that much bait, and drifting for hours, seems like asking for serious trouble if one were to put a line under the boat. One of the guys on that trip did exactly that just before dawn (when I was finally sound asleep) and he claims to have been nearly spooled by something. Shark was the first guess from others, but he didn't get cutoff and said it felt like a tuna. His guess was possibly a bigeye tuna. They are out there, and dawn or just before is the time to fish for them. But obviously the non-shark suspect list is long including bluefin, opah, swordfish, louvar, and who knows WTF else.

Last weekend I found a dead Mola Mola on the beach.
Not too surprising, there was a lot of them out there this year. They are really cool fish and seem almost as curious about us as we are about them. I'm going to try getting some underwater video next year.
 
#21 ·
Just a quick note that I recall the mention of a mako, but I didn't see it.

Also, I've been bitten by the fly bug, bought another 12 wt reel and will have some backup systems in place next year.

I know Rich has also been bitten with a fly bug. I loaned him some of my bugs for a trip East, and he rewarded with some great photos of nice browns.

I got out my gear and could find all but a missing Ross 9 wt reel. If you saw my garage / roll top / shop, you would understand. I take a PLB when I enter my garage.

Looking forward to calmer winds next year!

Randy

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
#23 · (Edited)
Just a quick note that I recall the mention of a mako, but I didn't see it.

Also, I've been bitten by the fly bug, bought another 12 wt reel and will have some backup systems in place next year.

I know Rich has also been bitten with a fly bug. I loaned him some of my bugs for a trip East, and he rewarded with some great photos of nice browns.

I got out my gear and could find all but a missing Ross 9 wt reel. If you saw my garage / roll top / shop, you would understand. I take a PLB when I enter my garage.

Looking forward to calmer winds next year!

Randy

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Glad you've been bitten! Now maybe I can talk you into chasing some other fly rod species before tuna season next year.

One thing I have in mind is trying the technique we were using when drifting for tuna on near shore bottom fish. It was working really well for getting the fly deep and keeping it there. By only stripping in about half the line in, then flipping the stripped line back out and allowing the drift to take the line back/strip/repeat, we were able to fish almost indefinitely on one initial cast. The best part was still getting grabs on the retrieve, although we had a couple takes with the fly on the "hangback". The 600 grain Leviathan lines we were throwing are 100' total length and several times I had the entire line out at about a 45 degree angle down. That would put the fly somewhere around 70'. Deeper than that is possible, but it's not much fun trying to strip in backing (I tried though). Anyway, the point being I don't think we're limited to the top 20 or 30' of the water column. I can see setting up a drift over a reef in the 50'-80' range, possibly deeper, to target lings and rockfish. Pretty sure it will work for salmon too.

Also on blue sharks, I used to run a way back 50W set. One time I forgot to clear that line as it was in the high rod holder, and as I took off the sound of the coffee grinder blasted. My apologies to the guys I pushed out of the way thinking it might be Elvis, but it was a large blue taking the lure as I powered up the boat to planning speed. He must have watched his lunch taking off and could not resist.

Sorry for gear talk. Lesson, strip like a mad man to entice a shark.

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I don't think you'll get too much gear grief here on the salt forum. It's pretty much an integral part of offshore fly fishing anyway. On our trip Joe found out that blues will eat flies. When I finally pried him away from the swim baits and got him up front casting a 12wt, he hooked that fiesty little blue. It took off on a pretty decent run and I thought he had an albacore until it stopped and started thrashing around. That was the only one on a fly that I remember but it was a busy day.
 
#22 ·
Also on blue sharks, I used to run a way back 50W set. One time I forgot to clear that line as it was in the high rod holder, and as I took off the sound of the coffee grinder blasted. My apologies to the guys I pushed out of the way thinking it might be Elvis, but it was a large blue taking the lure as I powered up the boat to planning speed. He must have watched his lunch taking off and could not resist.

Sorry for gear talk. Lesson, strip like a mad man to entice a shark.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
#25 ·
Read my posts and Nick's about using low stretch T7 for running line if you want to get stupid deep. You could put the whole 500ft spool on if you want but I've been happy with 150ft. :) Swords will bask on the surface so getting deep isn't necessarily required. They also feed shallow at night so an overnighter would seem a good idea.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2002-10-27/sports/0210260615_1_fly-fishing-swordfish-blue-marlin

What was the reason for Marlin ID over S-word fish Trebek? :)

Ground chum and flashers/spinners every 20 feet on a vertical line down 200ft do wonders for bringing fish up in Florida.
 
