Plan D Pocket Fly Boxes

Update: 12/6/2020
New Plan D pocket 50/50

When you need one steelhead fly box to hit the stream trail with this winter consider the Plan D Pocket 50/50. With this box you can have your Intruder flies on one side and your Tube flies on the other side. The waterproof, tough box will keep your stash safe while tucked in the jacket pocket. 

Pocket 50/50 comes with one set of mandrels for your tube fly storage and slit foam to stow you tube fly hooks. Shop Plan D

Sage Trout Spey HD 10’9” One Weight Review

Finally got a chance to get out and really test out my new Sage Trout Spey HD 10’9” one weight rod.
I made a trip to the Malheur Mountains to explore some small streams that feed the Malheur River for Redband Rainbows.

Mike Prine and I have had this trip planned for a while. We knew going into this that the feeder streams would not likely produce much if any fish over 12”, but one could hope right. So along with my two and three weight single hand rods I packed my Sage Trout Spey HD one weight two hander.

By the second day we had reached a camp on a stretch of the stream that slowed and broadened out to twenty to forty feet wide. This was a perfect place to swing some soft hackles. I set down my dry fly rod and started swinging with the two hander.

Matched with the Sage Trout Spey 1/2/3 Reel and a RIO Trout Spey Scandi Head in 190 grain weight it made the perfect soft hackle outfit. The rod is light enough you can single hand cast it if you wanted unlike most two handed rods.

Swinging soft hackles on the one weight is a blast for the 8” to 12” Redband Rainbows found in these streams. Even though these fish are small, they still are a lot of fun on this rod. Don’t under estimate this rod because it says one weight on it, a good angler can do much more than many would think possible.

As we worked up stream I spotted what looked like a fairly large Brook Trout, maybe a bull trout. I quickly clipped my soft hackle and 5x tippet off. Grabbed my streamer box and tied on a 2” long white Sculpzilia.

I made a couple of cast and spooked the fish. So I made a couple more cast just for fun. Managed to hook a little bull trout about 14”.

I then realized that I forgot that the rod was called a one weight. I would not sell this as a streamer rod, but I was casting the small #8 Sculpzilla just fine even with the scandi style trout spey line. If I had it rigged with a RIO Skagit Trout Spey it would cast this set up even better.

A short ways up river I could see a huge shadow of a fish moving up into a riffle. If I was back home I would think Steelhead or Salmon, but not here. This drainage is I would guess a 100 plus miles and three dams away from the furthest point migratory fish can pass.

I grabbed my Trout Spey and quickly launched a cast out. As soon as the fly hit the water I started stripping and this fish instantly chased down my fly and inhaled it. I yelled to Mike, “Huge Fish!” He grabbed his camera and came running.

Now I am hooked up to a fish on a one weight trout spey rod that could easily estimate 28 to 30 inches. He rolled and took off upstream as I loaded the rod all the way into the butt.

Not sure what I had hooked but I saw an odd golden color as he rolled and turned. My mind was racing! What do I have? Don’t lose it! Keep the line tight, don’t let it in the logs! Is it a bull trout? It flashed more like a brown, but there are no browns in here, at least that I know of.

Crazy but I was able to keep the fish in control and lucky enough to land him after good little tussle.

Mike asked “what is that?” I looked at hum and said honestly it looks like an old spawned out Spring Chinook, but that is not possible here. We quickly took photos and released the fish.

The next few days we pondered what this fish was. It was really driving me crazy! Most everything pointed to an Spring Chinook that had been in the river for a while but it had no signs of looking like a zombie fish in which a Spring Chinook in September would. The mouth was much more trouty than most Chinook. I was just at a complete lost.

A few days went by and we dropped into cell coverage. I quickly texted my buddy Steve, a good friend and retired fish biologist, the picture of the mystery fish with caption "what is this?" He replied it is an old Spring Chinook.

I called him and told him there can't be no Salmon where I am. Once I told him where I was he said you are right. I see why you are so confuse. He then told me that Oregon Fish and Wildlife had just started a program a few years ago trucking a few hundred left over adult hatchery Chinook to this watershed and releasing them. They were doing this for some of the tribes so they could fish some historic grounds with traditional methods.

So mystery was solved.

Now I am not telling you this to promoting catching old worn out salmon on a one weight trout spey rod. I would have never cast to the fish if I knew what it was. The point of this is to show you even a one weight trout spey with the proper technique can cast a fairly large fly and land a fairly large fish.

My thoughts on this rod after spending more time with it is that it is one of the most fun rods I have fished ever. It is a blast to cast. Most of all it makes your small water trout fishery a lot of fun with a two hander.

