I put the finishing touches on two bamboo fly rods this past week. Both are the same taper…an 8′ 0″ 5 wt medium progressive action rod from my Spring Creek series of rods. One rod will be going to the Seattle area to a regular customer who wanted to add a 5 wt. rod to his collection. The second rod will be mine…I get to build a rod for me once-in-a-while!!! Here they are:
A nice 8′ 0″ 5 wt rod.
I got the chance to get out with my friend, Tony, recently on the Metolius River. Tony had just picked out his second bamboo fly rod from me, a very nice medium action 7′ 9″ 4 wt Spring Creek Series Rod to compliment an 8′ 0″ 5 wt rod he got from me several years ago. I took out my medium-fast action 7′ 9″ 4 wt Freestone Series Rod and we hit the water for a few hours. Fortunately, we found some very cooperative risers in the afternoon and picked up several nice rainbows on BWOs, Green Drakes, and Golden Stonefly dries. Tony out-fished me for the day, including landing a very nice 17″ rainbow that took his drake. Here are a couple of photos of our day.
I finally got back out recently on the Middle Deschutes River about 25 minutes from my house with a couple of good fishing friends. The river is fairly small in this area due to water being pulled off for irrigation…but that makes for some great fly fishing water. The salmon fly hatch from two weeks previous was over so I expected that fish would be holding close to the bottom…sounded like a good opportunity to try some Bamboo EuroNymphying. I took out my 9′ 0″ 3 wt Bamboo EuroNymphing rod for the day and wasn’t disappointed. The rainbows, browns, and whitefish were happy to take small nymphs, but the majority were less than 12″ long. But, I was lucky to pick up one very nice brown on a #20 two-bit hooker pattern. Here are a few photos of my day.
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.
I got out on the Middle Deschutes River about 30 minutes from my house yesterday with my good friend, Jonathan Walter, from Denver. What a beautiful day on the river. I set Jonathan up with one of my medium fast action 7′ 6″ 5 wt bamboo rods and I took out my 9′ 0″ 4 wt bamboo EuroNymphing rods. We had a great time tempting the feisty browns and rainbows…Jonathan did well swinging wet flies through the riffles and I picked up quite a few fish on a yellow sally nymph in the faster water. Here are a couple photos of our afternoon.
