Cabin Fever also and Braided Lines

Like the post above sitting around the house waiting for something to happen is long in coming. The stripers should be here by now, but the water is high, cold, and off color. If you're fishing for sturgeon this might be ideal. There were 25 plus trailers in the parking lot yesterday. Maybe it was the beautiful clear sunny day and everyone out there was plagued with cabin fever as well. Maybe they were all after sturgeon too?

So Jim comes over and says the water doesn't look too bad, and there are lots of boats in the parking lot, and do I want to go and give it a try tomorrow ? You bet I do. Gotta get out of this house.

We get Jim's boat to the ramp and surprisingly there's no one there, we're the first boat. Is this a bad omen? The water doesn't look terribly bad. We can see about a foot and a half, and we're fly fishing for stripers. No sturgeon for us and off we go.

We head up river like usual, the wind is blowing from the north, and the water temp is 48 degrees. That's cold even for stripers. They like mid sixties to spawn and this is no way near that.

Knowing the wind was going to blow today I brought along a different rod and reel, a 9 wt. Z-Axis with a Redington Rise 9/10 loaded with a new line I forgot I even had. It was textured to the max like a Shark Skin or a Titan line. I can't remember exactly what it was, but it worked. It actually worked very well except for one thing ,,,, it was NOISY. It buzzed and vibrated as you stripped it through the guides. It then resonated to the grip and could easily be heard throughout the boat. But, it cast well and I continued using it for next couple of hours.

After a while fishing was slow (very slow) we begin thinking what could be the problem? Is the water too cold? Is it too dirty yet ? Do we need to change the color of our flies ? Could it be the DAMN NOISE of my new fly line???? Uugh. We all go through this when fishing slow. Try this, try that, change colors, etc. But being stubborn as I am I persist with the good old chartruese and white until I couldn't take it any longer and decide to switch color. BLACK, a totally different color to try.

When I get ready to re-tie I remove my stripping guard from my now thawed finger and I've got pain and a red raw stripe going across the tip of my forefinger. That damn braided line rasped away the tip of my finger. Uugh again, and it hurts.

I finish tying on a new Black Death, reposiition the stripping guard over my wound, and we continue on for another couple of hours, nary a single bite all day.

But, it was good to get out. Get out of that damn cabin, and out of that easy chair in front of the TV.


So, How many of you have used this "Shark Skin" type line with all it's braid? And What do you think of it ? Noisy, yes for sure.

I'm not 100% sold on it, and my finger is still hurting like hell.
Tony

I watch a ton of YouTube videos on fly fishing when it is bad weather.

I've got cabin fever too but have a Striper trip booked with Maury Hatch on the 20th. Then it's going to be some time before I'll be able to go again (knee surgery in early April). As to the Sharksin lines, I've never used them but see a lot of those lines on sale.... Maybe what happened to you (Noise/finger damage) is an indicator of why....

Darian,

You know, you're right. There does seem to be a lot of those out there on sale. Maybe that's why I bought one? Could be the companies are discontinuing them and want to unload their inventories.

Good luck with the knees. Kim had both of hers done at the same time. Best thing she ever did.
Tony

Tony,

If you don't mind here is some free advice. Take that line off and coil it very neatly, put it back in the box and throw the whole dam thing away and just act like you never owned it. I have heard nothing but horror stories about those lines and tarpon fishing or for that matter any kind of fish that hauls ass after it's hooked....that line would be like fishing with a hack saw blade :)

Carl Blackledge

Carl,

I hear you load and clear. My finger is raw today as well. Now if I could just remember where that box is and where I got it. :)

Tony

Tony,

Years ago when the Smith river had lots of Salmon in it, there was maybe 18-20 prams all lined up fly fishing towards the bank and we were anchored almost in the middle. when all of a sudden one of the bankie's foul hooked a Salmon and the fish tore out towards the middle and went around the lead pram. the bankie was obviously using braid and his line cut the anchor ropes of the first two pram completely through. My buddy was also in his drift boat a few weeks later with both anchors down when the same thing happen a woman foul hooked a Salmon and cut both of his anchor ropes causing him to lose both anchors. braid friction can be deadly and act like a file.

Carl Blackledge