May Fishing

I took yesterday afternoon off work and headed up to the Jemez area for some fishing with my friend John. It was kind of a rough day fishing. I caught one, had another two shake loose after a few head-shakes, and missed another 3 or 4 strikes. Still, it was a beautiful day to be outdoors, hiking and wading along the river. We had hoped that the stoneflies would be hatching, but we could not find any evidence of them. Perhaps in another week or so they'll show up. The fishing should be great by then with the runoff continuing to come down, too.

A 2wt of my own (Rod Build #4)

Here's my first rod building project for 2010.  I finished up a 6'6" 4pc 2wt Tiger Eye for myself. I'm pretty excited to finally have it completed. It's taken me quite a while to get it all put together. Now I just need to find some time to get up to the mountains and try it out.

This is the second of these blanks I've built. The first was for Mike (see here). I wanted to have my rod "match" his, but still be a bit different. I used the same colors and patterns, only I slimmed down the trim bands a bit.  The grip is a bit different as well, both in the type of cork I used as well as the size.

I couldn't help but put a trim wrap just ahead of the inscription area, 15" from the end of the reel seat. It's my goal/dream to catch something that big with this rod!

Here are the details:

-- 6'6" 4 pc 2wt Tiger Eye (tiger eye brown color)
-- Struble U-27 dark nickel silver uplocking slide band reel seat with teak insert
-- Grip made with burl cork with burnt and rubberized cork trim and sealed with Tru-Oil
-- Dark nickel silver winding check
-- Black nanolite ring lock stripping guide (one size 8)
-- Black H&H single foot standoff fly guides (one size 2, seven size 1 guides) and tiptop
-- Gudebrod chestnut thread with Sulky dark copper and light copper trim
-- Pheasant and jungle cock feather inlay

I'm getting a bit more comfortable with my growing rod building skills, but I recognize that I've still got a lot to learn and improve upon.  I had a lot of fun trying out new things and just generally practicing with this rod. I'm still working on my feather inlay technique, but it's getting better. I was more successful this time getting the pheasant feather to lay down (around) on the blank. I used three jungle cock nails to go with the three dark bands in the grip and three metallic trim bands. Finally, maybe I'm crazy, but I think that turning the rod by hand while the epoxy hardens helps keep the excitement and pride of a new rod going for a few extra hours.  (I turn the rod rod for 3 to 4 hours for each coat of epoxy, usually 2 or 3.)

I'm looking forward to fishing this rod a lot over the summer. Mike prefers a 3wt line for his rod, especially for close in and small stream work. I'll start out using a 2wt DT line on mine, but I won't be surprised if I end up also going to a 3wt line.

I can't wait to get back out on the streams!

Fishing with Mike

A couple of weeks ago, we spent spring break visiting family up in Utah. Heidi was nice enough to let me leave her with the kids while I continued on up to Logan to go fishing with Mike. I drove up on a Monday afternoon, stopping off at In-N-Out Burger, Cabelas, Fishwest Fly Shop, Al's Sporting Goods, and Round Rocks Fly Shop. I did a lot of window shopping but picked up a few fly tying supplies I needed. With the car fueled with gas and my body fueled with a Double-Double Burger, I was really looking forward to spending some time with Mike on the river.

With the temperatures rising and the snow melting, we found ourselves Tuesday morning hoping to catch the start of the BWO hatch. Over the course of the day, we saw a few flies starting to come off the water, but nothing really materialized in the way of a good hatch. We didn't see any fish rising the entire day. It was kind of a rough day fishing, but we did manage to get a few (2 each) to take our flies.

I was really, really excited to go fishing with Mike. I used my SigV 8'6" 3wt while he tried out the 6'6" 4pc 2wt Tiger Eye I built for him for Christmas. Mike didn't have a reel for it yet so I took up my new Sage 3100 with Quiet Taper 2wt line on it. As happy as I was to fish with Mike, I was equally looking forward to trying out this new rod for the first time. I think we both were very happy with the Tiger Eye 2wt rod. It handled the 2wt line fairly well, although at the end of the day we both speculated that a 3wt line might be just a bit better for very close casting (like were were often doing for the small pocket water we were fishing most often). Based on this experience I'm looking forward to fishing my own 2wt Tiger Eye rods. Mike's short 2wt sure made my 3wt feel really heavy and stiff (and I really like my Dan Craft SigV 3wt ...). Anyways, enough on the new 2wt, and more about the fishing ...

