Trout n'About

Big trip planned for this Fall -- headed to Montana and the Stonefly Inn with Schultz Outfitters in early October. Fishing the big Western rivers has been on my bucket list for a while. This should scratch that itch perfectly! Mike set the trip up to coincide with streamer fishing for BIG trout. Watched the promo videos the other night - WOW! Small fish were in the high teens, with plenty of monsters on-tap. I really like these guys approach. Meals are included and the guides have dinner and hang out with the guests each evening. Our group's fairly small and carefully selected. Should be a blast!

This will give me some time to dial my streamer game this year. I've done a little, both from a boat (fun!) and wading. Had an 18" on my first time trying it on the Pere Marquette. Since then I've had several more. It's a fun strike - aggressive fish that you can often see hit the fly.

I've got both 200 and 300 grain sink tip lines. Until now, I've been mostly tossing streamers on back-up sticks. My 5/6 wt. Ross feels a clearly undergunned and my cheapo 8 wt. Albright GPX is like casting with a tree trunk. I'm already cruising for a good 7 wt. both for this trip and to chase smallmouth on the Huron and other SE Michigan rivers this summer. My guess at this point is a Scott A3 7 wt. Scott's become my standard rod and I think the combination of light weight and good backbone will make this a perfect solution and increase my enjoyment on this trip. I'm continually amazed at how good every rod in the A-series family is. Especially when you consider the price point. Plus I like that they're American-made (Colorado) and Michigan-owned (the Ford family).

Funny thing is that my roll cast with a sink tip is awesome. Whereas my overhead cast; not so much! Hey, as long as it puts the fly in the zone, all good. But I'll have all Summer to fine-tune.

-Sean-