Anticipating the Future.

I can't think of a better gift than something that will enrich the memories you make. So, when I was recently given a gorgeous Pieroway 6wt, I began to immediately anticipate the challenges that would be met with it in hand, whipping it back and forth in the wind or bent to the cork, and I created a mental draft of all of the species that I would be testing it against.

Saturday morning walked to the beach and christened it on an aggressive bonefish that blitzkrieged out of a rolling, crystal clear wave to engulf a newly-minted bonefish bunny. I was casting blindly and after two chases from bones and two mistakes on my part, I was anticipating my third shot. I didn't screw up again.

Once hooked, the fish bolted out over the shallow, reefy beach and took a 90 degree turn, wrapping my fly line around a coral head. I've started to rig with 15lb flouro incase I meet up with the big perms that frequent the area, so I knew I might have enough time to wade out and unwrap my line before the fish snapped it.

My line went slack as I approached the coral head. Not wanting to damage the new rod, I followed the line with my hands and unwedged it from between the coral. As soon as I freed the line, the slack on the water immediately tore across the surface, indicating I was still hooked up and the fish had some room to run.

Bonefish are violently quick and this rod handled the accelerations and the direction changes exactly as you'd need it to. The 6wt performed as beautifully as it looks. It has stopping power and can launch a heavy rabbit strip fly into a 15knot wind easily to match the deep blue blank, pewter guides and teal accents. The cork is premium and looks awesome.

I led the fish onto the sand in a rolling wave and asked a local boy to take a picture of it, commemorating my first of many fish on the new stick. He zoomed in a bit too far, tongue wagging in concentration, for a photo of the 6lber.

I released the bone, rinsed off my hands and headed out across the sand back towards my apartment. Cross bonefish off the 6wt list; bring on the permit, carp, largemouth, smallmouth, steelhead, sea-run browns (!), Jurrasic Lake 'bows (!)...

Bonus: Pompano