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Equipment for Fishing Flexibility. Information on how to make the most of your fishing trips by carrying the right equipment.
Equipment for Fishing Flexibility I met this angler on a wilderness trail which skirted a wonderful trout stream in the Sisldyou National Forest. Three days of fishing had given him a blank, except for a few small trout which he had carefully returned to the water. I could understand his disappointment. He had hiked over the forest service trails, well back from the crowded streams, but those wilderness rivers had not produced. Trout were there for the taking, toonice threeand four-pound cutthroats lazily finning against the pull of the current. But rain and high, clouded water had canceled out all fly fishing during the three days this angler had been on the streams. Maybe a small wobbler would have produced at that time, or a spinner fly combination fished just above the bottom might have been the very lure for that high, clouded water. I know it produced for me, after I set up my overnight camp and fished for an hour in the late evening. I took two nice twelve-inch cutthroats for my supper before darkness forced me off the river. But by this time that disappointed fisherman was well back over the trail toward the Forest Service Station, returning home. Next day, those cutthroats were back on flies. A Light Cahill, wet, was just the ticket. During a long golden evening there was a hatch of may flies over the water, and again a Light Cahill, fished dry, was very productive. An angler cannot make the weather, but by careful selection he can make his equipment respond to any weather and water condi tions. Go prepared to use a diversity of methods and lures, and you will find less disappointment. All fish have days when they will refuse any one type of lure. They have days when they are not responsive to certain methods of angling, be that method fly fishing, spin casting, or bait casting. But if your lures and techniques are spread over a broad enough basis, your chances of having a combi nation which will produce fish are immeasurably increased. Are you a dry fly purist? If you confine yourself strictly to a dry fly you are missing a lot of fascinating fishing with wet flies. And, it must be added, you are also missing a lot of heavy trout which, while they are not greatly attracted to dry flies, will go for a streamer or nymph. Another extreme in angling, comparable to the dry fly purist, is the bass fisherman who confines his efforts to a bait-casting outfit and plugs. That angler should try bass bugging with a fly rod. The fly rod is a versatile means of fishing, but not if it is confined to just one type of lure or to flies alone. That day I fished for cut throats in the Siskiyou National Forest exemplified fly rod versatility. I used a spinner fly to take two trout under very adverse water conditions. I was prepared with spinner fly combinations in a variety of sizes, and with fly rod wobblers. Streamer flies, dry flies, wet flies, nymph flies name a weather condition which was likely to occur on those particular waters, and I had a fishing lure which matched the occurrence. A distinction must be drawn between the angler who has a diver sity of equipment and the one who comes to the stream loaded with equipment. Diversity of angling equipment need not mean a heavy load. After all, there are only a few basic changes you have to make from flies to deep running lures, such as spinners or wobblers and from subdued colors to bright ones in your metal lures. There are many roads to disappointment in angling, however, which are not directly tied in with the lures you use. The lack of a small tube of cement can easily spoil a fishing trip. With it you can mend a broken rod tip or reset a loose ferrule. Either of these two mishaps, far from a tackle shop, can cancel out all your painstaking planning unless you go prepared to meet such small emergencies. A small tube of patching materials for boots and waders is another good investment in angling pleasure. A snagged wader or boot can be a very disconcerting proposition in icy water. It only takes min utes to patch such a hole if you have a small patching outfit. In heavily infested snake country, all anglers should carry a snake bite kit. This has nothing to do with a quart of "Old Fisherman's Delight." A good snake bite kit is very compact and adds very little weight. Usually, it consists of a suction cup to place over fang punc tures, a small blade to cut the punctures to induce bleeding, and a tourniquet to slow circulation between the wound and the heart. Complete instructions come with these snake bite kits, and should be studied carefully before entering snake-infested country. Let's take up the matter of duplicate lines. Once, while fishing steelhead on a wilderness river, with no tackle shop closer than ten miles over a mountain trail, I saw an angler hook a rampaging steel head. It shot down a riffle at express-train speed, taking all the fly line and most of the backing. Then it came clear of the water in a heart-stopping jump which wrapped the fly line around an over turned cedar tree in mid-channel. That fly line was there to stay. The shocked angler stood on a spray-drenched rock, mouth open, hands trembling, considering this dramatic introduction to his first steelhead. He had all the rest of the day for reflection, too, for there was no chance to recover his line and there was not another spare line in the crowd. It was a day, too, when the river was alive with jumping, sea-seasoned rainbows. Put it down as an important item that no fly rod is complete with out a duplication of the fly line with which it is perfectly fitted. This duplication is comparatively easy to make. There is no necessity of going through the process of casting and testing. Simply weigh the line which fits your rod. Then duplicate this weight in the same type of line. You will find that even those of the same size designations vary enough so that you will have to weigh several very carefully to find an exact duplicate. Spinning lines and bait-casting lines should also be carried in duplicate. Here you have no problem of matching the rod, but there is the problem of carrying several sizes of spinning lines to match different water conditions. Clear water will often indicate the use of very small, delicate lines for best results. Bait-casting lines, as a general rule, require less matching. The important thing is to have a few spares. Another piece of fishing equipment which I find indispensable is an angler's clip. This is used to cut leaders, change flies, and punch cement out of flyhook eyes. It has a hundred different uses, I'm sure, but I especially appreciate its handiness when making up a leader on a river, or changing tippets. The angler's clip I use has a short thong to attach it to a fishing jacket, where it is constantly ready for use. There is presently on die market an angler's knife which you might prefer to the clip. It has a blade, punch, and small pair of scissors. And it serves very well for changing flies or working on a leader. An angler, it is said, never has enough pockets. That saying, however, was more current before the many good fishing jackets became available. With the wide selection which a fisherman now has at his finger tips, he can have pockets to spare. Those combina tion game-fishing vests put out by several manufacturers are excel lent. The best are short, designed for deep wading. They have a large pocket across the back in which you can carry your fish. But I have always found it an excellent idea to use one of those splendid English-type fish bags for this purpose. All my vest pockets are devoted to flies, lures, leaders, lines, and other equipment, including a lunch in the large back pocket. My fish bag, with its several com partments, is used to carry fish and additional equipment. The landing net is carried on a snap, attached to the shoulder strap. When it is not in use, I find it a simple matter to drop it over my shoulder, letting it hang down my back out of the way. Some anglers like a creel, but once they have used the English type fish bag I doubt if they would ever want to go back to their creel. It is bulky and awkward on a stream, while the fish bag is light and portable. It seems to me that the best fish bags are much to be preferred, even though the initial coast is greater. There are two questions which a fisherman must ask himself about each item of equipment: Does it serve some useful purpose? Is it the best for that purpose? An affirmative answer to the first question will keep him from becoming overloaded with equipment which is seldom used. An affirmative answer to the second question means high quality, fishing-taking stream equipment with which to meet the challenge of the ever-changing weather and water condi tions on the rivers and lakes he fishes.
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