I have now fished with my Sage Trout Spey HD on three occasions, all before the evening rise had started, and all when there were fish rising once or twice but not consistently enough for me to want to switch to a dry and a single hander.
The first and most important thing is this is an incredibly effective way of targeting these fish. Before it gets too dark I would expect to get a take from most of the fish I cast to. They are really willing to take until the light drops. The takes stop then. The problem is converting takes to connecting with the fish, with a hook up rate roughly of about 30%.
In my first review giving my initial impressions of the Sage Trout Spey HD 2wt I had not really mastered the cast. Subsequently with a bit more use my technique has improved considerably, and the 10ft intermediate now casts pretty well.
So far my fishing notes are:
- Connecting with fish: Need to work out how to connect with more fish.
- Be Prepared: Need to prepare rigs on the Smith Creek Rig Keeper
- Loop to Loop: works fine. I was initially skeptical about loop to loop joins as i was worried about the transfer of energy, but having used a loop to loop join for both the fly line & tip and the tip and the leader I can say that I do not think that this system makes much of a difference.
The other important feature of this style of fishing appears to be the fish fight harder and differently from when I hook them with an emerger under a dry. They jump more and they fight harder, perhaps because I am not hitting them on the take.