HOW about Fly Fishing? Let's see your outfits . . .

[bulldog1935]

And showing off a little, here's my biggest Texas Tailwater Rainbow, caught on the 8-1/2' Thomas Special and Young 15a.
It's 27 inches and well over 7 lbs.

Not bad work for a rod built in 1932. Oh, and caught on a size 22 midge.

 

[Cane Rod Maker]

wow....you have a very nice collection of rods and reels. Thanks for the tip on the photobucket issue. I will give it a try.
Thanks!
Tim

Hi Tim,
I have a John Pickard 725 Driggs River (here mated with a Hardy JLH Lightweight). And of course you know this is a parabolic taper.

It's great in little hill country creeks, along with my mid-length, mid-weight venerable glass rods, but I fish a tailwater mostly for trout, and my favorite rods for that work are Thomas and Heddon.Other than the Thomas Special, my favorite tailrace nymphing rods include Heddon 8-1/2' 1-3/4 ferrule, and 8-1/2' South Bend 323 HEH. I have a gang of 8' and 8-1/2' 4/5 wt. rods for my home tailwater.

Here's the SB 323, wearing a c. 1930 Shakespeare Russell.

And the Heddon #17 Black Beauty 8-1/2' 1-3/4f wearing a c. 1930 Heddon Little Rivers (which is also a Shakespeare Russell marked for Heddon)

Dennis Stone made me a Thomas Light Special that's a superb 8' dry fly rod with a 4-wt.

It's an astounding rod, super-progressive taper that will cast the leader, and literally feels like it casts itself out to 50', though the taper also will not let it cast past 50' (but who needs to). On the afternoon of this photo, I caught over a dozen on dries and showed up my friends.

The reel is a Young pattern 2a, Ogden Smiths Exchequer. If you're interested, you can find more on the reel here - about halfway down the page
http://bulldog1935.u.yuku.com/

In NM with smaller fish, the Leonard #39 Fairy Catskill is outstanding. It's a true 3-wt made in the 20s.

Another parabolic rod, 7'10" 5-wt., The Guadalupe, made by my nearby friend Floyd Burkett. A super streamer rod, but I made the mistake of taking it one day when we stumbled on trout rising to dries and the tip was way too fast for that work. But it's a real rocket for blasting out big streamers and is great for hill country bass.

The reel is 1917 Hardy St. George, which I don't own any more. It was burning a hole in my pocket, and I bought a new Wilderness Tarpon 160 kayak with it.

A couple of my reels came from famous collections. The Exchequer above came from Jamie Maxtone Graham. My Lyon & Coulson Varden, Young pattern 15a, came from Hoagy Carmichael. My Golden West came from Michael Sinclair, and I currently have one of his reels for repair in my hobby shop.

Looking forward to photos of your rods.
If you use photobucket for your server, you can set your upload options to resize the photo on the server file as you upload it.

 

[Cane Rod Maker]

Bamboo - Hand Crafted by Cane Rod Maker

Well I was able to upload a few so far.....here is a 6'3'' that throws #4/5 lines. This rod is currently for sale and priced at 875.00 due to me needing to sell a rod....

Dickerson influence:

 

[bulldog1935]

Very nice rod. The photo details came through better on my phone, since I could zoom.
I like the way you use signature wraps.
Certainly a perfect rod for Slate Run, and would a very handy rod in many tight creeks.

 

[Cane Rod Maker]

Thank you for the compliment. I like to do the signature wraps, and when made for a client there is a second set; depending on the butt length; when shorter I separate the makers wrap into three to keep my makers info split from the clients name. I also like doing whippings to indicate the line weights as in this one 5 wraps, but the one prior the the fifth, a different color, and I do that to indicate that it is a #5 which will down line size to 4.

Incidentially, when I lawn cast this rod.....I can power cast with one timed stroke and almost be into the running line. It shoots line to the moon. Tight creeks yes, but on the the likes of the Lehigh River, water down, nice pockets and runs, it works very well and can handle a fish just fine in fast water. I caught a 17 inch Brown on a like 6'3'' a few years ago when the water was down.....it was a blast.

Something about split cane vs. those fast made mismatched production cane rods. The guy who bought 2 rods off me a few weeks ago had only ever cast a beat old production rod, very buggy whip like, super slow action.......my rods blew his mind. I have tonkin cane that is aged well over 12 years and have about 40 culms left.

The density of power fibers is terrific, this Bamboo was hand selected by George Maurer when he took a trip to China many years back. Priemum Bamboo, heat tempered and flamed and flamed by me.....the action is incredable on every rod I have made thus far and that is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 since 2005.

