I was unexpectedly able to get away and do some fishing today!  Mike Corley and I floated the canyon stretch of the Trinity River.  The Trinity is rather high but has a great steelhead green coloration to it right now.  Despite flows over 1000cfs we found quite a bit of fishable water in the canyon.  I landed two great wild fish on egg patterns.  The river is dropping fast.  As flows drop fishing should get better and better this coming week.

 

We also had the opportunity to test some fly lines sent by Jamie Lyle, our California sales rep for Sage/Rio/Reddington.  Bill Kiene from Kiene's Fly Shop in Sacramento asked for some input on fly lines for indicator nymphing last week.  We tried the Rio Indicator and Steelhead/Atlantic Salmon lines and the Sage Nymph line, all six weights.  We fished all three on the same rod, a Sage 697 (6wt 9.5ft) Z-Axis.  Conditions were pretty extreme for indicator nymphing, so these lines got a good workout.  We were fishing the largest Thingamabobber with a drop as long as 8 feet, with two 3/0 shot plus a barbell-eye Morrish Thunder Egg.  That's a lot of junk to turn over! 

 

Of these three lines, I found the Sage Nymph and Rio Indicator to be the best for this situation.  The Sage Nymph line has a bright orange tip, like the Rio Nymph line.  I imagine this line is intended more for nymphing without an indicator, but it sure worked well with our setup.  The heavy tip turned everything over easily and the line floated great.  It was also very slick going through the guides.  It's a relatively stiff line, which seemed well-suited to heavy-duty indicator nymphing.  The Rio Indicator line was very good also.  It has a really thick tip and a long belly for easy mending.  I really liked the Rio Steelhead/Atlantic Salmon line.  It wasn't the best choice for what we were doing, but it felt more like a traditional fly line.  It would be great for fishing nymphs without an indicator, swinging traditional wet flies, and single-handed spey casts.  It feels like a light spey line, really.

 

To sum it up, the Sage Nymph and Rio Indicator lines were well-suited to the task of heavy-duty indicator nymphing.  If you love indicator nymphing, buy one of these lines.  If you like to have one floating steelhead line that does it all, I recommend the Rio Steelhead/Atlantic Salmon line.

 

I'll be back to guiding the Trinity and Lower Sac starting Feb 17th.  Fishing should be really good in the meantime, though.  Mike Corley and Brannon Santos both have open days if you want a shot at some winter steelhead!