I’m excited to be at the 2015 annual fair of the International Federation of Fly Fishers in Bend Oregon this week. I’m teaching a class in “an Introduction to Bamboo Fly Rod Building” on Tuesday, and will have a booth at the vendor fair on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. There is so much to do, so please stop by if you’re in the area.
It’s not always about big fish. Mary Ann and I hit the Middle Deschutes below Bend yesterday evening for a couple of hours for some dry fly fishing with our bamboo rods. She chose a 7′ 0″ 4 wt rod and I used my 8′ 0″ 5 wt slow action rod. Blue Winged Olives, March Browns, Small Caddis, and a few Golden Stoneflies were out. While we didn’t get into any large fish, we had a great time throwing dries for smaller rainbows and browns. When you have a great fishery like this less than 30 minutes from the house, it’s so great to just get out for a couple of hours in the evening. Here are few photos of our time on the river:
Mary Ann stalking rising trout on the Middle Deschutes River.
A nice Brown Trout that took a March Brown dry fly for Mary Ann.
A smaller Brown Trout that I picked up yesterday evening.
Once in a great while, its fun to get out to a private Pay-To-Fish place. Mary Ann and I got the chance to bend our bamboo rods on some larger rainbows a few days ago with a visit to Lake In The Dunes, some private lakes about 2 hours to the east of us. It’s a great setup, with 5 small desert lakes fed by natural artesian wells on the property. There is also a great cabin on the property for overnight stays. It was a brisk 31 degrees when we got there and some portions of the lakes had a light covering of ice from the night below. But sun was out and the ice cleared off by lunch time. We found willing fish on just about any streamer/bugger pattern we threw, and also picked up quite a few on chironomids suspended under indicators. All of the fish we caught were between 16″ and 22″, with a few larger ones lost. It made for some wonderful winter rainbow fishing. Here are a few photos of our day:
Dave and Mary Ann at Lake In The Dunes.
A beautiful winter day at Lake In The Dunes
Lake In The Dunes Rainbow
Lake In The Dunes Rainbow
I just got back from The Fly Fishing Show in Pleasanton, CA last weekend where I had a booth. There were a few other bamboo rod guys there, Joe Bradley, Robert Bolt, TC Robertson, and it was great to catch up with them. I didn’t pay too much attention to what the graphite guys were showing off but I did notice that Echo is coming out with a line of fiberglass rods. I got a chance to cast their new fiberglass switch rod….it has the classic feel of a fiber glass rod…definitely not like bamboo but it was fun to cast. It’s nice to see something else out in the industry other than ultra-fast graphite. Here is a photo of me at my booth at the show:
It’s been a very busy past several days for me in the rod shop. I’ve started two 10′ 6″ 5 wt switch rods and have been planning the bamboo strips for the butt, mid, and tip sections of both rods. It always amazes me how much bamboo shavings come off these thin strips from the planning operation…a mountain of shavings! And, using a small block plan to do this isn’t exactly an ergonomically friendly process so I take breaks often. I finished the planning this morning…here is what it looks like!
Hand Planing Bamboo