I have a client that has a Payne, a Walt Carpenter and a few of mien. He challenged me a few years ago to make my own taper for an eight foot that would cast a 3 weight but added that he wanted the ability to toss a 4 on it. I had my work cut out for me on this one but the result was everything he asked for and some, he fishes a silk line 3 weight mostly on it, but says that the rod preforms above his expectations with the 4 on it as well.

The Slate Run venture didn't work out well...but I think I finally realized that when I went to pick the rods up; my discovery was not once did sales staff insist on taking a interested party outside to lawn cast. Man, they missed the boat on a sales pitch there......for instance the gent who bought 2 rods from me a couple weeks back.....he told me if he had not had the opportunity to cast and see for himself the reason why a quality split cane rod is so desirable; he would have never bought one off a rack in a store.

I keep several reels, spools and quality lines on hand....kept on a line dryer and installed on a whim. I had that man casting every rod I had, with each line that they called for......it was an incridable hour and a half for this person and I was being a sales man in the process. HE WAS IMPRESSED. Those were his words, not of just the rods, but the person behind the creation and the knowleged I was putting out there to him.

I am keeping very hopeful that times get better and guys aren't afraid to drop a grand on fine fly rod.

Looking forward to a growing thread.

Tim

 

[bulldog1935]

not every rod needs to be parabolic and there's more to fishing than casting, so we may have to agree to disagree about vintage fly rods of the Golden Age.
I don't know of any taper - parabolic, semi-p, streamer, wet fly, progressive, super-progressive - that I can't find a place to fish.

While I agree there was some production garbage, there were also many production gems. Many if not most production rods have a true pedigree - Wes Jordan designed all South Bend tapers, and many of the rods he built for Orvis were continuations of inexpensive to moderately priced SB production rods, including the SB290 (which sold for $12 in 1951).
This 359 is flamed and bit faster taper than my blond 323 - though its finish grade was a bit short on the number of guides.

besides, the SB guy is wearing a nice fedora

I've owned H-I Tonka Queen and Prince, and even had an H-I Black River that fished very well. The only rods you may hear me badmouth as utterly useless are the boxed Japanese tourist rods built for the occupation. (Though at the same time the Japanese were making many fine offshore and surf bamboo rods better than anything made here). And if you have a boxed Japanese rod from your grandfather, it may not be worth fishing, but it's certainly worth hanging onto. Always, one man's trash is another's treasure.

When Dennis Stone made my Thomas Light Special, he was charging $800 for a new rod.
I saw some photos of his hardware antiquing work, so I had him finish my rod that way, with a Spanish cedar seat.

He currently charges $1100 for a new rod.
http://www.stonerodco.com/about/

When I first met Bill Oyster (at a trade expo), he offered a "guide series" rod at $700. Like a dummy I didn't buy one.
After he made a rod for Jimmy Carter, his workload increased to the point that all his rods now cost $4600 (for awhile he was still offering $1800 rods, but those must have loaded up his work queue). And it's not all about stroke of luck - there's a stroke of genius to his work. http://oysterbamboo.com/

My friend Floyd makes everything 100%. He machines all his hardware from nickel silver, turnes his own seats, bends his own wire guides - even tip tops.

he custom-made the reel seat around a foot from my favorite vintage reels.

he even makes a hex rod tube from mesquite

But in the end - it's all a labor of love, and I don't know of any cane rodmaker who earns more than minimum wage.

 

[Dan Allen]

I can't afford The classic bamboo rods from the masters but have been able to buy and fish some very satisfying production rods.
When I striper fish the local tail water a South Bend 24 does just fine. I under line the tippet a little in case I bit off more that I can chew with it but so far It has handled them fine is using it. A small mouth rod made by he Late Leo Ick of Jacksonville Ar, and a Granger Aristocrat for a trout rod. All modest rods that do their job just fine. For those who say that bamboo can't take salt, when I lived in Florida in the sixties I saw some huge fish taken with them. I personally caught a large Amber jack with a bamboo that took over a hour to net. ( a hilarious adventure that almost got me arrested by the Cape Kennedy security)
The bottom line is don't sell Bamboo short. Every fish caught in the fifties was probably caught on Bamboo--and yes they were fly rodding the Keys. Orvis made Bamboo just for the Salt.

 

[bulldog1935]

Orvis made Bamboo just for the Salt.

and Horricks-Ibbotson, and Montague, and Paul Young...

I know several people who fish SB 469 in the salt. This was their 7' spin/fly combo - 7-wt fly rod. I had one for awhile rebuilt to fly rod with Orvis seat - it was a beauty.

