Winter Declaration And Small Stream Rods

Today is January 26th, it's still winter and spring is some time off in March. By this time I for one am tired of winter, tired of the drab color, the frozen water, and the color of white. I usually tolerate winter until the baseball spring training starts before trashing winter but this year I just can't deal with it. So I'm declaring "winter over" as of right now. I hope to feature in my future posts no signs of winter. There will be to pictures of any snow, ice, gloves or wool hats. I will try to not use the word snow, or cold arctic blast in my posts. Will this bring spring sooner? I know it already has for me.

I have received many email inquiries about my small stream set up and what rods, and other gear I use when fishing small streams. So I thought I'd share some of what I use when fishing small streams. The first post will be on graphite rods. Then later posts will be on fiberglass rods and then bamboo. There will be posts on reels, line and leaders and tippet.

The Orvis Superfine Small Stream Special..it's a 7' 5wt. 2 piece rod. I have had this rod since the early 90's and is one of the better rods ever produced for the small stream. Number one rod for roll casting.

The Orvis Superfine..a 6' 4wt 2 piece. This rod has been in my arsenal for a long time. A wonderful memory is attached to this rod. A 19" salmon was taken on it in Maine.

The Temple Fork Signature Series..a 6' 2wt. 2 piece. This rod was bought for it's reasonable price. What I received was years of perfection in all aspects of small stream fishing.

The Cabela's TQR..5' 2wt. 2 piece. I purchased this rod at a local Cabelas years ago. I think I paid 50.00 for it. I did not know what to expect from it when I fished it, but it's still in my arsenal...a memory with it. I was fishing a stream that had wild and stocked trout in it. The stream had huge boulders in it "super pocket water" and a stream I could not fish today because my legs won't permit it. But I cast into an upstream pocket and hooked a large trout. The rod performed very well and I managed a 15" stocked brown to hand.

Some chicken sausage. I made this yesterday and grilled it outside. Yes I did get a little wet. I used chicken tenders and cut them into small pieces. Add salt, black pepper, fennel seed, and fresh red peppers and fresh parsley.