Category Archives: fishing bamboo

Fishing on the Metolius River

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I got a chance to wiggle some bamboo rods two days ago on the Metolius River with my good friend Chris. My weapon of choice was a 8′  3″  5 wt medium fast action rod.  It was a cold and cloudy day on the Metolius but there were a few BWOs out. Saw a few fish rising around 1:00 PM in isolated spots and picked up a small rainbow on a #18 BWO Cripple. I also picked up a nice 12″ rainbow on a #12 Tellico Nymph drifted along the bottom…what a great fly for winter trout fishing here in Oregon.  And, because this fly is relatively unknown around here, I’m sure the educated trout in the Metolius River have never seen it. Here is Chris drifting nymphs through a popular run and one of my fish.

Fishing the Metolius River in Central Oregon.

Fishing the Metolius River in Central Oregon.

A nice Metolius River rainbow that took a Tellico Nymph.

A nice Metolius River rainbow that took a Tellico Nymph.

First Fish Of 2015 On The Crooked River

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Mary Ann and I hit the Crooked River yesterday for some January trout action.  It was a chilly 32 degrees but the sun shining brightly…you gotta love winter trout fishing in central Oregon!  The water level in the river was abnormally high due to some recent dumping from the reservoir but we were hoping the fish would still cooperate.  I chose an 8′  3″  5 wt bamboo rod for my day on the river.  There were no bugs out of any kind so it was time for nymphs with a EuroNymphing setup.  While my standard go-to zebra midges and bwo nymphs were of no interest to the rainbows in the river, I managed to pick up a few decent fish on a #12 Tellico Nymph.  The Tellico Nymph is a great imitation for a small golden stonefly nymph.  Here is my first fish of 2015, a nice feisty 12″ rainbow!

A Crooked River Rainbow in January

A Crooked River Rainbow in January – My First Fish of 2015!

The beautiful Crooked River

The beautiful Crooked River

The Crooked River and the Tellico Nymph

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I was looking through my fly box recently and realized that I was out of (and hadn’t even fished) a Tellico Nymph in a very long time.  It used to be a favorite pattern of mine but for some reason I had gotten away from fishing it.  Most of us on the west coast haven’t heard of this fly as it was originated years ago in the Southeastern United States.  A well known fly back east, it does a great job at imitating a golden stonefly nymph.  And, you can be guaranteed that the fish in our local waters haven’t seen this fly before.  So, I tied up several a few up a nights ago and Mary Ann and I hit the Crooked River yesterday for a few hours of fishing.

We got the river about noon.  The recent snows were mostly gone and it was a nice overcast day with temperatures in the mid 40’s.  Small fish were already rising for BWOs on the surface.  Mary Ann picked up several fish on dries but I decided to stay with nymphs.  The Tellico Nymph didn’t disappointment me and I picked up a handful of decent fish drifting this fly towards the bottom through the deeper runs.  Since I’ve now “rediscovered” this great fly pattern, it will again be a standard in my fly box.  Here are a couple of shots from the day, as well as my fly recipe for the Tellico Nymph.

The Crooked River

The Crooked River

A nice fall rainbow that took a Tellico Nymph.

A nice fall rainbow that took a Tellico Nymph.

The Tellico Nymph

The Tellico Nymph

The Tellico Nymph

Hook:  #8 to #12 – 1X Long (Daiichi 1560)

Lead:  15 turns of .015 Lead Wire Underbody

Thread:  Brown

Tail:  Grizzly Hackle Fibers

Body:  Yellow Floss

Rib:  2 Strands of Peacock Hearl with Fine Copper Wire Counter Wrapped

Back:  Turkey Tail Fibers

Hackle:  English Grouse

My Bamboo Rods in Australia!

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A good friend and owner of one of my bamboo fly rods, Noel W., is from Australia and just sent me some photos of a recent fly fishing outing where he was successful with his 8′  3″  5 wt bamboo rod.  It’s summer down-under right now, and he got into some nice trout.  Here is Noel at Moffat Falls, New South Wales:

Fish On!

Fish On!

A Beautiful Rainbow Trout From Australia.

A Beautiful Rainbow Trout From Australia.

It Really Is In Australia!

It Really Is In Australia!

 

I Just Love Fishing Central Oregon!

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Now that Mary Ann and I have moved into our new house in Sisters, Oregon, we’re getting the chance to get out on the local waters to fly fish.  There are just way too many places to fish around here…it’s hard to pick sometimes.  We got out the last two days on the Crooked River near Prineville.  The Crooked is a wonderful tail water fishery that offers great rainbow fishing with countless small mayfly and caddis hatches throughout the entire year.  But, I tried throwing a #8 Golden Stonefly Nymph (one of my favorite patterns) in the evening when the mayfly surface activity quit.  I’ll bet I was the only angler on the river using big stonefly nymphs because the river isn’t known for much if any large stonefly populations.  But, I hit paydirt and successfully landed about ten larger rainbows between 12″ and 17″.  Sometimes you really don’t need to “match the hatch”.  Here is one of the beautiful fish that took my stonefly nymph, and the pattern that worked:

A Crooked River Rainbow

A Crooked River Rainbow

#8 Golden Stonefly Nymph

#8 Golden Stonefly Nymph