Cutthroat Pond

[Dave Westburg]

April means cutthroat ponds in the cascade foothills. Today I fished black pennel, grouse and claret and woodcock and yellow wet flies with a 7'6" Sharpes bamboo 6 weight. My friend fished a leadwing coachman and a coachman and a Winston 8' bamboo 4 weight.

This pond is loaded with great lurking places.

The native cutthroat have green backs and leopard spots. That's a size 12 grouse and claret wet fly tucked into the jaw. A variety of sizes of fish and lots of fry in the shallows. A good sign for future years fishing.

Tried out the new seat cushion for my wilderness lite. Phil at Wilderness Lite has been experimenting with designs and he's nailed it with this one. Attaches with velcro. Uses a bigger velcro patch than earlier prototype and stayed attached the whole time I was fishing. Much better than having to sit on a life preserver.

 

[Mike Monsos]

Were you surprised how well the 7'6" Sharps cast from a float tube? I find rods under 8' do well on a float tube myself. Oh, and nice Cutty and fly box.

 

[Dave Westburg]

You may have something there. I use my 7 and 7'6" bamboo out of a float tube when I'm on a pond or on a lake with small brookies. Also prefer to use the short bamboo if I'm fishing a floating or intermediate line.

I've always been skeptical about short rods and float tubes but the 7'6" Sharpes worked fine even with an intermediate line. It's brisk and can shoot line. Was helped some by the fact that we were casting around logs on the pond where you didn't need to make a super long cast.

I don't use short rods with a full sinking line or sink tip line. Much easier to lift the sinking line from the water with an 8'6" or 9' fly rod.

There was a slight breeze but it wasn't too windy and that helped as well.

 

[Greg Armstrong]

Looks like you made up for last week’s outing Dave, you guys did well. That’s a pretty Cutthroat!

I’ve used my FE Thomas 7’6” a lot out of both my float tube and pontoon, but only with a floating line. It works great, and I find I don’t miss the length of a longer rod while using it. I usually will also carry a longer rod with an intermediate or sinking line with me in the pontoon for subsurface.
Sometimes, even with all of that I’ll still get skunked though!

 

[Bambooflyguy]

I just use shorter bamboo all the time!

 

[Tim Cottage]

I've never had a problem with shorter rods in a tube. Maybe longer rods are an advantage for creating a more open loop when you have a lot of junk on your leader. Bobbers, splitshot, swivels, etc.
I don't use that stuff so I don't really know but it sounds reasonable.

 

[Bambooflyguy]

Chuck and duck Tim! And when they’re on.....nothing but fun!!

 

[Cliff]

Beautiful cutty!

 

[dpenrod]

How do you like that tube? Been eyeballing them for a while. Is there a tougher coating on the bottom or is it just whatever the material the rest of the tube is made from?

 

[Dave Westburg]

I’ve used mine once a week june-sept for 2 yrs with no problems. Very sturdy.