Friday, May 16 2014: Rogue River at Tou Velle State Park.
I fished the side of the island at TouVelle State Park. 8wt 13'5" Sage ONE + Hatch 9 reel with a 570gr skagit compact intermediate + fastest sink tip from the Delta Multitip pouch. Bead head fly.. Hatch Finatic 9+ is a perfect balance for this rod. I managed not to fall in the water with my camera. Tomorrow I'm buying a wading staff!
River flows to left; so I worked on my single-spey a lot. At the middle section of the island, it got deep fast, and flow was on the high side, so I didn't have much room for a backcast, which was frustrating.. On the other hand, the water in close looked fishy, so..
I felt one tug, which might just have been bottom structure. While fishing, at times I would feel the tic-tic of the fly hitting rocks.
I fished from about 2-3:30pm. No sign of anyone else, which likely meant that nobody else thought it would be worth it. I managed to bang out some nice casts, as well as some poor ones. Fun to be out speycasting again!.
Talking with Keith the next day, he said that the section downstream from the island (where I could cast again) was good, so I should fish there the next time. He would avoid the middle part of the island, as the casting there -- with high flow -- is difficult and ineffective. He also said to try the other side of the river; cross the bridge and hang a left to park Then walk upstream under the bridge and find a trail. The trail ends in the river, but picks up again a little further upstream.