#30 · (Edited)
Not the kind of stuff I need to be reading with summer 7 months away! Ironically I was just having an offline discussion about the subject of getting deep when I was reminded of Nick's use of T7 as running line.

My only concern about using any T material for running line is how much it would affect casting ability. Basically whether the head would have enough momentum to overcome the inertia of the added running line mass. That might require an even heavier head in spite of it not being needed for depth with the T running line. Having never tried it though, I have no idea. If it's possible to punch out 60' of T7 including the head, then great.

The drift technique works very, very well for getting deep and keeping the fly in the zone. I just don't want to destroy casting ability if the fish decide to start busting on top. Things change in a heartbeat out there and I don't want to switch lines if it turns to a run-and-gun game. That said, I want stupid deep capability. I've been doing some reading myself and some recurrent themes keep popping up. Specifically that as tuna get bigger they become more boat shy AND surface shy. One article I read about some fly guys chasing schoolie yellowfin put a guy in the water with scuba gear to get some video. They assumed all the tuna were the 20-30# fish they were seeing on the surface. To their surprise, they saw a layer of huge triple digit fish cruising much deeper.

But bigger fish isn't the only reason to go deeper. It's pretty much SOP with the jig guys to get albacore keyed on the boat with chunked IQF anchovies and keep them there. That works great since it's nothing to fish at 100' with iron. Not so much with fly gear. That's why live bait has been so critical to fly fishing success for albacore. At least until now. When I first tried this stack mend thing last year we had the fish keyed on the boat with chunked IQF and a good iron bite going (one reason my arms were ready to fall off). I finally dug out the fly rod and hucked a cast downwind and stack mended the shit out of it. After missing a take on the sink (deep flash followed by a line twitch) as the sinking coils passed me at the transom, I knew I could hook up if I got the fly retrieving at depth. A cast or two later I got bit about 3 strips in after the line came tight on the drift. We had nearly the same situation this year with a layer of tuna loyally following the boat at 60'. They would only come shallow if we tossed a few live anchovies, at which point the water would instantly erupt at several places around the boat - and not always where the anchovies were tossed which was kind of weird. That was great for shallow hookups but at least half the fly fish we hooked were at depth with no live bait in the water.
 
#28 ·
Getting down past 100 feet with a fly is very doable.

As MBowers suggests, do a search for the threads discussing T7 and T8 as running line. My 12 wt setup this year consisted of 100' of T8 with 30' of T20 head. With mild currents and excellent boat control you can indeed get "stupid deep".

IMO this setup leaves all the integrated lines in the dust for getting deep. Not the funnest to cast, but not as bad as you might think, and as you mentioned above if you set your drift up right and have good line control you won't be casting much anyway. Besides, for getting deep a long laid out cast isn't as effective. Much better, as you mentioned, to more or less get the head out and let it sink while stack mending and feeding the running line.

Experimenting with this stuff is a whole lot of fun. It's cool to see more folks getting interested in it.
 
#29 ·
Tuna and swordfish are notorious for going to the bottom so as long as you have more backing than the water is deep you should have a chance. How deep is the water? I would consider spooling up with 30lb spectra to get more capacity over 50lb. Maybe last 50 yds next to the fly line is 50lb but mostly 30lb. You can always put a big snap swivel from your 80W conventional rig to your fly reel and drop your fly rig overboard to continue the battle instead of breaking off. :)
 
#32 ·
No one is running that much backing...lol.

When I said 100' for bottom fish. The bottom depth is 80-120' but the rockfish are typically suspended in 20-80' of water off the structure. I had plenty of times catching fish within 10-12' deep off the boat this year.

I might not be that keen on shooting heads & ocean line arrangements, but I've spent loads of time chasing fish in the salt on conventional tackle. Getting the rest put together isn't nearly as hard as knowing where & when to find fish.

Next time the ocean lays down...I'll give it a go. For bottomfish...unfortunately tuna have to wait to make it into the canner till next summer. Lol
 
#33 ·
I was able to cast past 60' with that setup with little effort. It was handy when casting towards a jetty that I couldn't stay super close to. But, it's a heavy setup for sure and some might not be able to cast it as well or flat out not enjoy it to the point that it ruins the experience. Only you could be the judge. Just saying that its very doable and I personally didn't have much issue.

