Chuck & Swing

Found a nice combo last week on our frustrating steelhead day on the Pere Marquette. Brought along my Orvis Clearwater/Orvis BLA IV set-up for chuck n' duck and my Scott A3 switch with Ross Momentum V and Rio Skagit short for swinging. With high water, my go-to indicators seemed rather pointless. This proved to be the ideal combo for an enjoyable day.

With a thin running line (I use Climax Zip Line on mine currently) and a good bit of weight, c-n-d was a good way to get down to the bottom with a lot of water. On a tough day, it was a good choice. However, I generally can't fish this style all day. I find it tedious and too repetitive after a while -- especially if the fishing's slow.

Enter the swing rig! If you haven't cast a set-up like this, it's just pure fun. Once you get timing down it's very low effort and relaxing. There's a kind of Zen groove to it. And it's easy to cover a bunch of water. Stop your cast high, use the upper hand as a pivot point, and put the power in the bottom hand and BOOM!

For me though the best part of swinging is trying out some of the streamers I've been tying over the Winter to see how they behave in moving water. My earliest efforts definitely lacked much action, but the later flies with schlappen collars and bulky wool heads make a huge difference. Totally "swimmy" action. Of course, it would have been validating to actually hook something!

This combo was a nice way to work a hole. Chuck n' duck through, then swing by starting at the top and making a few drifts before stepping downstream and repeating the process.

-Sean-