Hypothetical

http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/f74c249b.jpg

I am fishing a three weight. A dropper rig. Wooly worm size 10 with a bead-headed nymph size 14 dropper. My leader is a 4X and my dropper is 5X.

I land a nice fat 22 inch brown on the dropper.

I go on to the next hole with the same rig and I am schooled by a HUGE fish I can't even see. It breaks off both flies so I don't know which one it hit.

I am going after this fish opening day this year.

Should I take my 5 weight this year? Should I only use one fly? Have any of you landed a HUGE trout on a dropper with 5X? Should I use a single fly with 3X leader?

Wooly worms are more of a fall fly? What would you use for a 26 inch plus brown in cold weather in small stream Wisconsin?

The fish broke your tippet not your rod, take which ever rod you like to fish with. I would use the same rig that I got broke off the previous time just be more ready for a large strike and to yield line until I got it on the reel.

I have never landed a huge trout on anything, but I have landed some nice grass carp, catfish and large mouth bass on 4 lb. leader material. The carp were in the 7 - 8 lb. range, the channel cat around the same I guess, the LMB more 5.5 lb.

Len -

I'm always pretty much left flat footed when you show pix of the water you fish because it is so different that anything I fish around here.

Having said that, if I were going out with a definite prospect of hooking up with a 26" brown in a smallish creek like that I would want to take the heavy artillery so I could horse the fish if I did happen to catch him. I would go with a 7 wt rod and use 2X fluoro tippet.

Nothing to suggest on the fly / flies to use. I'd have to spend a fair amount of time on your waters to get up off the bottom of the learning curve for the area. If I didn't have time to figure out the bugs, I'd go with a PSC fished off a full sinking line.

John

Hmm, if it were me I would probably go with the 5 weight and try the following strategies.

First, I would start with what worked before, but maybe up the tippet and dropper strength a bit. If that doesn't produce, then I would change to a sinking line and I would probably swing a small squirrel tail hairwing streamer; a HammLim Minnow to be precise because that's my go to streamer (it's in the Fotw archives), however I would suggest you go with what you know works in your waters. By this point, I might give the water a rest as I curse and swear, then switch to a floating line and a team of 3 soft hackles. As my frustration level increases and as the froth that's developed on the water obscures the surface, I might switch to a weighted nymph under an indicator. Finally, having by now found a decent sized rock, I would spot the fish and try and just knock it one for good measure. After that, a size 32 trico dry should do the trick. ;)

- Jeff

If that didn't work. I must have got the fish with the rock.

I've landed steelhead on 5x with little problem, and several browns in the mid to upper 20s on 5x and barbless dries. I would probably bump up one tippet size. 4x for a #10 is thinner than I would typically use, and the rig you describe would be a 3x/4x setup for me in almost all waters. I prefer the heaviest tippet I can get away with.

As for the rod size, I am with Jesse. A 3wt is fine in my book.

I've only hooked up with one brown that I am confident was over 26", probably 28" or more, and he broke off fresh 2X tippet with no problem when I tried to hold him. Another brown that I had on was in that 26" range, plus or minus, broke off 3X when I had to stop him. In both cases I was on fairly big rivers ( the Henry's Fork and the South Fork of the Snake respectively ) but not in spots where I could let the fishies run. Circumstances dictated, for me at least, that it was better to try to hold the fish closer by rather than let them run, which mostly likely would have resulted in losing them, or maybe killing them by fighting them a long way back up strong currents.

Len reports that his 4X failed. Not increasing the size of the tippet is asking for the same result he got the first time - bye, bye fishy. Might as well go to 2X and increase the odds of landing the fish.

The other part of the equation, to me, is that he on a pretty small stream. And it is conjecture on my part, because it is not clear in the picture and Len did not comment on it, but there may well be some structure to contend with when he goes after that big fishy. Just seems to me that the answer to landing it is being able to hold it close and horse it - and my experience tells me that 5X, 4X, or 3X are not good choices for this situation. 2X might even be marginal, but it is the heaviest I buy. :shock:

John

tight quarters with structure to the left that it lays under and will try to get back to.
a 3 weight showed it was inadequate already. Dropper...not considering it.
This fish needs to have its head up immediately or it is going back in cover and
it will all be over but the crying.

#2 hook, nightcrawler, 1/4 oz sinker, and 12lb test on a spinning rod.... :D

Why ask if you already have all the answers?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jszymczyk

#2 hook, nightcrawler, 1/4 oz sinker, and 12lb test on a spinning rod.... :D

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DuPont spinner? ;)

John Scott's PSC has been good for me, although I was "irrationally exuberant" in weighting the first batch.
I have moused in Michigan with 20 lb-test line and that proved adequate. So how about a leader with a 20 # butt (he typed, opening himself to any amount of teasing and ridicule), stepping down to 17 # test and ending with 14# test? Then use the fly of your choice, although I really would suggest that you abstain from the DuPont spinner. One miscast with that and... you've blown your chance at the fish.

Ed