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New Toys
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010
"Fly casting, like many other things, is a matter of skill and timing-of easy rhythm rather than power. Such things can be enjoyed all through life and perhaps most of all in the more relaxed years of age. Paddle easily. Climb slowly. Choose the right places from the experience of other days, and enjoy the view to the fullest."
Lee Wulff
From Well Cast Lines, John Merwin
Juicy Fruit Steelhead Jigs
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While working at some of the sportsman's shows this winter I was able to add some new toys to my fishing arsenal. Bill Black from Spirit River Flies, 541-496-3332, was at the Portland Show with some new steelhead jigs for bobber and jig fishing. He gave me a few samples, and next week I'll have some free time to try them. I know a small coastal stream that, weather permitting, should be the perfect place to give them a test. The wild steelhead prefer to hold in the deep pools that are difficult to fly fish or drift fish. I'm really looking forward to fishing there. It is deep in a National Forest and the big leaf maple and Doug fir drip with moss. There is also a better than average chance of seeing some elk.
New Graphite Fly Rod
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New Juicy Fruit and Articulated Juicy Fruit steelhead jigs from Spirit River. |
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Brian Woodruff of Mt. Hood Custom Rods, 503-631-2395, had a display booth at the Portland Show. Last year, before my first herniated disk, I had taken Brian a fly rod blank and asked him to wrap on the guides. Because I didn't do much fishing last summer (due to my three back surgeries) I had not picked up the finished rod. Brian had it at the show. The finish job he did with the rod is better than any factory rod you will ever find. If you are in the market for a finely crafted, high quality, fishing rod you really should check out Brian's website. Brian builds rods on a wide variety of rod blanks. He can build exactly the rod you want.
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Fly rod built by Brian Woodruff, Mt. Hood Custom Rods. |
Bamboo Rod
At one of the shows I had the opportunity to get a 40- or 50-year-old two-hand bamboo fly rod. The rod was made by the Sharpes Company in Scotland. I did a little investigation of the rod and found it has a fairly good reputation for casting. The rod that I got has metal ferrules. Sharpes also made two-hand rods with spliced joints, and those models have an even better reputation for casting. Back in the 1970s and 1980s I used to fish with a friend who used a lot of big bamboo salmon rods. He had a Hardy two-hand Wye salmon rod, two sets of the A.H.E. Wood 12 ft. single-hand greased line rods, and a 15 ft. Sharpes spliced joint rod from Farlows. With a spliced joint rod you put the rod together by using electrical tape.
Back in March 1984 Joyce and I were working a sportsman's show in San Francisco. Jim Adams, used book and tackle dealer, had a display of old Hardy Perfect salmon fly reels. Since my birthday is in March and because I had just been diagnosed with type I diabetes, Joyce decided to buy me a 4¼ inch Salmon Perfect. In all these years I've only used the reel once or twice. The reel has a long brass reel foot and it doesn't fit on modern graphite two-hand fly rods. I refused to alter the reel foot by grinding it down to fit modern rods. Now I have the perfect bamboo fly rod to match the 1930s era Hardy Salmon Perfect reel.
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Ready to head toward the stream with the Sharpes Scottie 13' 9-weight two-hand bamboo rod and Hardy Perfect Salmon reel. |
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Casting the new-old outfit on a small coastal stream. |
I took advantage of a break in the weather recently to test cast the Sharpes rod on a coastal stream that proved to be too small for it. Probably at sometime in late April or May our rivers will drop and summer steelhead will start to enter. When I see the rivers come around to the height I want, I'll start fishing it in earnest. With any luck I'll be posting photos here of fish I catch with my new, old tackle.
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I couldn't just fish any steelhead pattern with this classic rod and reel, so I tied a couple hairwing versions of some old patterns, one bright and one dark.
"And when you discover that you have tied a killing fly with your own hands, and made a reluctant trout take it, you will then know the fullness of an intelligent angler's pleasure."
Eugene Connett
From Well Cast Lines John Merwin
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Hairwing versions of classic salmon patterns, Dunkelt and Black Dose. |
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