Don’t Lose The Big One: Why you should change your leader
By Steph Avena
Why on earth would you change your tapered leader every go-out? The reason is simple: The one that got away.
I learned this painful lesson while trout-bumming around northeast Oregon, just after viewing the eclipse last week.
Scanning the map for a trout stream near the path of totality, I settled on the Wallowa River (more on this great stream in a future blog).
Arriving after the eclipse, I found a pullout and snuck through a bush tunnel onto a prime looking run. At the head, I noticed a few boulders breaking up the flow as the riffle deepened. I was rushing a bit, still hoping to find a campsite before darkness. I pulled the dry line from my reel and I saw it had a decent looking leader attached. How long had it been on there? Maybe a month? So, up the guides it went and I strung up not thinking anything of it. Adding a stonefly nymph and a beadhead dropper, I hurried off.
Starting about the middle of the run, I nymphed my way up, hooking a shaker or two on the dropper. No need to bulk up on my leaders and tippets, these fish a small, I thought. That is, until I made it to the head of the run.
Backing out a bit from the sweet spot, I found a handy casting point that afforded a good drift. Now let’s see who’s got pole position in this run, I thought.
Not kidding . . . the first cast in that lil’ bucket, not more than two feet deep, my indicator went under. I set only to find my line had freed immediately. Quickly glancing for my bugs—glancing for anything under my incator—I found nothing. No nymphs!
Just then, a gleaming bright rainbow that looked two feet long if it was an inch, went leaping down the run. It continued popcorning, presumably to shake off my damn nymphs. Each time, it was 10 yards farther downriver, clearing its entire body for a few “Ha, Ha, Sucker!” tail wags.
In shock, I moped back to that bush tunnel midway down the run. Just as I was about to turn tail and find a campsite, that toad jumped twice again right in front of me—just to rub it in. No doubt, that would have been the largest rainbow of my life . . . had I just freshened my leader.
The point is, you just don’t know what’s going to happen any given day on the water. You may as well make your memories good ones and change that leader and tippet if it appears to be even slightly compromised!