I’m back in Stanley, Idaho with Mary Ann for the majority of the summer. She works as a fly fishing guide through Silver Creek Outfitters, guiding on the Salmon River near Stanley. I come along and work on bamboo rods….and fish a lot. While I was here last year, I wrote a little fly fishing blog about the fishing opportunities around Stanley. I’ve started it up again this year, and you can read about my fly fishing adventures at www.flyfishingstanleyidaho.com .
I got started on two new bamboo switch rods today…it was a day of taking two long pieces of bamboo and turning them into 72 thin strips. These will go into making two 10′ 6″ hollow-built 5 wt switch rods.
Bamboo Strips for 2 Switch Rods.
I’ve been working feverishly on several new bamboo fly rods over the past several weeks. Here are two nice one’s heading out the door this week to customers. A beautiful 7′ 0″ 4 wt medium fast action rod built with tiger maple reel seat, classic reel seat hardware, and wrapped with highland green and black wraps. This rod small stream rod is heading to Idaho. And, a second 10′ 6″ 5 wt hollow-built progressive action switch rod. It’s built with figured English Walnut reel seat and butt cap, a black banded agate stripping guide, and wrapped with black silk thread and straw and claret tipping. This rod is headed to New Mexico. Here is a photo of both rods:
7′ 0″ 4 wt medium-fast action two piece rod and a 10′ 6″ 5 wt 3 piece hollow-built switch rod.
After way too long, Mary Ann and I finally got out for a couple of days of fishing on the Crooked River in Central Oregon last week. The water level was nice but we found fishing success was a little slow. Some bugs were flying in the afternoon (caddis, BWO, and midges) but very few fish were coming up. Mary Ann tried swinging streamers with one of my 10′ 6″ 5 wt bamboo switch rods but the fish didn’t seem to want the larger flies. I tried an 8′ 0″ slow action 5 wt bamboo rod from my Spring Creek Series and had decent success with French nymphing techniques and indicators. The slow action of this rod cast the lightly weighted nymphs well and the soft tip helped with detecting light strikes. We both managed to pick up some decent rainbows and whitefish in the 10″ to 12″ range, typical sizes for the Crooked River. A small #18 black AP nymph or a #8 stonefly nymph fished on the bottom with French style indicators proved to be the most successful. Here are a few photos from our time on the Crooked River last week:
French Nymphing on the Crooked River
A nice rainbow from the Crooked River
Mary Ann and some two-handed casting with a bamboo switch rod.
I’ve been busy getting ready for the Northwest Fly Tyer and Fly Fishing Expo (www.nwexpo.com) in Albany, Oregon this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be there in Booth #3 with my bamboo fly rods. This is one of the largest fly tying/fishing shows on the west coast with great opportunities to learn about fly tying, take classes in fly fishing and casting, and visit with many equipment vendors and lodge/resort owners as well. If you make it to the show, please stop by my booth.
Show Update: It was a good show this year, although attendance was down a little. I always enjoy this show because it’s in my home territory and I know so many folks here. A lot of my good friends stopped by the booth and chatted. Here I am at the show:
2014 NW Fly Tyers and Fly Fishing Expo.