Swinging Road Road Runners

Often I drift a Road Runner, casting upstream, allowing the lure to tumble in the current, and using the rod and reel only to keep the bait from dragging bottom too much and to pull it a bit and engage the blades. Other times, I cast mostly cross-current and simply reel or work the bait with slight hops and drops. Occasionally I let the bait swing downstream, in the current. I always experiment early in the day, and let the trout decide, and this week they absolutely wanted the downstream swing.

The swinging approach is fun and simple I cast directly across or current or across and slightly downstream, let the bait sink a little on a slack line, and then just flip the bail and hold the rod. The trout hit the bait as is swings downstream or even after it has made the swing and is simply dangling in the current, with the little Road Runner blade just spinning the current. This week, quite a few fish took the bait when it was just hanging. If the bait is hanging in a likely fish-holding area, I'll often twitch the rod a few times to convert watchers into eaters, and then I might reel is slowly upstream.

Streams, of course, are mighty dynamic, and various factors, including the depth of a run, the placement of rocks and the amount of current, dictate how tight I keep the line, how far I let it tumble, how long I leave it hanging and more.

We actually caught at least a few fish presenting our Road Runners pretty much any way they can be worked in a couple of days on the Nantahala River. The swing was the top producer for me, though, and is definitely a presentation that's worth trying if you have not done so.