Molly Semenik Casting Bamboo

I built a bamboo rod for a dear friend, Molly Sememik, last year and she sent me a photo of her fishing it last week. Molly is a world-class fly casting instructor and she certainly demonstrates how to throw a nice loop with her new rod. I couldn’t help posting this photo here in my blog, as well as an older photo of her fishing her rod with me on the Metolius River last year. And thanks to Heather Hodson for the great casting photo of Molly. Enjoy.

Molly Casting her new bamboo fly rod.

My Bamboo EuroNymphing Rod on the Lower Deschutes River

I got out on the Lower Deschutes River yesterday for a day float with Mary Ann, and our good friends Alice and Mike, who are both guides from West Yellowstone, MT. Mary Ann, Alice, and Mike took out their two hand rods and chased steelhead for the day. But, I was more interested in looking for the larger rainbows in the Deschutes River with my 9′ 0″ 4 wt bamboo EuroNymphing rod. I had some great action with small #18 and #20 mayfly nymphs, with several fish in the 15″ to 19″ range landed. My 4 wt rod managed these larger fish very well, and I never felt I wasn’t in complete control. And the sensitivity of the rod made it easy to detect the light takes on these small flies. I even hooked a nice steelhead momentarily on one of my small nymphs, but after a few head shakes, it easily broke my 4X tippet…not sure how well my 4 wt rod would have handled that fish.! Here are a few photos of my day.

Fighting a nice fish.
First fish of the day.
Another nice one.
Colorful Deschutes River Redside.

A great Montana Brown Trout

Earlier this year I was privileged to present my good friend, Carol Morris, with one of my new 10′ 6″ 5 wt bamboo Trout Spey Rods. Since then, she has been working on her two handed casting, and it looks her efforts have paid off. She just returned from a 3 week trip to Montana where she fished the rod a lot for some of those big Montana Brown Trout. Check out her success below:

Here is Carol with her new bamboo Trout Spey rod.
Carol’s great catch.

Router Bit for Cutting Reel Seat Mortices

Hi Everyone,

I often get the question of what router bit I use to cut the mortices on my wood reel seat inserts on my bamboo fly rods. I’ve found one that works pretty well from Rockler (www.rockler.com), a Convex Edge Rounding Bit…Item No. 22597. I also had another question about how I hold the reel seat insert to make the router cut. I’ve come with a simple solution….I’ve routered a 5/16″ slot in a piece of melamine, and then notched out the area where the insert is held. I put the insert on a 5/16″ threaded rod, which then fits down into the slot in the melamine. The edge of the melamine can then slide on the router table fence to make the cut.

Convex Edge Rounding Bit
Finished Reel Seats
Reel Seat holder for cutting mortices on a router table.

Fishing the Frying Pan River in Colorado – Bill and Dave’s Excellent Adventure!

I got to spend a week in Colorado with my great friend and fishing buddy, Bill, in June. Even though water levels had ramped up to 30 year highs on the Frying Pan River, we still were able to find some very nice Rainbows and Browns. With the high waters, there really wasn’t much opportunity to fish to rising fish…small nymphs were the ticket. I fished one of my 8′ 0″ 6 wt bamboo fly rods…and Bill fished graphite…ugh! Mysis Shrimp near the dam worked very well, and small #22 midge and BWO nymphs and emergers worked very well lower down on the river. Here are a few photos of our trip.

Getting primed to fish the Frying Pan our first evening.
Getting primed to fish the Frying Pan our first evening.
Taking a lunchtime break.
Taking a lunchtime break.
A nice rainbow for Bill.
A nice rainbow for Bill.
A big brown that took a mysis shrimp pattern.
A big brown that took a mysis shrimp pattern.
Another nice fish comes to the net for Bill.
Another nice fish comes to the net for Bill.
A beautiful rainbow for me.
A beautiful rainbow for me.
A fantastic rainbow for Bill.
A fantastic rainbow for Bill.