This Sage Trout Spey HD 1109-4 is amazing fun with soft hackles and can handle light duty streamers on smallish water. It wouldn't be my first choice on big water like the Deschutes but for small water and wild trout then I say...YES! GET ONE!!!!
Trav

"The Gorge"

Gorge Fly Shop Team - 541.386.6977

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Fishing Report 01/30/19: Guide Edition

"Let's take the long way home"

Steelhead fishing continues to be pretty slow. Fish are being caught but it’s tough. There will surely be some improvement before the end of the winter season but the facts are the facts, this appears to be an off year. I will say the fish that are being caught include some very large winter fish. Take fishing real serious this winter. Fish the right gear like skagit fist lines or intermediate skagit’s, tips heavy enough to get down and stay down, keep the flies that you have confidence in on your line. Most importantly try to stay on well rested water. Conditions are going to be low and clear for the foreseeable future. Current snow pack is 50% of average. As always look for the next big push of water, take the day off and go fishing.

Fish On!

The 50% snowpack bids well for winter trout fishing. The Deschutes has been fishing great and guys are catching lots of fish. Czech or Euro nymphing has been incredibly effective, if you haven’t tried this you need to. It’s not about numbers for me so I still like to swing a sculpzilla on a micro spey, it’s just fun and who doesn’t need to work on their spey casting. Look for early afternoon dry fly fishing for BWO, cloud cover or an inversion preferred.


Tight lines.

Sam Sickles
(541) 400-0855
www.steelheadoutfitters.com

There goes Tokyo - Go Go Sculpzilla

Hard to find a leach pattern fly better than Sculpzilla. The #8 Size is a staple for stripping or swinging flies to trout with two hand rods. I like the Olive color but all of them can be producers. Fish it on a floating line and leader for slow water and shallow water or swing it on a sink tip to get it down in fast currents and tail-outs. Also great for streamer stripping from a boat. 

I believe what makes this little leach so effective is it really gets down. It's not too over-weighted but the slim size seems to help it sink and it will get heavier as the rabbit zonker gets wet. I tie most of my own flies I use today but I still have a selection of Sculpzilla's with me at all times and sometimes he's just the ticket to get a strike when nothing else seems to work. If you're a streamer junkie like I am then put a selection of these in your fly box. When the day comes you will be rewarded!

Greg Darling 

Gorge Fly Shop Internet Sales Manager | Product Specialist

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

Deschutes River Streamer Fishing

A few weeks ago I had a chance to hop in my buddy Tom Larimer’s jet boat and shoot up the Deschutes for a day of trout fishing with Tom. Most of all hopefully a day of swing streamers to Deschutes Redsides with little Winston Micro Speys! Yes there were still a few stones around meaning you could still catch a few trout on stone dries, but for me swinging a streamer on a little two handed rod and getting drilled when an 18 inch Redside hammers the streamer is much better.

We blasted up river to the first little riffle that had been producing fish for Tom. I was rigged with a 11’ 4 weight Winston Micro Spey, 330 grain (4.5 wt.) Airflo Streamer Switch, 10’ of T-8, 3’ of 1x tippet all loaded on my Abel Switch reel. For a fly Tom had me tie on one of his olive colored creations, similar to a size 8 Sculpzilla. I was ready, “Tom where do you want me”. Tom said “go to the top where the riffle is faster, but starts to drop off”.

Got a couple of fish on dries

I made it to the top of the riffle, pulled some line off my reel made a short cast throwing a belly in my line downstream, bouncing my rod tip with one foot quick jabs, finished the swing and pulled 3 more feet of line off my reel and repeated one more time. Bam I was freight trained, lost it the steelhead angler in me forgot to set the hook. Trout bite and let go quickly requiring you to set the hook quick. In two more cast I was hit again. This time I did everything right and landed a typical 14 inch Deschutes redside. I held it up for Tom to see and slipped it back into the water.

I continued down the run hooking several more fish, landing a few. Then it happened, I was working my fly across the run when my rod was about yanked out of my hand. I set the hook and the trout quickly boiled, this was a honest 18 to 20 incher, a Deschutes football. It started to peal line off the reel and then was off. That was a rush, that is why I like to fish streamers on Micro Speys.

Walked down and met Tom at the boat, we loaded up and heading to the next run. That is the way most of the day went, stop at a run get several hard takes, land a few nice Redsides and move on to the next run. It was a great day of fishing, if you are not swing streamers on mini two handers, you need to try it. Why do I like it so much? How much time do you have?

First of all I have hit that point in my life that my shoulders do not stand up to a day of single hand casting for very long. My trips to Montana where most of the fishing is all done from the boat with single handers really wears on my shoulders and about kills me, fun, but I pay for it. Just like fishing two handers for steelhead, mini two handers for trout are very easy on your should. I can fish all day and not have to come home in pain.

Why do enjoy it so much, if you are a two handed steelhead angler you will get this. Standing shin deep in a riffle casting a mini two hander is a dream, anglers love the casting, it is relaxing. Amazing the cast you can make with these rods. Once again just something you won’t understand until you do it.

Next standing with your feet firmly planted on the river bottom swinging a streamer you will get violent strikes that you just don’t feel when you are floating down a river, casting to the shore and retrieving. Tight line downstream takes on a streamer is like no other. Not that trout are not hitting a streamer as hard when you are casting from a boat, they are. It is just you do not get to feel it as much.

