I received the rod, and with some luck noticed the next weekend was forecast to be drizzle, with temps in the 40s. If you notice blaze orange in the photos, the state park where I fish was open to deer with guns on that Saturday, so I was all orange, as a guy creeping along a stream can be a bit suggestive to eager hunters. The forecast was dead on, and the blue wing olives size 22 came off well. I had purchased those flies from your shop a few years ago so I had the correct fly for a change.
Please understand the gravity of this day: Minnesota has very few hatches. This was one of maybe five I remember since I started fly fishing in Consequently I have few dries as the fishing in southeast Minnesota is mostly nymphs. In addition, Minnesota recently opened the streams in state parks to fishing year round, which in this case gave me the perfect weather for blue wing olives during November which had always been closed. So I shrugged an orange coat on over some wool, and caught an amazing hatch all afternoon.
It really could not have been more perfect, and whether it was just my imagination or not, that rod just dropped the fly where I looked. Last year I realized I never learned to cast a dry. I flip my wrist hard on the delivery to turn over the weighted nymphs, and that same stroke with a dry causes a bad tailing loop. To say it was an epic day on the river would be a profound understatement.
There really are no words. Finnamore, Minnesota. My new 4 weight arrived safe and sound. We took it up to one of our favorite rivers here in Cody Country and I broke the rod in on a beautiful Brown! The hatch was pretty sparse while we were there, but there were a few bugs coming off and a Parachute Adams was just the ticket! It usually takes me a bit to get comfortable with a new rod, but I felt at home with this one right away.
It only took a few casts to find its rhythm and flies were going where I wanted them to. I wish we would have had more time to fish as I could cast this beauty all day. What a pleasure! As with my other two SCL rods, this one is worth the wait and worth every penny!
