David Siskind | Sunday, 5 October 2025
~~Pigeons on the grass, alas. Pigeons on the grass, alas. ~~ Finally I’m home after the Big Bye-Bye. I’ve yet to wet my feet but have brought my practice back to the grass in Pan Pacific Park after nearly a month-long hiatus. And the grass is a mess. I was thinking, “boy that didn’t take long.” But have realized that time is racing and the winter seeding sprouted a cover that has lasted an entire summer of dog play and kid games. The rains and re-seeding should be coming soon enough.
I chatted with my main man in the South, Brian Boehm, about bringing my own rods down to Louisiana to fish for reds in a couple weeks. He opined that my SA Bonefish WF8 should work fine on my HT8. He uses tropical lines in the Gulf of Mexico - they can be a little stiff but IMO that’s way better than being too snakey. He recommended a true weight WF10 for the HT10. Seduced by a sale offer, I bought a SA Redfish Warm WF9. It’s a half-size heavy so it’s a true 91/2. It’ll be here in three days so I’ll get to try it out and have time to get a true 10 if it seems too light. There’s a long belly line I have my eye on.
Practicing with my HT10 has been eye-opening. It’s heavier than the 4 and 6 wt rods I usually use (duh). It reminded me of a mobility exercise I practice, the Jefferson curl. Rather than strengthening movements with the spine erect (but not necessarily vertical), the spine is curled encouraging exploration and strengthening of its full range of motion in the sagittal plane. You’re supposed to curl, feeling the movement vertebrae by vertebrae. I have had trouble feeling it with body weight alone but adding a small load (I have a 15# kettlebell) makes everything come clear. The weight is light enough to learn the move without risk of injury but heavy enough to light up my receptors. The HT10 does the same in practice for me. I can cast a 4wt all day long with a wristy movement but the heavier load asks me to bring in more bodily movement to support my smaller shoulder, arm, and wrist to work without undue stress. These are all movements we practice when we go through the gears from leader only in closed stance to longer open stance and finally 170 casts. Still the movements seem more necessary under a greater load. I’ve been experimenting a bit with my mind focused sequentially on the shoulder rotation, hip rotation and forward and backward bending. I’ve been working these around the clock and to targets. There are a lot of ways to skin a cat. I’m trying to get familiar with a few. It’s a journey.
Mostly I don’t want to embarrass myself in Louisiana. I’m joining my friend Marty down there and I’d better have some demonstrable skills or he’ll wonder what all my practice has been for. Also I don’t want Brian to ride me too hard. All a little small minded but sadly true. I could work on those feelings too. After the reds, I’ll still have all of November and December to hone my snakehead shots.
I haven't seen Ben Crump yet but he sent me a good selfie he took of an LA River carp (see above). He’s got a good eye for framing. and obviously took the shot hands-free. This boomer hasn’t learned that trick yet. Guess that’s something else to work on.
David Siskind