Iced up rod

The first 10 minutes were great. My new 7 weight St. Croix Imperial Switch cast very nicely, even though it was slightly mismatched with a 425 grain Skagit Flight and a reel that was way too big and heavy to balance properly. Even though it was 18 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and I didn’t have the right line and reel yet to match the rod, I needed to test out my new switch rod.

The next ten minutes were not so great. The guides started freezing up, and I could barely strip in running line. I resorted to fishing the head plus a few feet of running line, and not stripping in or shooting any line on my casts.

The next 5 minutes were downright dangerous to my rod. Enough ice had built up on the end to present a real danger of breaking the rod.

I called it quits, took a few pictures, and enjoyed the scenery.

And here’s a few bull trout pictures from last week.

Northwest washington bull trout caught on the fly

Northwest washington bull trout

Iced guides

Pink black and purple intruder steelhead fly