duaneredford.com   "Fear No Water"

Hidy Ho Good Neighbors!

My client hooks a beauty of a brown in a soft seam about fifteen feet out. The river is in pre-runoff, so there is a dangerous element to landing big fish that get into big water. I bark a few directions about rod tip angles and height that puts my client in good fighting position. The brown took exception to it.

Off she goes! The reel is screaming as she burrows deep into the hard water across the river. The downstream bow in the fly line is tremendous as the fish is jumping upstream and across from us. I’m thinking we’re screwed. Somehow we manage to keep our ground and get half of our fly line back. The trout is back in the same seam we hooked her in.   It’s our move.

I instruct to move downstream a bit to maintain at least a ninety degree angle on the beast. We set our feet, but realize we will be moving soon. Client lifts the rod a foot or so and increases tippet pressure on the fish. Reaction generated and the fish is ripping off line downstream. We strive to keep up.

At some point, I know I’m going to have to let go of my clients wading belt, stop dragging him along the rocks at river edge, and go in for the beast. We top out on a small sand point, and I exclaim that we will live or die from this point. It sounded good when I said it.

The beast is now forty feet downstream swimming in and out of a nice eddy. “Perfect”, I think as I claw my way through the willows waist deep in the drink. As I near the spot where I think we have the best chance to bag, I realize it’s simply too deep to be of much help. The fish is in the soft flow, finning up and down, a mere seven feet away. Problem is adding together my arm and net length, I come up about a half foot short. Where have I heard that before?

I’ve no choice, I have to make a plunge move out to this fish hoping to bag it before it bolts downstream into a class four rapid. Here goes nothing. I felt her tap the outside of the hoop of my net as I went under water. I came up kicking and spitting….Fishless. She broke us off in the heavy stuff downstream.

I bought a new net. My old net was perfect for most seasons, but run-off on the Eagle ain’t one of them. Handle is just too short. I contacted Kevin Mackey of Mackeynetworks and we designed a new bag. Obviously, the handle is longer, but there are other features as well.

I use this net as a wade staff as well. I had Kevin turn the end of the handle to about an inch diameter, and I placed a walking cane rubber stopper on it. The rest of the net is surprisingly light for the beefy ability to support my weight fully. The hoop is large enough to bag the beasts of the Eagle, but not too obtrusive to carry. The wood and finish are beautiful.

I don’t rep for Kevin, but if you want one of his nets, go to mackeynetworks. If you can’t find him, contact me and I’ll get you hooked up.

Fear No Water (I mean it),

Duane

Customized

Fish friendly

Aha!

Customized to my height