Switching it up with Ben See – Part 4
It has been a while since a new episode of “Switching it up”
has been published. I would have loved
to come to the computer and write a great success story of how I have been able
to pick up a switch rod, throw on some sink tips, swing hobo spey patterns and
land some fish. Unfortunately I still
have a lot to learn and every trip out to the streams produced another
skunk. Like the movie Goundhog Day, it was
the same ole thing. Head out to the river,
conditions a bit different then the last, but hopes of hooking up with some
steelhead still the same as the first day I started spey casting.
This skunk scenario repeated itself 9 times. Yes 9 trips out
to the rivers!!! As frustration levels increased
and confidence levels in my fly fishing skills in general decreased I had to
reassess a few things. Is it my
casting? Is it my presentation of a
fly? Could it be the fly itself? Am I using the right sink tip? Are the fish just not biting? Am I fishing the wrong areas? Where are the fish? What am I doing wrong? It is cold, windy and miserable out
here. What in the hell am I doing!!!
Giving up isn’t an option, but I am truly humbled by the
spey and the swing. I never thought I
would crush the fish and put up numbers, but rather would find a new way to
target the species that I love so much.
As I have said in the past and still believe today, the method an angler
chooses to fish for steelhead is of personal choice. While it is no secret that using bait
presentations can and does put up the numbers per say, the fly presentation is
a different mentality. It isn’t about
the numbers but rather the experience.
On the bright side, my fly tying skills have grown leaps and
bounds from when I first started with fly fishing. I have grown fond of the Snap T, and feel
confident I can put a fly where I want it.
Unfortunately, the fish gods just haven’t blessed me very often yet with
actually catching a few fish. I
attribute a lot of this to the conditions I am fishing this winter, and also
the learning curve of spey casting with the switch rod. I won’t quit, I never quit.
2 months of fishing and no fish, so I figured I would dust
off the centerpin and see if I could get my mojo back. I am a firm believer that if you believe you
will catch fish you will, and if you don’t believe you won’t. I believe every time I go out with the centerpin
that I will catch fish, and on Sunday I did just that. It was nice to have a double digit day on the
Chagrin River. A mix of chrome and
colored up bucks, and the action was fast and furious.
Many have asked me if I have gone back to the
centerpin. The rod and reel you use is a
tool. While I enjoy my time on the
water, it is also nice to be rewarded with a few fish as well. I will be back using the switch rod soon. I don’t quit and I won’t quit.
Until Next Time…
Fish Hard…Fish Often…
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