I get the concern about castability but in my head I'm not leaving port without several rods rigged and ready, including a more standard and easily cast setup to turn to in the event that suddenly the fish are shallow as you mentioned. But, I get that you are most likely going to encounter this scenario while on one of your charters where having a bunch of extra fly rods rigged up is probably not feasible.

Which goes back to my thinking, that I've mentioned before, where I believe there is a world of opportunity out there for the fly guy that wants to dedicate himself to it. Most guys I've seen are going on gear trips with gear captains and pulling out the fly rod only when the situation with the boat, other fishermen, and fish line up perfectly. Not knocking this one bit, or the gear captains as there are some incredible folks out there, just saying that until someone really spends the time chasing these fish strictly with fly rods will we start to understand just what is possible out there.

Personally I think there is more opportunity and chances for legitimate success than most people think. I just need to get everything to line up so I can get a new boat and begin to find out.
 
#35 · (Edited)
I was able to cast past 60' with that setup with little effort. It was handy when casting towards a jetty that I couldn't stay super close to. But, it's a heavy setup for sure and some might not be able to cast it as well or flat out not enjoy it to the point that it ruins the experience. Only you could be the judge. Just saying that its very doable and I personally didn't have much issue.

I get the concern about castability but in my head I'm not leaving port without several rods rigged and ready, including a more standard and easily cast setup to turn to in the event that suddenly the fish are shallow as you mentioned. But, I get that you are most likely going to encounter this scenario while on one of your charters where having a bunch of extra fly rods rigged up is probably not feasible.

Which goes back to my thinking, that I've mentioned before, where I believe there is a world of opportunity out there for the fly guy that wants to dedicate himself to it. Most guys I've seen are going on gear trips with gear captains and pulling out the fly rod only when the situation with the boat, other fishermen, and fish line up perfectly. Not knocking this one bit, or the gear captains as there are some incredible folks out there, just saying that until someone really spends the time chasing these fish strictly with fly rods will we start to understand just what is possible out there.

Personally I think there is more opportunity and chances for legitimate success than most people think. I just need to get everything to line up so I can get a new boat and begin to find out.
I was getting ready to PM you about your setup when the subject popped up here.

This is very encouraging. I agree that casting heavy outfits like this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but offshore isn't known for finesse fishing in the first place. Personally, I enjoy casting the Leviathan lines on a 12 weight rod. It feels like casting any other fly rod, just more power and effort involved. Not bad though, I get worn out more quickly fishing jigs,

Also agree about having multiple rods rigged. I have some flexibility there since I now have a 14wt and three 12's. The problem is getting at the rods quickly. Fly rods are tough to store on most offshore boats. Randy's Grady White is better than most with some spots in the tower supports along either side of the cabin that work pretty well. Even so, it can be difficult to get a rod out quickly when all hell is breaking loose. Next year, I'll have one rigged with a floater. The scenario I'm seeing for that would be as mentioned with fish holding deep below the boat. Then cast an anchovy slider with someone ready to throw a handful of live chum at the retrieved fly as it comes within chum chucking range.

Most guys I've seen are going on gear trips with gear captains and pulling out the fly rod only when the situation with the boat, other fishermen, and fish line up perfectly. Not knocking this one bit, or the gear captains as there are some incredible folks out there, just saying that until someone really spends the time chasing these fish strictly with fly rods will we start to understand just what is possible out there.
I have nothing against fishing gear and enjoy doing it myself. I would just prefer to fly fish so this is EXACTLY why I have a fire lit under my ass trying to set up these trips. There are very few fly friendly charters or private boats that are OK with having a fly rod on board. Even with a boat available, just putting a fly crew together is a huge challenge compared to a gear crew. It's pure selfishness on my part because more offshore fly fishermen = more offshore fly charters = more chances for me to get out there.
 
#36 ·
A tapered sinking shooting head of 35ft will probably cast better than say 25ft of T18 with the T7 running line. The heavy running line is not good at shooting because it is so heavy: but heft is why it sinks so well. Sight casting of the surface just isn't the point of the rig. Does one expect a deep dredging Skagit setup currently fishing a 10 foot deep slot to be able to suddenly present to a rolling fish in 18" of water along the bank? Best option for me is to keep a separate rod stripped out in a rectangular sided stripping basket lodged somewhere. You also need a good place to put your first rod. If you leave the fly in the water don't use an I-fly holder go with a Scotty. A 15lb dorado blew up the I-fly holder and almost took my rod when I used an I-fly.