Is a streamer fishing on a mini two hander more effective? Sometimes, but most of the time not. Why do it then? Because it is a blast!!!

Travis Duddles
Owner and CEO | Gorge Fly Shop
541.386.6977

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

Rio Chama gives up her Gold

November 21, 2014

My Trout Spey Chronicles was to officially kick off at the start of the new year. But why wait! With fall fishing being some of the best I've seen, I have an overwhelming desire to tell you about it. Why wait until new years when it's happening now!

Wrestling Gold

So where the hell is this Rio Chama? 

"The Chama" as called by the locals is a Rio Grande Tributary that originates from the southern side of the San Juan Mountain range located in southern Colorado and joins the Rio Grande in New Mexico near the town of Espanola. It's considered one of the larger rivers in the state but still pretty small water especially in winter flows.

While not a bucket list fishery by any means if you're in the area during the fall/winter season you might just get lucky and find gold. Big Browns hide in the murky shadows of this small river and its a perfect place to swing streamers with a two hand rod.

Boron III TH-MS 4110-4

For this fishery I chose the Winston Boron III TH-MS 4110...Ok in English that is Winston's new 11 foot 4 weight Microspey. My reel choice was a Tibor Light Back Country CL Wide and my line was the Rio Scandi Short Versi-Tip in 320 Grain.


I experimented with a variety of flies that day but the proven choice would be a Solitudes' Sculpzilla in olive/black color and #8 in size.

This New Rod from Winston continues to impress me

I have really come to love how light and balanced it feels in hand. Never cumbersome. I've had enough time with it in my hands to really develop a working relationship with it. It's easy to understand and quite capable. I've yet to find any limitations to its abilities for the fishing it was designed for.

Tibor Back Country in Crimson Red

I originally purchased the Tibor Back Country for my Sage Bass Rod. With trout season in place I couldn't resist putting this reel to the test. Little did I know what a perfect fit it would be to the Winston MicroSpey. Balanced and with a smooth drag that can protect any tippet has made this reel a top choice in my arsenal. Maybe my fish engraving should have been a trout instead of the bass. Maybe I see another Tibor Back Country in my future. I'm crazy about the classic look of a solid back. The reel is surprisingly light for a solid back design but just right to balance this 11 foot stick. FYI...This reel scale weighted at 6.0 oz empty.

Small Water

I think I mentioned earlier, the Rio Chama River is small water especially for a two hand rod. That brings up a good topic of discussion. Are these rods too big for many small trout waters? The Rio Chama forces you to be versitile in the way of casting. If you're seeking long runs of wide moving water to quarter downstream cast and swing flies you might be disappointed with this river. While I did get to fish some water like this it didn't produce on this day. Instead I had to seek out the pocket water, foam lines, tail outs and undercuts.

He couldn't resist Sculpzilla doing the swing!

The real beauty of these small two hand rods is that if you think of it as a fly rod it will perform as a fly rod. Follow me here for a minute. First of all the MicroSpey gives the angler all the benefits of a two hand rod. Easy to cast good distances with sinking tips and larger than normal flies. Trust me these rods put the fun in two hand fishing. But they don't stop there! They can easily cast overhand and roll casts are amazing. On this day I had to pull off all these casts to find success. After this day I started to really think about my two hand rod in a different way. No longer is it that other type of fishing. It is my all fishing rod. It does what I need it to do, when I need to do it and does it better.

Line details

So Versatile

While I just claimed that this is my "all fishing rod" I need to give line detail a quick breakdown. For sure this topic is going to be a huge subject for the upcoming year but before I kill this article with line information overload let me point out that your line choices will fine tune what this rod does great. On this day I fished with the Rio Scandi Short Versitip. I have fished this line for over a year on various rods and all kinds of situations. It has become my standard (at least for now) "go to" line for the plain and simple reason that it is versatile. Being a Scandi taper it throws overhead casts quite well while this same taper is an awesome roll caster. Its also performs tight looped two hand casts to perfection. The versitips gives me choices for fishing depth. Of course it has limitations and those can include fly size and sink tip size. No one line will ever do everything! But that's one of the beauties of these rods. With a simple line change you can tune the rod to do different tactics. Like I said earlier we'll get more into lines at a later date. Even if I gave you all the line details I have now they'll all be out of date in another couple months anyway...Hint Hint! Some new lines are coming.

Finding Gold

Getting a Grip

As The Two Hand Tour continues onward my wish is to demonstrate what this rod really is. In my mind it's not just a spey rod, switch rod or a single hand fly rod, This rod is what I need it to be when I need it! The Rio Chama River was a great test for this and with the help of the MicroSpey it gave up some Gold!

More Trout Spey Chronicles

Greg Darling 

Gorge Fly Shop Internet Sales Manager | Product Specialist

"Fly Fish the World with Us"