Category Archives: fishing bamboo

A New Bamboo Fly Rod Fanatic

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I met a great angler, Blake, from central California last week and got the chance to introduce him to bamboo fly rods.  We spent the day fly fishing on the Middle Deschutes River about 12 miles from my house.  I set him up with a 7′  6″  medium action 5 wt rod that he fell in love with.  We got into quite  few rainbows and browns, and while they weren’t large, we had a wonderful time.  Needless to say, I’ll be building Blake a new Bamboo Fly Rod of his own in the upcoming months.  Here is Blake in the middle of a cast stalking some fish with dry flies, along with a typical brown that we caught.

A New Bamboo Angler on the Middle Deschutes River

A New Bamboo Angler on the Middle Deschutes River

A Middle Deschutes River Brown.

A Middle Deschutes River Brown.

Painting of one of my catches from this year!

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A few months ago I posted the following photo of a great cutthroat I caught on a small spring creek in central Idaho:

A Big Cutthroat That Rose to a Little Yellow Sally Dry Pattern.

A Big Cutthroat That Rose to a Little Yellow Sally Dry Pattern.

I didn’t realize it but this photo turned out to be inspiration for a great painting created by Larry Harris, a frequent follower of my BLOG.  Larry donated this painting to the Catskill Rodmakers Gathering Auction last month in New York.  As it turns out, Larry’s painting sold in the auction and helped raise money for the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum.  That’s pretty cool to see that and ‘Great Job’ to Larry.  Here is a photo of the painting Larry did, along with a great bamboo rod that Larry made himself:

Larry's Painting of my Cutthroat Trout.

Larry’s Painting of my Cutthroat Trout.

Photographing Fish When Your Alone

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Trying to photograph a good sized fish when you’re out by yourself can certainly be challenging…and frustrating.  I learned the hard way last year, and ended up with a cell phone going for a swim!  Wrestling with a fish one-handed, getting it out of the net, removing the hook, positioning everything just right, and then operating your camera for a self portrait often just doesn’t work.  Here is a great way to get a beautiful shot:

Find a spot where the water is calm and only about an inch or two deep, hopefully that you haven’t muddied up yet.  Lay your rod down in the water.  Holding the leader about a foot above the fish, guide the fish out of the net with the hook still in place and slide it up to your fly rod.  In most cases, I’ve found that the fish will cooperate and lay on it’s side for a quick photo….and….you haven’t even needed to touch the fish or take it out of the water.  Slide the hook out, and with a little nudging, the fish will slowly move away.  Here is a photo I took yesterday while fishing Marsh Creek here in Idaho:

A Beautiful Marsh Creek Cutthroat Trout.

A Beautiful Marsh Creek Cutthroat Trout.

Fishing Bamboo on the Salmon River, Idaho

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It’s interesting how quickly trout respond to changes in river conditions.  For the past several days, the Salmon River here in Stanley, Idaho has been blown out from flash floods that resulted in serious mud being dumped into the river.  The normal crystal clear Salmon River had become a water system of chocolate milk, with visibility being reduced to nearly zero.  But, a few days ago the river started to clear and Mary Ann and I were able to get out on the drift boat with one of my 8′  3″  5 wt. bamboo fly rods.  We weren’t really expecting much out of the day but the fishing gods smiled on us.  We managed to raise several fish on tan hoppers, and large streamers stripped through the deep runs worked also.  Here are a couple of fat fish that came to the boat:

The Salmon River after clearing from a muddy mess.

The Salmon River after clearing from a muddy mess.

A fat Westslope Cutthroat that took a large JJ Special streamer pattern.

A fat Westslope Cutthroat that took a large JJ Special streamer pattern.

A beautifully colored up Westslope Cutthroat that took a hopper.

A beautifully colored up Westslope Cutthroat that took a hopper.

 

 

First Fish On Bamboo

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I recently built a new bamboo fly rod, 8′  3″  medium action 5 wt, for Noel from Australia.  On a visit to the states, I got the chance to present the rod to him and take him fishing with his new rod.  On one of my favorite creeks here in central Idaho, Noel was able to hook this great cutthroat on a #14 tan ant pattern.

First Fish on Bamboo

First Fish on Bamboo