Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/68594
better; but once he sees you or makes his way into faster water, it is game-on. If he wants to run, let him run, for with these lighter rods and more delicate tippets, it is patience, not power, that will eventually win the day. hook, then invest all the time required for him to regain his strength before you release him. I Often you must move with him. And when you are finally able to bring him to hand, you must take great care not to lift him from the water as you remove the tiny f you are patient and take time to attune to the stream and the fish, using such light rods can be one of freshwater angling's most elevating experiences. I was very familiar with this stretch of the Poso, and I knew the largest trout I was apt to encounter would likely not run more than ten inches. And so I rigged the 1-weight with a 6X tippet and a tiny #18 Royal Wulff and set forth alone down the broad valley. The first fish of the morning was a buttery little seven-inch brown trout. Next came a matched pair of eight-inch brookies, then a deep, coral-sided rainbow. They were all fat and firm and full of fight, and not at all pleased at having their morning so rudely interrupted. By the time I reached the small stand of spruce two miles down the valley, I had caught and released at least two dozen of their brethren. Then glancing downstream, I saw the rise. It was so discreet that I nearly missed it, alongside a submerged rock ledge that I knew sometimes held trout of exceptional size and conviction. I had caught them there before, all wild and wooly and ready for a brawl. It is best fished from a downstream, quartering angle, laying a cast into the smooth water that builds and bulges above the bending lip of the ledge, then letting the fly ease into the head of the run. You can cast to a trout in a place such as this. But you cannot properly fish for him unless you understand him and his kind. You must sense his lie and feel the current catching his bronze, gold-flecked sides and ivory-trimmed fins as he works to maintain station just above the marled stream bottom. And you must imagine his slow and focused movement when he finally spots his prey and begins easing backward along the underside of the current, then envision his precise and calculated rise up through the water column to intercept your offering, and savor his last halting hesitation before he lightly sips it in. But for now I was still far above the ledge, and I knew there must be other trout holding much SPOR TIN G CL ASSICS 88