Rogue River Field Notes

October 03, 2018 3 min read

 
 
The first run we stopped at I hooked into a nice bright fish in the first 10 casts. I was fishing a Black Fish Taco and the fish ate it on the other side of the river so it felt about twice it’s actual size… We got the fish in and it was about a 21-22” hatchery fish so I bonked it and ate it for dinner with some home-made Mushroom Risotto! Bomb! 
 
After that we fished hard for a few runs until Jordy finally got ripped by what must have been a nice fish, it took about 20’ of line before Jordy ultimately farmed it, I had a good laugh but Jordy didn’t find it that funny. Jordy was fishing his Winston Borron III 12'6" 6wt with a tube fly that he tied up that was pretty similar to the Olive Stu's Metal Head Tube Fly.
 
The rest of the day was pretty tough, Jordy really needed to get one, I could tell he was starting to have withdrawals. Two cup o’ noodles, a bag of really f@king spicy ghost pepper chips, a few beers and about 5 runs later Jordy and I get to our last run of the day and it’s a pretty long run so we decide to split it. Jords took the top half and I took the bottom. By the time I get to the end of my stretch of water I hooked a real nice 16” cutty, I look up and Jordy is getting to about where I started. I start reeling in my line to head back to the boat when I look back upriver again and Jords had just set the hook on a real hot fish. We both start jumping around like small children hooting & hollering then I haul ass up to the boat and get the net. Mean while the fish is just tearing Jordy a new one, going on runs and jumping all over the place. We finally get the fish in and enjoyed the sight of a beautiful chrome wild fish that we’d been hoping to see all day. 

 

It was an awesome day on the water all in all, good times with a good buddy and hell, 2 for 3 is a great day of swingin’ flies.

GEAR: 

I was super stoked to get out last weekend not just to fish but because I had just gotten 2 new Pieroway Renegade Rods (an 8wt & a 9wt). I’ve been wanting these two rods ever since I got the 6wt & 7wt Renegades because I love those rods so much. On the 11’6” 8wt Renegade I put a 400gr Commando Head and on the 12’0” 9wt I put a 500gr RIO Skagit Max. I loved the 500gr Skagit Max on the 9wt, the load was really nice and it has that same smooth action as the other Renegade rods. 
As for the Commando on the 8wt, love the rod. But those Commando lines are really… really short for any rod over 11’. I understand the concept of keeping things compact but for rods over 10'6" - 11' it's really easy to blow your anchor with a line that is only 16'. If you enjoy Commando heads on your switch rods, great. They just aren’t for me. I understand the use of them on single hand rods but personally I like more than 16' of head on my two handers. The line I really wished that I had for the 8wt was a Scientific Angler’s Spey Lite 420gr Skagit Head which is a 21’ head rather than the 400gr Commando which is about 16’. Another line that I’m sure would have worked great would’ve been a RIO Skagit Max Short 425gr which is 20’. Anyways, I really like both rods and I’m excited to get the proper line for the 8wt as I think that rod along with the 9wt are going to be perfect for my Winter Steelhead fishing.
 
-Chris Myron


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