First outing with the new Scott S4

After getting off work at the Fly Shop on Sunday, Blake called me up and said that he needed me to come over to his place. I said no problem and headed over. When I got there he showed me a brand new Scott S4 9'6" 6 weight fly rod, a perfect rod for the Puget Sound. I asked him if he had gotten himself a new rod and he said "no it's yours," as thanks for the help getting the new fly shop up and running. I don't think words can even express how shocked and excited I was and all that I can say is THANKS Blake!!! 

I when I got home, I headed straight out to the front yard to test the rod out and was in awe at how light it was and the fact that I could cast my fly line to the backing! My original plans for Monday morning had been to tie flies, but with this new rod I knew that I had to get out fishing and test it out. I called up my friend Luke who runs Blackwater fish replicas, and we made plans to head out to a local estuary in the morning. When I got up on Monday, the weather was windy and didn't look too fly friendly, but that wasn't going to stop us, so Luke and I made our way out to the estuary. The tide was high, but the beach ended up being sheltered from the wind, so we got to fishing. On the first cast using a Chum fry pattern I missed a good hit and on the third cast I got another bite. This time I got a solid hook up and had a nice fish on. The fish made a number of runs, cart wheeling leaps, and underwater spins in standard Coho fashion, but it was no match for my new rod and after the short battle I brought it to the net.

 

Not bad for the first fish on the new rod!!

For the next half hour the action was extremely fast paced, with Luke and I each hooking up every few casts with some fat feisty Coho that were gorging on out-migrating Chum fry.

Another nice Coho

However, as is typical, the good fishing was not going to last as a stiff North wind finally caught up with us numbing our fingers and making casting dangerous. Dangerous as in I caught a nice cone head fly with the back of my head... I got another fish and missed a few more before the relentless wind finally drove us from the beach.

The new rod...

I ended up bringing six Coho to hand and lost several others with Luke getting similar results, and even with the wind the new rod casted like a dream, so it was a great day in my book!