Tag Archives: making bamboo fly rods

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.

Trying Out a New Bamboo Rod on the Crooked River

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Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been out fishing….been real busy in the shop with rod building.  Mary Ann just finished building her second bamboo rod, a beautiful 7′  9″  4 wt Progressive Medium-Action rod.  What a great taper…casts dries like a dream.  She cast dry flies hard for a few hours while I took out my 9′  0″  3 wt Czech Nymphing rod with #20 zebra nymphs and Bead Head Pheasant Tail Nymphs.  I picked up several fish on nymphs, but there was nothing hatching and she was fishless on dries.  But, she eventually went over to small nymphs, and her new rod handled them great.  And….she got several fish to the net.  As her first fish on her new rod she picked up a nice 13” whitefish.  After that, several feisty rainbows. Here are a few photos from our day.

Here we are on the Crooked River this past week.

A nice little rainbow that took my #20 black Zebra Midge.

Mary Ann putting a bend on her new 7′ 9″ 4 wt rod.

Mary Ann with her first fish on her new rod.

 

New Bamboo Rod Building Class

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I just started another Bamboo Fly Rod Building Class this past week.  Charlotte, who is local to my area, wants to build her second bamboo fly rod….and this one will be for her husband, Dan….what a lucky guy!  Charlotte built her first rod with me last year so it’s great she is launching into rod #2.  This rod will be a fast action 8′  0″  6 wt rod, which will be great for Dan as he does a lot of lake fishing.  Here area a few photos of Charlotte’s rod building process.

Getting started on splitting

Keeping the split going straight

Knocking out the nodal dams

That’s a lot of strips

Day #2 – Sophie came along for the day

Charlotte and Sophie

Running strips through the beveller.

Busy Planing Strips

 

Czech Nymphing with Bamboo on the East Walker River

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I got the chance to meet up with my “San Jose Fishing Buddies” in Eastern California for a few days last week to fish Crowley Lake.  They have been talking with me about joining them at Crowley for the past few years, with stories of lots of big fish.  While fishing on Crowley was rather slow for us, on the way down there I stopped and fished the East Walker River for a couple of hours.  I’ve read a lot about the East Walker for several years as being a great trout fishery, but I really didn’t know what to expect.  The weather was cold, about 45 degrees, but the overcast conditions were a good sign for some fish activity.  What I found was what seemed to be relatively high and off-color water, with the banks heavily lined with trees and brush.  Take a look:

East Walker River

East Walker River

The only bugs I saw flying were midges and a few small blue-winged olives.  No rising fish were seen.  But, there was a lot of great pocket water that screamed nymphing, and although the water was on the high side, it was fairly easy to move along the river’s edge to hit the good “fishy looking spots”.  I used my 9′  0″  3 wt Bamboo Czech Nymphing rod, and started with several variations of small mayfly and midge imitations.  I picked up a few smaller brown trout on a #18 Psycho Mayfly pattern, but was a little discouraged that I wasn’t picking up more fish since the water looked so good.

A 10″ brown that took a #18 Psycho Mayfly Pattern.

After going through my standard Go-To flies that usually work for me, I finally put on a #16 Prince Nymph just to see if any fish were interested.  That was the ticket, and the fishing, or should I say catching turned on.  In the next hour, I caught 8 fish on the Prince Nymph…6 browns and 2 rainbows…ranging in size from 12″ to 18″.  I sort of pride myself in being able to “match the hatch” with my small nymph selections, but on that day, it was the Prince Nymph.  I’m not sure why the fish liked it or what it was imitating, but what a great day.  Here are a couple of the nicer fish I caught:

A nice 18″ Rainbow

A beautiful 17″ Brown

For any of you who are looking for an interesting fishery with some large rainbows and browns in eastern California, I would highly recommend the East Walker River.  It was definitely not water for the beginning fisherman as it required strong wading skills, and it was very important to be able to put the fly in precise spots with little to no backcast room.  But, with the right fly in the right spot, the fishing was great.