Sensitive Rods for Sensitive Fish
by:  Lee Koch

The first time I fished the Frying Pan river in Western Colorado, I engaged a guide on the first day, to learn the river a bit, then planned to fish on my own for the next 2 days.  I was fishing a bamboo rod that, appropriately, had been made in Colorado.

 The Frying Pan is a tail water stream, full of mysis shrimp, mayflies, caddis.  The fish there grow big, and they get well-educated by fishermen.  In fact, A.K. Best has said that sometimes, fishing pressure is such on the river that you need to bring your own rock to stand on.  I learned from the guide that it is standard operating procedure to fish size 22 and 24 nymphs on 6X or 7X fluorocarbon tippet.

 The guide did his job, got me into big fish early, then gave me other more difficult opportunities to catch fish as the day went on.  Playing those big early fish up by the dam, I worked them pretty aggressively to the net, and while playing one particularly energetic fish, the guide said “,Ummm... You know, that’s 6X tippet you’ve got tied on...”  He thought I was setting myself up for the fish to break me off. 

 I was surprised to hear him say that - I was playing the fish as I usually do with that rod, a rod that I have used on lakes, and spring creeks, as well as larger rivers.  The big brown came in, then make a short but fast run off at an angle, came in, and ran in off on another tangent.  The rod tip would dip, then flex farther into the rod as the fish ran.  I’d sweep the rod tip at an angle from the fish’s direction, then bring him in after pressure turned his head.  We netted that fish, as well as a few others through the day - that is, when I could cast where he told me to, and managed to get a good drift.

 Late in the day, as we released a final fat rainbow, the guide looked at my rod and thoughtfully said, “... I don’t think you lost one fish all day, did you?”  I hadn’t and it wasn’t because of my great fishing skills, either.  One of the great pleasures of fishing with a bamboo rod is that the rod transmits what is going on at the end of your line straight to your hand, with unrivalled sensitivity.  It’s a cliché to say that same sensitivity helps protect your tippet while playing a fish - but it’s true.

 - Lee Koch