Live chum is cool to make a show and get some fish up high but I prefer ground chum to get fish hungry but not fed. Here's an article about the dangers of over live chumming. https://coastsidefishingclub.com/grey-beard-articles/live-bait-fishing-for-albacore/

That 15lb dorado didn't bite my fly until the chumming stopped for a while and my fly was now the tastiest looking thing in the water!

A hookless top water plug is a good option too for firing up the excitment level. The plug guy should be the one with the surface fly setup that's ready to fire.
 
#38 · (Edited)
Great to be getting some input from the waters where offshore game fishing started.

Also, having found the T running line thread it sounds like you deserve the cred for both the T line setup, and the partial strip, stack mend, drift technique as well. Good work! This is great since you, Nick, and I'm sure others, have already worked out a lot of the problems. Such as unweighted flies tending to get line wrapped on the sink. I would have had to find that out the hard way. Stuff like that is potentially trip saving info. Hoping to hear more.

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/forum/threads/t8-running-line.102842/

As for multiple rigs, I will absolutely have rods with different setups. The 14wt in particular, will have a "stupid deep" T-running line / heavy head combo since casting is already a secondary consideration with that rod (although it might actually cast better). The twelve weights will see one with a "somewhat less stupid" deep T-line setup, a second with a Leviathan, and a 3rd with a floating head and fly.

I hope to have a second live bait tank on the stern top have additional volume.
:D
 
#37 ·
I think this is a great discussion.

We use IQF chovy for chum. We cut the chum into 3rds. You can tell if you are chuming too much when the albacore pukes up a bunch of your chunks.

Once we know we have tuna below the boat is when it gets fun. We might be jigging or casting swimbaits to keep a tuna on a line, but when we broadcast a few live baits you can literally do a count down, 5. 4, 3, 2, . . . and the bow guys yell "tuna on a fly. "

I get to see which way the live bait swims, they don't always head under the boat for cover. When they had off of the stern you can still get fly hook ups. If you want to make the live bait stay in circles there are ways to achieve that. There is usually not the time to worry about that what with jigging and having a tuna on the line in the area of the stern.

Man, I'm looking forward to next season, and it is not yet December. I hope to have a second live bait tank on the stern top have additional volume.

Randy

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
#40 · (Edited)
I'd think that should cover it for a 4 pack charter. Most guys bring one, maybe two outfits. It wouldn't kill me to leave one in a tube as a backup if I had to. And thanks BTW.

What blanks are you using? I'm thinking of building a rod myself this winter since Randall Clark infected me with the glass bug. That Epic 7'9" 10wt of his is a freaking cannon and a serious fish whupping stick. I never would have considered using a 10wt for albacore until I cast that rod. Epic also makes an 8'6" 4pc 12wt that is tempting. I dunno, glass has so much flex and energy absorbing ability it seems like a good match for tuna.
 
#41 ·
Batson RX7 for one...haven't decided on the 2nd blank yet. I've been sitting on the Batson for a couple years. It'll get ceramics all the way up, carbon grip, & an aluminum seat.

I'm building 5 other fly rods to update the quiver as well but those will be the only 12 wts.

Modern glass is pretty amazing. I cast a 5 & 7 wt Blue Halo a couple weeks ago while fishing for browns and was quite impressed.

Glass is forgiving to the body while fighting fish but can be difficult to control while trying to gaff because it can be too forgiving that close to the boat. Always a give & take.
 
#43 ·
Batson RX7 for one...haven't decided on the 2nd blank yet. I've been sitting on the Batson for a couple years. It'll get ceramics all the way up, carbon grip, & an aluminum seat.

I'm building 5 other fly rods to update the quiver as well but those will be the only 12 wts.

Modern glass is pretty amazing. I cast a 5 & 7 wt Blue Halo a couple weeks ago while fishing for browns and was quite impressed.

Glass is forgiving to the body while fighting fish but can be difficult to control while trying to gaff because it can be too forgiving that close to the boat. Always a give & take.
Getting them to the gaff is the part I hate most with a fly rod. I can deal with a bit less control If means I don't have to worry about the rod exploding.
 
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