Saturday, July 09, 2011

Breaking in the Imperial

With the Imperial in hand I had been wanting to put some river time behind her.  Summer isn't the best time for a die hard Great Lakes Steelheader to get a new toy but here on the West Side of MI there always seems to be some options.  Armed with a couple of tips from fellow bloggers indicating the Skams were in the river I managed to slip down  this afternoon for a couple hours.  The trip intentions were two fold.  First off I was wanting to put some river time on the new Imperial and maybe capture a few images of her in action.

 Secondly I was hoping to pull a rabbit out of a hat and find one of those Skamania to tangle with.  My confidence really wasn't all that high.  The fish seemed to enter the river late last week and the high temps and full sun of the day wasn't going to work in my favour.  Nonetheless there are always fish to be had down below the coffer and I was determined to spin the new toy.

The game plan was simple.  I was going to wet wade the river and pick away at the fast water and seams below the coffer and work my way down to the buckets and troughs behind the gravel pile-ups to the first bend.  As expected the reel performed flawlessly and my choice of a rear mounted clicker option couldn't have been better.  The clicker is rock solid and operation is very intuitive. 

The center nut proved true to it's function and a much needed reel flush was as simple as could be.   The reel is a runner and will certainly do me proud when the runs start this fall.  I didn't manage to find that elusive Skammie but I did find everything else under the sun from Browns, Rainbows, Small Mouth, Red Horse Suckers, and even a catfish.

 It was time well spent on the river and nice to put the new toy through the paces.

9 comments:

GT said...

Nice Brian. I have the original Imperial and thought it doesn't have the bling center screw, I will admit, it does give the old standby Islander a run for the spotlight. Void of steelhead ( or skamania), your day with the new Imperial must have been a fun day none the less. I don't wet wade. I like the boys to stay dry. ;)

lambton said...

LOL! The wet wading has a dual purpose Gil...it affords me the opportunity to reach my quary and the ability to keep cool while sporting the wading jacket loaded with gear. The river is quite refreshing right now and the "boys" don't seem to mind. LOL!!!

Trotsky said...

Neither of you have any nuts...whose kidding who?

Trotsky said...

Alright...
I will admit that it is a nice looking reel.
It will never match up against the Mojo of my skein coated/scratched and chipped Islander but sexy none the less.
I would pick one up if the price happened to be reasonable????
What are they asking for this paper weight anyway???

GT said...

" ....small Chinese nuts " Its the Hangover all over again. :0

lambton said...

LOL! OMG...way too funny GT!

Trotsky said...

I thought I recognized you!!!
I masturbate to that scene constantly...
What happens in LV stays in LV..
It is currently 8 thousand degrees outside and I am not leaving my basement.

Dan Huff said...

Dang, u caught everything but the skams! Nice camera work too.

lambton said...

Yeah Dan...I thought the same thing. The catfish was kinda freaky. I never seen that coming.
LOL!