Titanium To The Rescue!

by Clyde Olson
(Savannah, GA)

Spent last week fishing the Trophy Section of the Ravensfork River in Cherokee, NC. The river can vary from 30-150' in width and flows last week were in the 250 cuftsec area.

Started off with my Shimotsuke(Starter Kit)3.6 rod, 10' of #4 FL line, 4'6X mono tippet and a #16 tungstenBH Pheasant Tail variant---and was being blown all over the place by about a 10-12 mph downstream wind. Well, I could have turned around and fished downstream, but this seemed like a good time to see what 9' of Titantium line would do---after all this has been the main reason for touting this line material.

Won't bore you with my trial and error adjustments, suffice it to say that I settled on this rig: 9'of titanium, 1'3X mono, 4' 6X mono, a #16 TuBH Pheasant tail variant, AND, AND a 1/2" white (to blend with the bubble line)Thingamabobber attched to the foot long piece of 3X. The rig punched through the downwind breeze as though it were non-existent; no problem not seeing (you can't!) the Ti line with the white indicator plainly visible at all times; no apparent problems with indicator-wind-resistance-induced casting. The Ti simply took the wind out of play! Caught several fish in the 14-16"(fat, stocked RBT) range. The Thingamabobber solved the visability problem with the Ti leader and also aided keeping the rig under control in the riffly, 1-4' of water being fished.

There actually was very little difference in the 'feel' of the Ti rig compared with the #4 FL leader I usually use with this rod---which is to say you could fish this rig (for this type of water) all the time, regardless of the wind conditions.

'What do you have in your (leader) wallet?'---it should include some Titanium!

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” – Benjamin Franklin

"Study to be quiet." - Izaak Walton 1653

"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.