November Late Night Triple Play

I got home from work and had a nice package waiting for me. The crew over at Risen Fly sent me a prototype of their new ITB fly rods to test out. These aren't even on the market yet so I was excited to give it a go.

I've been out about 10 out of the last 15 nights in search of big carp at night and I've quite  a few hookups but nothing landed. That changed last night.

I tied up a big tandem egg fly pattern and hit the stream around 9pm. It was still 50 degrees so I knew they'd be more active than earlier in the week when the temps were freezing. It didn't take long until I was giving this new rod a solid workout. I had this thing bent almost in half and had 3 runs into backing and it held up like a champion. This 9-10 lber was my reward for the 10 minute fight.

Usually when I land a big fish at night, the rest are so spooked that the run under the street lights turns into a ghost town. I was surprised when I saw a pod of suckers moving up quickly after releasing the carp.
 I saw one shape that seemed a little darker and was moving a little different. Could it be a trout? The closest stocking point to here was about a mile downstream, or half a mile upstream, which was separated by a big dam so I didn't think so, but I gave it a swing anyway. 10 seconds later, BAM...a fat stocked rainbow is on the end of my line.

The pod of fish still wasn't spooked so I figured I'd swing my egg pattern through the pod again. I wound up hitting two suckers in a row and decided to call it a night.

I know the quality of the pictures is not the greatest. Hard to get a good shot in the pitch black when you're sliding around on wet leaves. It was a hell of a fun night and I look forward to testing out this rod some more this weekend. Look for a full review coming soon.

Also, in case you're interested, DTT stickers are back in stock! They are available in the fly shop section. As an added bonus, All orders of 3 or more stickers will get a free fly hand tied by yours truly. Can't beat that! I'll also have some on hand tomorrow at the Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset NJ if you're interested. They are free if you buy me a beer :)
Click here to get some.