December Driftless Trout on the One Weight El Jefe Wild

 

El Jefe Wild with a Driftless Brown Trout

 

Around a year ago, a friend of ours reached out to ask if we have ever considered building a series of super small combos, specifically the 0-2 weights.  At the time, I said this wasn’t a focus of ours, but curiously forced me to ask him why did he ask?  He went on to tell me that there really aren’t very many companies that make these rods, and none of them make a high end complete combo.  He went on to tell me that of the companies that make something like this, they are all sold out, one of them sell the rod alone for around $900(when it’s in stock).  I decided it was worth exploring and I began having some prototypes built.  We wouldn’t bring these to the market unless we could bring an exceptional complete combo.  After a series of investments, and a number prototypes later, The El Jefe Wild Series has launched.  

 

El Jefe Wild Combo

 

For our first time on the water with our newly launched series, we headed up to The Driftless Region in North East Iowa, near Decorah.  We‘ve fished the prototypes, but it’s always different when your logo is on them.  We hit a handful of streams over the course of an afternoon and a morning armed with an El Jefe Wild in One Weight.  This little gem is a seven foot rod perfectly paired with a tiny little click pawl reel.  It feels like a feather in your hands.  I choose to fish a dry and dropper to keep the weight down for casting purposes.  Fishing dry flies or a dry and dropper is perfect for the El Jefe Wild series.  I used the flies we sell in our Dry & Dropper package, and the trout thankfully loved them!

 

Dry & Dropper Package

 

We hit the first stream right about 1:00PM after a nice four hour drive.  We got into fish pretty much right away.  Fighting 10-12 inch trout on a one weight is a blast!  We mainly got into brown trout on this afternoon, but did manage to net a few rainbows as well.

 

Driftless Brown Trout

 

Casting a 6.6-7.5 foot fly rod does take a bit more skill than casting a 9 foot rod.  We have had a number of people reach out to ask if this is a good series for kids since it’s shorter, and we alway suggest to look at longer rods for beginners because they are simply easier to cast and manage the line.  Also, remember that you have a little less power with these rods since they are so light.  Wind can make casting them a bit trickier, but it’s still doable.  We encountered a fair amount of wind, and were able to still put the flies where they needed to go.  

 

El Jefe Wild Complete Combo 0-2 Weight

 

I can say, that when fishing small water, around some brush, or where you mainly encounter small trout, this is the way to go.  I’ll have one of these with me almost all the time going forward.  I‘m really looking forward to spring and summer to test these combos out on bluegills.  I have a feeling fighting a big bluegill on a 0 weight is going to be like catching a tuna!  

 

Driftless Rainbow Trout

 

Until next time, tight lines my friend!

 

El Jefe Wild & a Driftless Brown Trout