Mike and I headed up the river and started out just past the areas we fished last summer. The river certainly has a different feel with the surrounding trees and shrubs barren of any leaves. This was my first time fishing here during the winter. I'm looking forward to getting back up there again this summer - I really enjoy fishing there.

During the summer this is a great pool to fish.  The reeds give you a place to hide while casting.  During the winter, it seems a little more effort is needed for a stealthy approach.

Mike managed the first fish of the day in the small pocket water just behind him.

This was Mike's second fish of the day - a nice brown.

This skinny brown was my first catch.

We were glad to be up there fishing before the spring run off. However, the water was still very clear. We found it difficult to approach the fish holding in the pocket water without spooking them. I really need to practice fishing pocket water sections ...

This little wonder was my second, and last fish of the trip ...

The upper section of the canyon has some calmer water. We didn't catch any fish in this stretch, but it sure made for some beautiful fishing. There are some really, really deep holes in this section.

About half-way up the canyon there's a small dam that provides a little stillwater action should you tire of fishing the faster river. We stopped off at the end of the day to practice casting. We saw several fish cruising around in there, but mostly it gave a great scene as the sun began to set.

Clear Water Canal ...

Well, so far I'm keeping up with my goal to get out and fish every month.  I spent a couple hours out fishing today and had much better luck compared to last month.  Rather than drive to my usual favorite streams in the mountains, which are probably still mostly frozen over and running pretty cold right now, I decided to try out a clear water canal about 20 min from my home. 

The canal is stocked with rainbow trout during winter.  The water in the canal gets a bit too warm in the summer for trout, so I doubt I'll fish there once the mountain streams thaw out.  Most of the fish in the canal are the usual "stocker" sized trout (8" to 10"), but I've been told that you can find the occasional hold-over from the previous winter. 

This canal runs almost perfectly clear water. The water clarity combined natural and human predation helps make these trout somewhat spooky.  I scared off several fish as I walked along the canal looking for a good spot to fish.  I finally found a pod of about 10 fish sitting in a deep pocket.  A couple of them bolted, but didn't go too far.  I walked back down stream a little ways, sat down, and rigged up my fly rod.  After about 15 minutes, I cautiously crept back up towards the hole.  This time I didn't spook them too badly, at least until I started casting.  The wind made it a bit tricky to get an accurate cast, but I managed to get a couple of good drifts through the hole.  A very subtle take on my hare's ear nymph and after a few good jumps and attempted runs, a little trout was brought to hand.

A couple more drifts and more success.  This one was bigger than the first and even though it didn't jump, it gave a good fight.  I didn't expect much out of these stocked rainbows, but they put up a pretty good fight.  It was a lot of fun catching this guy on my 3wt.  It will be fun to finish up my 2wt rods and try them out.  Maybe I should start looking into a 1wt or 0wt rod, too?

Normally I have my nymph tied on as a dropper from a dry fly.  I sue my dry fly as a strike indicator and if it pauses or moves in anyway (other than its normal drift downstream), I set the hook.  This time however, the dry fly just continued to drift along.  However, I saw a flash under the water about where I thought my nymph would be.  I set the hook and enjoyed a beautiful rainbow.

I managed to catch four fish out of that hole.  There were several big fish in there, but they weren't interested in what I had to offer.  I'm guessing they didn't get to be so big by being dumb. My fourth fish was one probably the nicest one I caught today.   

I usually release all the fish I catch, but I decided to take this one home for lunch.  A little garlic powder on the inside and lots of butter -- a nice trout for lunch.

New Reel

I bought a new fly fishing toy (tool) last weekend, a Sage 3100 reel.  This is a very lightweight reel, weighing about 2.75 oz.  I'm hoping that this reel will balance out well with the two Tiger Eye 6'6" 4pc 2wt rods I'm working on now (similar to the rod I built for Mike).  I've got a Sage Quiet Taper 2wt DT line on there now.  We'll see how these Tiger Eye 2wt rods like a 2wt line.  I wouldn't be surprised if they may work better with a 3wt line.  Anyways, this 3100 is a click-pawl type reel.  There's a little plastic clicker in there that provides a little resistance to the reel spool.  The clicker's tension is adjustable, but so far I like it on the lightest setting.  A small fish could pull and take out some line, but the spool won't overrun.  Of course, the clicker makes a fair bit of noise, but most fly anglers kind of like that sound.  I'm excited to give this new reel a workout over then next year -- fun times ahead.