Tag Archives: Dave Dozer

Czech Nymphing with Bamboo Fly Rods on Hat Creek, CA.

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I just got back from my annual “Guys Fishing Trip to Hat Creek” in Northern California.  I’ve been fishing with the same group of guys at Hat Creek on Memorial Day Weekend for the past 30 years.  We probably know every rock in the stream.  Nymph fishing was great in the mornings with #14 yellow sally nymphs fished with Czech Nymphing methods.  I used my 9′  0″  3 wt Czech Nymphing Bamboo Fly Rod and picked up quite a few nice fish in the 15″ to 18″ range.  Here are a couple of photos of our time at Hat Creek.

Fishing one of my favorite runs on Hat Creek with Curt, Ken, and Paul.

A nice 18″ rainbow that took a #14 Yellow Sally Nymph.

Lots of color on this 17″ rainbow.

Another pretty 16″ rainbow and my Czech Nymphing Bamboo Fly Rod.

More Browns…This Time on the Owyhee River

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On our trip back from Utah last week, Mary Ann and I couldn’t resist stopping on the Owyhee River for a couple of hours to fish.  It was a blustery, overcast day but we knew the fish were there.  Mary Ann fished her 7′  9″  4 wt Signature Series Bamboo rod, and I choose my 9′  0″  3 wt Bamboo EuroNymphing rod.  There was no visible surface activity, but we knew from previous trips, the big Owyhee River browns usually like small midges and baetis nymphs.  An Olive #20 Baetis nymph fished towards the bottom proved to be a good fly choice for the afternoon, and we got into a handful of very nice fish in the 16″ to 22″ range.  Here are a few photos from our afternoon:

#20 Olive Baetis Nymph

Mary Ann putting a good bend in her 4 wt bamboo rod

A beautiful Owyhee River Brown for Mary Ann.

I’m fighting a very nice Brown on my 3 wt bamboo.

Here is one of my nice fish for the day.

Browns on the Green River in Utah!

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Mary Ann and I just got back from a week in Utah where we attended the Wasatch Intermountain Fly Fishing Show, and fortunately, we were able to get a little fishing in also.  We spent a day on the Green River with Brett Renard of Western Rivers Flyfisher Guides.  Brett is a great guide, extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and upbeat about our fly fishing day.  And, to top that off, we caught some very nice browns that were rising to the BWO hatch.  I fished an 8′  0″  6 wt Signature Series Bamboo Rod and Mary Ann fished her 8′  0″  6 wt FreeStone Series Bamboo Rod that she built last year. I had only heard about the Green River, but what a beautiful sight.  Crystal clear water flowing through beautiful deep canyon cliffs.  Here are a couple of photos from our day.

Here we are on the Green River.

The Green River.

A nice brown that Mary Ann caught.

Having Some Fun.

Fishing the Metolius River with a new Bamboo Rod.

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Occasionally, I find the time to build a new rod for myself.  I recently completed an 8′  0″  5 wt medium progressive action rod for me, and Mary Ann and I got out on the Metolius River for 2 hours for some casting…and possibly catching!  I took my new rod, and she took our her new 7′  9″  4 wt that she just finished building. Her rod was a mate to mine, just a little shorter and lighter.
Winter fishing on the Metolius River can be slow sometimes, and although there were a few mayflies coming off, we only managed a couple of smaller rainbows. But the rods were amazing to cast, perfect actions for the Metolius River and small dry flies.  Here are a few photos:

Getting ready to hit the Metolius River with our new rods.

A nice tight loop for Mary Ann.

A colorful little 9″ rainbow that took my #18 Purple Comparadun dry fly.

Bamboo Fly Fishing Net

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Mary Ann challenged me this winter to see if I could build her a bamboo fly fishing net.  I hadn’t built a net before but I had a pretty good idea what I needed to do…but I wasn’t sure if it was even possible.  Nothing on a culm of bamboo is straight, and I didn’t know if I could bend the bamboo around the hoop section of the net without breaking it.  Well, I took on the challenge and dove into my “Net Building” effort.

The first step was to get some straight strips of bamboo from a culm.  Splitting didn’t work because none of the strips came out straight.  I pulled together a jig for my band saw that allowed me to saw the strips instead of splitting…worked pretty well.

My jig for sawing bamboo strips.

 

The next step was to sand down the sawn strips for the Hoop and Handle sections of the net.  The hoop strips were sanded down to 0.080″ thick, and the handle strips were sanded down to 0.200″ thick.

Sawn strips for the Hoop and Handle sections.

Time to glue up the strips for the Handle section and sand that down.

Gluing up the Handle.

Handle sanded to thickness, still some shaping to do.

After the handle section was shaped, it was time to glue up everthing into the overall net.

Gluing everything up.

After the glue-up, it was time to shape/finish everything.  This was done with a hand plane and lots of hand sanding.

Planing things down.

The finished sanded net. Time to put on the oil finish and attach the bag.

After 10 coats of a hand rubbed oil finish.

The finished net.

This was a fun winter project, and I certainly discovered the challenges of working with bamboo instead of wood in making a net.  Time to try it out on the water!  And, it’s also time to get back to rod building.