 

[PADDY]

This thread has me hook, line and...
It's a great piece Gents - thankyou.

 

[PADDY]

Just back. Scottish Highlands (Near Oban), West Coast Scotland.
iPhone Pics. Trout & Salmon.

 

[Dan Allen]

Mike, Our friend and fishing buddy breaking in his new FED IV deluxe

 

[bulldog1935]

I posted this on another thread, but here's my Akubra range hat doing what it does best - fishing for an audience - a last fall warmwater fishing outing a few weeks ago.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Same here - mostly modern gear, and I have fun tying my own flies. Now even vests are considered too old fashioned - everyone use slings and chest packs. I needed a vest (our "uniform" as volunteer teachers at the local salmon hatchery) and my friends at Orvis said "A vest? Do you have a grandfather or something that's really old school about fishing? What next - a creel?" To which I had to honestly reply "I need the vest for some volunteer work, and I've already got three creels - Grampa's, Dad's and another I bought from Bean as a book rack in the guest room." Once he knew how a creel works, my 11 year old nephew thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[bulldog1935]

The problem with vests is that they too quickly become filing cabinets, weighing up to 30 lbs before you ever know it, and they can produce terrible back strain, also without you recognizing it right away. I have a very good friend who fishes out of his 30-lb. vest, has had rotator surgery even, and complains about back pain every time he fishes (with his TCR rod). Of course he always has everything he could possibly need - and then some.
As I said earlier, I do use my vest as a filing cabinet - it's hanging on a hanger on a pegboard.
The cane rod, the fishing bag with a wide canvas strap, it's all about slowing the whole process down, letting the rod do the work, and taking the (type-) A out of angler.
The first person I ever saw use a bag (I was wadefishing from a fanny pack back then), held his rod and bag up in the air and back-stroked to the next gravel bar, and caught some more big bass. That's when I realized traveling light is the key.
But the English bags with the wide canvas straps are superior (Brady, Chapman). If you grab the strap and slide it down in front, the bag will slide up your back and will stay there.

I've come full circle. I started fly fishing out of an old ArctiCreel with glass Shakespeare WondeRod. My next rod was an orvis Fullflex A. Yes, peer pressure and appearance is factor in all this. My first graphite rod was a super sweet Powell Silver Creek IM6 that my daughter still fishes - but part of the reason I bought it was being embarrassed of the downlocking seat on my Orvis glass rod. But after 40 years, I've made it back to preferring glass or cane and a fishing bag - and downlocking reel seats.

While I love my Brady and Chapman bags, you don't have to spring for $100 fishing bag - an army surplus medics bag will do the same basic job
http://www.fatiguesarmynavy.com/store/item/FA1920/Adventurers_Survivors_Shoulder_Bag

People also seem to want to bring up fly tying. I have friends who tie for fun, teach classes at FFF conclaves and pack stacks of fly boxes when they head out. Me, I tie flies hand to mouth, and believe the fly is just about being in the right ballpark.
After 40 years of fly fishing and fly tying, I've pared my trout flies down to a half-dozen, my warmwater flies down to 3, and my inshore salt water flies down to 3. It's more often the fisherman than the fly who catches the fish.

 

[bulldog1935]

Happy New Year.
I was out once last weekend catching dinks on dry flies, and it was a lot of fun.
I went back this morning for a bruiser.
Got my bruiser...

He came out of this little bitty pocket

I caught several others, all in riffle water today.

Not much for hatches, but saw a few caddis, BWOs and our interminable size 40 midges. Everything I caught today was on a swimming BWO.

It was a windy day, and I was out with a prewar Folsom Heddon 2f and prewar Young 16a marked for MC Thornburn Edinborough - nicely engraved with the first owner's initials.

My VS Journeyman is nicely broken in.

 

[mrtman]

Very Nice fish! Where were you fishing?

 

[bulldog1935]

Guadalupe River tailrace below Canyon Dam, Sattler, TX.
It's the southernmost trout fishery in the US (not counting Hawaii). We have the single largest Trout Unlimited chapter, the only chapter that is also a state council, and it's the 3rd largest business unit in TU - right behind the New York state council. We give grants to other TU chapters for "rolling rocks" projects.
Our fishery is listed in John Ross' book America's 100 Best Trout Streams.
I fished with John when he was down many years ago. He loved our fishery so much we were also featured in his photo book, Rivers of Restoration.
(between drought and flood, our fishery is in a near-constant state of restoration...)
I was also on an episode of Trout Unlimited On the Rise, and fished on tv with Frank Smethurst.

we got a 3" dry snow this day - first dry snow I've ever seen in s. Texas

and the next day, it reached 70