We spent the day on the American River. Although we were unable to bring any fish to hand Michael did get one grab and we had an enjoyable time covering the water, exchanging ideas, and casting different rod/line combos. The heavy rains by mid morning brought with them a large amount of debris and the water turned slightly dirty. I will blame the weather conditions for the lack of fish activity as it was certainly not for casting ability.
Michael is one of the most consistent casters I have ever fished with. He spent part of the day with a 10 foot single-hander with a sinking shooting head. The head was more like a Scandinavian than our typical Teeny heads. To see him make his spey style change of direction casts and then over head cast this setup was something of a site. 100' bombs were well with in his reach and seemed to be made with grace and ease. We also cast a full level sinking head designed for a two hander. Michael explained that this type of head is very common for his home waters of Europe while chasing the sea run trout and Atlantic Salmon. Casting this setup is slightly more difficult than our traditional heads with only sink tips. The timing of your setup is even more critical as the entire head sinks and it is very easy to get too much line stick which kills the forward cast. If you thought that Michale's single handed casting was impressive his two handed casts were unbelievable. Even with 20 mph gusts of wind he could present this setup at will.
You should check out Michale's site at www.mauri-flyfishing.de.
I will be looking forward to seeing Michael next year when he returns.
The tug it the drug.
Adrian
