Fast or Slow Action Rod

The Weber River was a little off color yesterday, not as crystal clear as last week. The water level was about the same. I fished the stretch below the red barn. Another couple of fishermen, man and woman, were just gearing up to head to the river. Since I was already rigged up, I grabbed my pole and headed downstream. The first hole I came to was just past the fence. I left on the San Juan worms I had used the previous trip, one brown and one red. After a couple of casts, I hooked a nice brown. After a jump he started heading down stream. I slowed him up some as I was getting the line back on the reel. Just then, the fish came off. I don’t know why. Maybe I am not setting the hook strong enough with my 4 wt Light Line Sage rod. It is a slow action rod and I am more used to my fast action 5 wt Sage RPL.

For those of you who may not know, fly rods are built with different actions. A fast action rod is real stiff and only bends at the tip. This type of rod is great for dry flies where you want to dry the fly on a false cast or for long casts. A slow action rod bends the whole length of the rod. It is better for a slow cast like you would use nymph fishing with a strike indicator and split shot. A medium action rod is somewhere in between.

I kept fishing as I proceeded downstream. This stretch of river has a series of large rocks coming out from the bank making it perfect for creating pools and riffles. The next fish I caught ended up taking the red worm. It was a nice cutthroat. Not too many of these are caught on the Weber so I’m always real careful in releasing them. Right after releasing the cutthroat I took a moment watching a garter snake get a drink of water while reaching over a large boulder. It then stayed on the rock soaking in the warm sun.