Finesse-Fishing.com has closed and has nothing left to sell. 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.

If you want any of the items mentioned on these pages, I can only recommend using your favorite internet search engine.

Nearly "Finessed" a Steelhead!

by Conor P. Shelby
(Western NY)

I went steelhead fishing a few days ago (2/21) and upon arrival at the creek, it was totally blown out due to the recent snow melt. I decided to head to a lesser known, very small Lake Ontario tributary which only gets runs of fish after a very strong melt off or spring rain. I certainly made the right decision! The water was clear and there were numerous fish!

Unfortunately, it was not a "many" fish day. The only two rods that I brought were my Orvis 11' 8 Wt. switch fly rod, and my Tenryu Rayz Integral
RZI50UL-4 with Shimano Cardiff C14+ HGS 2000 reel and 3 lb. test Troutist Darkness line in case I decided to go inland trout fishing. This tributary was way, way too small for the switch rod. Thus, I rigged up my Rayz with a fly fishing indicator, small split shot, and a soft, chartreuse trout bead from Death Roe and got to drifting. About 5-10 minutes in, the indicator went under, and I set the hook, hard!

The Rayz most definitely had enough backbone to drive the hook in. The fight was on! I was able to turn the fish about 3 times in the two minute long fight before it ran into a log jam and snapped me off at the indicator. I estimated it to be about 8 lbs.

That was the only fish hooked that day, as I had very limited time. However, I am very impressed with the fighting power of the seemingly "small-fish" rod! Hopefully next time I will have a picture with the fish in my net!