Drifting along in the river, we would cast our fly (a foam grasshopper) and it would float along at the same speed as the boat.
Using the long fluorocarbon lines (14 or 15 foot) and leader presented a few problems. The long cast was not necessary because we were placing our fly only 10 to 12 feet from the boat. (some times a longer cast was nice, but most of the time it wasn't needed).
Also with the long line and leader, it was almost imposable to get the fish to the net. Trying to grab the line to pull the fish in close enough to net in a bobbing drift boat was, well, a challenge?
Fluorocarbon line is a dream to cast. Fluorocarbon leader is almost invisible to the fish... However it sinks like a rock.... quickly dragging the floating fly down under the water.
It was like fishing with a sinking tip fly line.
I ended up using the 10 foot braided line from Tenkara USA and a 2 foot leader. That way I could keep the fly line completely out of the water and the leader out of the water most of the time. Even with a 13'6' Amago rod and the shorter leader I still had to stand up and hold the rod way over my head to get the fish close enough to net.
I'm thinking that for drift fishing a river like we were doing.... a 10 or 12 foot monofilament fly line, level or braided, and a monofilament leader would work best for floating flys. Even adding a floatant to leader and fly might help.
Don't get me wrong, it was a fantastic trip and we caught tons of fish. Rainbow and browns taking grasshopper flys right next to the boat with wild abandon is something every angler should experience. I'm just thinking that next year I'm going to experiment around a little with different line and leader combinations.
Our Guide, Toby Swank, owner of Fins & Feathers Fly Shop is a great photographer. I have him to thank for the pictures of me on this trip.
