Finesse-Fishing.com has closed and has nothing left to sell, other than a few used books. I have decided to leave the website up as a resource for people interested in fishing with light rods, light lines and light lures - true finesse fishing.

Great Line - Two hours of Fishing

by Les Albjerg
(Caldwell, Idaho)

A line review? You bet! I drew an archery antelope tag and went out scouting yesterday. The scouting was frustrating. A blind on a water hole I thought nobody else knew about, a dry spring, and cattle overwhelming another water hole.

Since I was less than 5 miles from a high desert creek that I have always wanted to fish, I headed over the hill. Almost as an after thought, I put my bag in back along with the Tenyru Rayz Spectra spinning rod with the 17 Daiwa Gekkabijin EX-1003 mounted on it. It is spooled with Sunline BMS 3 pound fluorocarbon line. Fishing couldn't be any worse than scouting!

A new creek is always fun. The creek is known for having 6-9 inch native red-band rainbow trout. The red-band strain is famous for being able to tolerate warm water. The water was warm. So here I was in a deep canyon, dark, and full of willows.

The BMS is a line with a "bite marker system." I'm not sure what that really means, but there are several short sections of line of various colors with a clear fluorocarbon section to tie your snap or lure to. I'm color blind, so it is the yellow section that really stands out for me.

I started my session with a couple of different less than 2 gram spoons, and the creek was true to form, and I caught several 8-9 inch rainbows. Most important, I could pick-up my lure and line right away with the cast do to the sighting variegated colors in the line. The sections are short enough that it really works well even on this small of a stream. The water was low and clear, and this line was stealthy. This is the 5th time I have fished this line. It doesn't stretch like nylon. I have also noticed that as all fluorocarbon lines, it is a little more prone to line twisting. I have not found the perfect line, but this is really good stuff.

Now on to the fishing. I had bought a couple of Smith AR-S spinners and 2.6 gram Palms Spinwalkers. I thought I'd change it up a little. There was another good looking pool above the one I had been fishing, so I worked my way up there. I was beating myself up a little for bring the 5 foot 1 inch Spectra instead of the 3 foot nine inch RZ 39LL. All was not perfect with the Willows! Plenty of reties!

However, the first cast with the Spectra RZS51LL had me tied into a monster for this creek! It was a war! The 17 inch brute took me all over the pool! The new Daiwa reel had a workout, and passed its first real test with flying colors. I've never had so much bend in the Spectra and I needed the backbone to keep that fish clear of stuff she was trying to get under to break me off! I can't tell you the number of jumps and runs!

Once she was safely released, I sat down on the bank and reflected on how much joy and satisfaction that battle was. I was refreshed. What a beautiful fish! So much for only 8-9 inch trout! As much as I like fishing a stocked area about 20 minutes from where I live, my other thought was these fish are way more powerful!

I fished pocket water up to the next pool. Two more 16 inchers fell to the Smith AR-S spinner. I was well into a third and he broke me off! Another fish took me into the brush and broke me off. Two lost spinners was worth the price of admission!

On one of the pools was so small I could really see the action. The littler fish would dart out and slam the spoons. The bigger fish would dart out and slam the spinners! Two ten inch trout jumped so high they went over a willow branch. I was able to land them!

A great two hours of fishing. The BMS line made it easy to see the lure and line. I'm glad I had the power of the nano technology of the Tenyru Rayz Spectra.