Here's the scenario.....
You're in a favorite run and it's full of players.
It's least 100 yards long...probably longer.....yep, longer.
It's all yours and there's no friggin' wind.
The wading is tough but that's the trade for good structure.
The casts are coming pure....most anyway.
It's big water and you have the range dialed.
You hooked up and landed a nice fish at the head.
Now you're snot-nosed and pushing hard...hell, you're moving down on the swing.

This would be rock....loud, heavy metal rock barely audible over the roar of the rapids downstream.
And hopefully there's fresh underwear back at camp.

DD
Who has the above on the schedule for this weekend.
Hopefully it plays out.

Don't forget Weird Al and Jimmy Buffett!

PS. Can I borrow one of your ascots?

Thunderstruck was a staple in the locker pre-football game for quite a few years. It still gets me amped like few other songs can.

Symphony of Destruction is another.

I think my heart rate just spiked a little at the thought.

Let me tighten my ascot...brrrrrrrrrr...It's Dylan, Bob Dylan...

I know a cow song that fits this....

"The coyote call, and the howling winds wail...."
http://youtu.be/IN862-bRsXs

"Guess who just got back today?"
http://youtu.be/BbYPfbNR7KE

Settle into some dub and start working some water. Book it.

You mean not all steelheaders settle into deep dub mode before stepping to the water?

(Sage One, aint the one...)

Dood...Ryley and I rocked the dubstep the entire drive up, the entire time there, and the entire drive home.

Somehow I knew already you'd be down with that.

My anthem? .50 Caliber and Bass Cannon...with a little 2Die4 on the side...those are the track names, look 'em up if you don't know 'em.

Salar, you're safe for another year...I brought up two flyrods, never even got them out of the tube this year.

It was better than last year...oh, my...yes it was.

And last year was good...with a capital "G".

This year was better, with a capital "B".

Big Fish Year, with a capital "BFY".

Fish on...

Todd

Yeah Todd, but they don't count if you didn't catch them on a Sage ONE. Too bad; better luck next time.

I guess I won't be getting any calls for Sage sponsorship again this year...I'm pretty broken up about it, to be honest.



Somehow I'll manage to not kill myself.

Fish on...

Todd

All I can say is "wow".....I just read that whole monster. Makes me want to hook the Scott S3S 9wt/4piece w/ the gold plated Fin Nor #1(enviable serial # in the low teens) up to the downrigger tomorrow and go get me a silver .....of course, I'll be sipping a "bit of the Dalmore" while chasing it with PBR. My hot girlfriend(wearing tweed of course) will be filling my handmade Meerschaum pipe while we "floss" numerous silvers. I live for this, and you lowly bait chuckers/gearheads just wouldn't understand, which is true.....(I might be dragging a herring off that rod tomorrow though), so the borders get a bit muddy. In fact, aren't we all just fishing?.....Tom

Reads a bit like you're beginning to get it Tom. Good on ya'. Not everyone does.

Sg

I was almost the opposite. I brought a 4-piece gear rod (so it would fit in my fly rod case). Hooked a fish on a copper RVRFSR 1/2 ounce spoon after about 3 casts and broke it while landing said fish and was "stuck" fishing flies the rest of the trip. Wound up breaking Sage Z-Axis (don't own a One) too. I lay the graphite to those fish.

Many drag dependent fishers would soil themselves trying to handle Mr. Big in direct.
I know, I almost did the first time....crackered him off, too.

Different strokes for different folks.

Is that the thunderstick you found last year? I've seen you attempt to fly cast, and you DIDN'T know what you're doing. What changed? Looks like nice fishing though.

Sg

I am certainly no expert and my decent loops are much less common that my ugly ones, but I have to say, Stam picked up the casting concepts pretty quickly. I was impressed. After a short session and a few pointers, he was hucking good looking loops much farther than he needed to for fishing purposes. I have photos to prove it

I saw a German up in AK a couple of years ago. That guy could cast a spey line as far and pretty as anyone I'd ever seen.

He also would have starved to death had salmon been his diet.

The more spey dudes I spend time around the more I realize that casting and fishing are often two different pursuits.

I just really don't see the need to consistently make long casts for steelhead if catching them is your ultimate goal. More and more it seems like for many two-hand rod toters, casting well and enjoying the motions thereof is primary, and the catching is secondary. Nothing wrong with that. I just had this conversation at length with a friend while on an extended float trip for steelhead. It took a while but eventually he was able to admit that he would rather cast well and far and limit his chances of catching fish than make smaller, less interesting casts and fish more effectively.

With regard to the catching, if you find yourself casting farther than say 40' regularly you are either a) not fishing to fish, b) on the wrong side of the river.

I can perhaps see the need in more of a true summer run/warm water fishery where you might get an active fish to chase something down from a mid-river holding spot, but in most cases, they are holding close to one bank or another even in tailouts.

So Coley, what you are saying is, unless the river is 1/2 mile wide, 1/2 the Spey guys are always on the wrong side of the river?

For casting no,

For fishing yes...

and much more than half.