Spinning

I rarely spin fish any more. I used to a lot, but somehow fly fishing got a better hold and seemed so much more fun.

I also catch more fish fly fishing than I ever did spinning. It might be because I'm a better angler now - more experienced - but I honestly think that flies can be more productive in the places I fish and with the species I fish for.

But this past week I went to a location where spinning beats fly fishing - by an order of magnitude. This is a place where huge schools of sand eels come close to the shore, but not quite close enough for a fly to reach them. The water is deep and the bank behind you is steep and high. Wading is almost impossible and the fish that swim by here are large herring and sand eel feeders.

To sum it up: difficult casting, no wading, big fish that eat big stuff. That spells a boat or a spinning rod. As I have no boat, I hauled out my old spinning rod and some woblers and other lures.

And it worked. I could cast about 50-60 metres or up towards 200'. I could fish large stuff fast and I caught fish. I probably lost the sea trout of my life - an estimated 4-5 kilo or 8-10 lbs. fish. That is a trout of about 75 centimetres or a good 30 inches. Nice fish, I would say. Unfortunately it LDR'ed itself after a few seconds og tumbling in the surface. I had two smaller sea trout - 3-4 lbs. fish) and as many decent garfish as I wanted.

I was spin fishing, but I had fun, and I suspect that it will not be the last time that I do this. I do bring my fly rod and some large zonkers, should the fish come in close, because I surely prefer fly fishing. But I'm no fundamentalist. Not if good fish can be caught.