GLX...the next day

I slept in this morning.   Saturday was a big day and its successes had left me more than content. I sat down with my morning coffee and reread my glx review. There was still some uncertainty in the assessment and the more I relived the previous days successes the more I longed to hit the water for round two. I mulled over  some of my options and decided on a clean and quick session with no more than an 1-1.5 hours on the water. 

I was after one more chromer and another shot at testing the limits of this blank.  With the self imposed time constraints I knew where my best chances of pulling this off would be so I packed up the gear and headed to the river. It was now early into the afternoon and river traffic was minimal. Once again my preferred water was unoccupied so I dropped into the river and the hunt was on.  

There was no easy participants but I stuck to my guns and methodically picked away.  I was now at my limits on the bar and well into the middle of the river  when I made a long throw deep into a slack water section. I mended my line and trotted back lightly on the float keeping my line taunt and my offering up off the bottom. The strike was violent and was not only visually confirmed but was accompanied by a firm tug felt through the entire blank. 

The glx loaded up and the water exploded.  My opportunity was before me.   On the way to the river I had decided I was going to stand my ground and test the limits of this blank. I felt I knew enough about the rod to gamble a fish on it. So with some degree of confidence I went hard at this fish. Like all of the fish as of late this fish was hot and made some long deep runs. Each time I managed to stop and turn the fish.

The rod was  in a full  parabolic bend but never once bent into the handle as I had read on some of the previous forum reviews.   It seemed to flatten out about 10" from the top of the handle.  After a fair fight the fish made the bank and my day.  It was one of those river bullet fall spawners.  I have encountered a few of these fish this past season...They are long, lean with huge rudders.  These fish really slam your offering and go ballistic once hooked. 

The rod performed under this test and was actually quite enjoyable.  I didn't feel underpowered on this fish but then again it was not a 8lb + class specimin. I still have mixed feelings on this blank but today was a move in the positive direction.  The remainder of this outing failed to produce an additional steelhead bite but I did managed to root up a couple of handsome browns.  It was a whirlwind session but quite enjoyable. 

 I learned a little more about the GLX and put a few more fish on the bank.  The field trials will have to continue and I suspect the only true answer to my query will come with the spring runs in late Feb/early March.  .

Stay tuned for further updates as this story unfolds