I made it out to my favorite local small creek this past week with my good friend, Joe. I fished my 6′ 8″ 3 wt bamboo and Joe took out his 7′ 0″ 4 wt bamboo that he built in my workshop. This creek runs right below my house and gets almost no fishing pressure, so we had the water to ourselves for the afternoon. This is some of my favorite kind of fly fishing…getting out on very small local waters with light bamboo fly rods. We found several willing native rainbows in the 6″ t 11″ range ready to take assorted nymphs and dry flies.
Tag Archives: fishing bamboo
A new custom rod I just finished
I just finished a new rod for a customer who was looking for a fast action rod that he could travel with. We decided on a 7′ 3″ 3 piece 4 wt rod. I don’t normally build fast action rods, but I modeled one of my other rods to meet his interests. He chose an English walnut reel seat with engraved hardware, and Royal Hunt primary silk thread wraps on the guides. We were both extremely happy with how it came out…a great fast action rod for small streams. Here are a couple of photos.
Starting a new Bamboo Trout Net
I’m getting started on a new Bamboo Trout Net today to add to my inventory. It will be available for the Christmas Holidays…would make a fantastic Christmas Present for that special angler!
The 5 long strips will make up the hoop section of the net. They are 72″ x .75″ x .070″. The shorter pieces will make up the handle of the net. They are 13″ x .625″ x .200″.
The first step is to start gluing up the handle pieces.
Both handle sections have now been glued together and shaped.
Time to glue up the whole net!
A couple of rods finished this week….
I put the finishing touches on two bamboo fly rods this past week. Both are the same taper…an 8′ 0″ 5 wt medium progressive action rod from my Spring Creek series of rods. One rod will be going to the Seattle area to a regular customer who wanted to add a 5 wt. rod to his collection. The second rod will be mine…I get to build a rod for me once-in-a-while!!! Here they are:
Bamboo on the Metolius
I got the chance to get out with my friend, Tony, recently on the Metolius River. Tony had just picked out his second bamboo fly rod from me, a very nice medium action 7′ 9″ 4 wt Spring Creek Series Rod to compliment an 8′ 0″ 5 wt rod he got from me several years ago. I took out my medium-fast action 7′ 9″ 4 wt Freestone Series Rod and we hit the water for a few hours. Fortunately, we found some very cooperative risers in the afternoon and picked up several nice rainbows on BWOs, Green Drakes, and Golden Stonefly dries. Tony out-fished me for the day, including landing a very nice 17″ rainbow that took his drake. Here are a couple of photos of our day.


