Six Months With Bamboo

It has been about six months since I first fished my Cane and Silk Bamboo fly rod. Never owning or fishing cane before it was a whole new experience. Bamboo is not like other fly rods made of glass or graphite. Instead it is a part of the man fishing it. I had some reservations when I first fished this rod. Thoughts of a fragile piece that required special care and needed a proper cast to make it work. Well in the six months I've fished this rod I can say that a lot of my reservations and concerns were not needed. The rod performed very well. Fishing small streams can be a challenge, this rod handled them all. It casts well and handles most flies with ease. I will say though it does have a fancy for dry flies.

One of my biggest concerns was the fact that the reel seat had a sliding ring to hold the reel. Now I have several rods that have the same sliding ring seat and I have never had the reel fall off. Being bamboo my mind thought different. I'm here to say that the reel always remained secure. I love this rod and it is now a part of my small stream arsenal.

For it's six month anniversary I chose to fish a stream I fish once or twice a year. The stream is located in NW Connecticut. It's waters are dark and tea stained. Access is a problem with lots of hemlock that over the years has fallen to the ground and makes for lots of stepping over. Boulders and slippery flat rock are tough on the knees and they require pain relief when I get home.

Within it's tannin stained waters are these jewels.

"Small Stream Reflections", the cane rod...a quiet stream and wild brook trout. Happy together.

Featherwing Streamers

"Selene"

Artistic featherwing streamer flies. Tied in the Rangeley style. These are the flies I enjoy tying on those long evenings, and sometimes into the wee hours of night.

"Sundog"

"USA"

"Not Named"

"Poudre Canyon Special"

October

October, the tenth month of the year. We have gone through through winter, spring and summer, times of the year that in themselves bring tough days and good days. Now in the next 31 days all that is great and beautiful in the natural world will be showcased and I hope you all can take part in it. Unlike any other month of the year October gives us the full scope of what the natural world is. How it can give the soul an incredible high. The mind can be so relaxed and out of it that one does not realize it. Time spent in the outdoors in October will give us that strength needed to get us through what's ahead. I hope you'll take the time and spend some of it outdoors.

A simple lunch enjoyed along a stream.

Not to be outdone by the breath taking foliage the wild brook trout is a sight to behold at this time of year. Yes my friends we have now entered the "glorious season".....

Is Size Important?

The answer to that question has been tossed about for a long time. There have been books written about the importance of getting the size of your fly to match the size of the insects on or in the water. Many experts say that this size factor will determine your success on the water. Well here is my take on it. First off I will say I'm not an expert. What and how I choose, and how I go about fishing the flies I choose comes from what I see when I start fishing. In the first picture you see a couple of nymphs and a dun. I'm not certain they are related but the point here is the size of the insects. Just guessing I say they would be a size 16 or 18. In the next series of photos you'll see what I think are the right flies to get a fish to hand.

This is a generic nymph in size 16. Some wraps of pheasant tail and peacock for a thorax. It is incredible what a trout can see underwater.

This soft-hackle is another example of an effective fly. Tied on a 16 hook, brown thread, squirrel thorax and a pheasant hackle. If you look at the adult dun in the first photo you will see a similar likeness to this fly. When wet the soft hackles will collapse and move forward within the currents to simulate a drowned adult or an emerging adult.

This brook trout took the small nymph. I don't fish nymphs often but when I do size is a consideration.

This little dark Cahill wet fly was a hit yesterday on the Farmington. One of the trout taken with it was a gorgeous brown who I guess to be 16-17 inches. I lost the fish at the net.

The local market had a feature on country style pork ribs. I picked up a couple of family packs and made some sausage from them. I cut the pork into little cubes with a knife. Seasoned the pork with some salt, black and red pepper and some fennel seed. I them made some patties, fired them and you talk about delicious.