Yuba-Ku 2-20-2014

Waxing Snow moon sets.
Salmoniods rise, the Skwala beat.
Oh mighty boo!

Dry fly perigee.
Methodical drifts, mend.
The Princess screams.

Middle Fork Stanislaus 11-4-2013

Swirls and glide,
my fly and fish together.
like peanut butter and jelly.

Brand new waders.
leaking in the leg, sloshing.
Me so cranky.

Twilight above.
On an Ashen Light wing,
a Bald eagle,
up canyon, soaring.

Stani renga-ku 3-14-2013

North Fork Stanislaus River

Black oak and cedar,
dappled light sparkles.
Through big trees, glimmers the sun.

Over polished granite slabs.
Silver bright and speckled,
igneous in nature.
Cascades and tumbles, turbid water races.
Between steep canyon walls.
With the fishes we play.

Along the evening trail,
through coyote mint, ankle deep, hiking back.
A day shared,
with friends true.
Some new, some old,
and to a few,
a new,
farewell.

No Scales, Just Bamboo.

I haven't gone fishing for a bit. the weather has just been too good, but sometimes thats kinda bad for fishing. My home river has been in that summer stretch when the fishing is best super early or early evening. With the temperature hitting easy 90's on the river i just as well as stay home and focus on my rod building. Last year a good friend retired from building rods and gave me all of his equipment as well as three bundles of bamboo. since January i've finished three rods. one is a short spey,switch rod, another is a medium fast single handed dry fly rod thats a taper from Wayne Cattnach, and finally a Paul Young parabolic para14. not sure if i like this para 14 its very soft and one of my rod R&D casters thinks its crap. Where as he thought the Cattnach sir D taper streched out to 7'6" 5wt was nice.
I think tomorrow ill try the para 14 out as a nymphing rod rod, next to the Cattnach with dry flys up on Beaver Creek for the day
Theres some basic issues in the building process that i haven't been able to figure out as of yet. I'm getting some twisting in the tips from the binder. a number good of friends suggest using a lighter weight on the feed cord when binding the tips. But also a number of friends said they always get some twisting and need to do some straightening after the glues dried. all in all however i feel pretty good about these first three prototypes.
heres some pics of them and work in progress in my shop.

Yuba-Super bowl flies 2-2-2013

Since my last post i've recieved at least a 100 emails regarding the flies I was using last weekend and what they look like. So i'll go ahead, by popular demand, and post pictures of the flies for everyone.

They're quite simple in design and in no way are of my own invention. Some are simple hybrids of typical traditional flies available at any good fly shop. The first fly is my variation I used for the Skawala stone-flys that were out and about when the sun was gleaming. I took Ralphs very productive EC Caddis, size 12, eleminated the hackle then simply added legs. If a fish would reject the fly I would then simply cut the legs off and wait until i saw the fish rise again and then sttart re fishing that area, and often the fish would readily take the fly on the first cast.

The other "dry" fly I used my dear friend Arata "Charlie" Kobata designed. He calls it The Little Brown Fly. This fly we're using as a BWO emerger. At size 18 and fished with lots of frogs fanny right on top its nice to have this 3 feet behind the Skawala when its casted farther than 20 feet from rivers edge.

The wet fly that was quite productive on saturday swung through the Foundation Hole up river, is a simple Royal Coachmen wet fly, except I changed the lead wing to a Teal feather that i think picked up on the few early Rhithrogena Morrisoni that I saw in the tailout.

Yuba-Ku 12-15-2012

Yuba-Ku 12-15,16-2012

Bear tracks from Rose bar.
Animal guide, I follow.
Riffles of plenty.

Mountains of Blue oak.
This wilderness, a mistress of illumination.
Maze of willows.

Rivers edge.

Walking streamside,
endless Pliocene cobbles.
My sore ankles.

Swallows dart, Baetis dance.
Morning risers, dawn briskly.
Venus ascending.

This water,
from peaks and passes, draining,
through the placer vein.

meat and potaoes:

Yuba River, saturday UC property. sunday above Parks Bar/Timbuctoo
weather, saturday am partly cloudy, pm light showers. Sunday am/pm showers
Water temp 48 degrees, air temp 56 degrees
Flow 1300cfs
water visability, 2-3 feet, fishy green tint
Hours fished, 9:30am til 4:30pm
bug activity; random stone fly shucks seen, BWO hatch 11:30am-1pm
5wt single handed rod, 5wt graphite switch rod, 6wt bamboo spey rod
scandi lines various poly leaders.
19 fish landed swinging rubber leg stone nymph
7 fish landed on Baetis CDC dry fly/emerger

Yuba Soy-Ku 12-9-2012

The holy grail?
Full of trespass, today not so holy.
A hydrolic way, like flowing Soy,
one fish to hand, rainbow friend.

Granola and Soy:

Yuba River, Blue Point.
Clear and sunny weather,
Water temp 50 degrees, air temp 65 degrees
Flow 3800cfs-2800cfs
water looked like Soy 12 inches of visability
Hours fished, 8:30am til 4pm
Zero bug activity
9'5wt single handed rod and 5wt graphite switch rod
1 fish landed nymphing, 1 fish on streamer but not landed
Successful flies: copper john, rusty zonker

Karma Net prototype, 12-2012

I finally got the ghost net in the mail and did a test fit to then allow me to finish up my new landing net. It fit perfectly in the hoop and then i began the tedius task of soaking the net frame in spar for a day to impregnate. This progress went very well and i then stitched the net to the frame with waxed nylon thread and gave it the alpenglow insignia and then two coats of thick spar to seal.
I realized after i brought it to share at the local fly tying club meeting that I should take some photos before i start banging it up dragging it around in my truck.
here are some close up pictures.

Viseart, a conversation with Marlo Dipietro

Recently I was fortunite to have a long weekend and fish on the McCloud River. While hanging out at our campsite at Ah Di Na, a fellow fly-fisher was making the rounds sharing candy saying "trick or treat", it was Halloween! Also with him, under his arm, was a camera case that he opened. In the flickering light of our camp fire, he shared the bounty of his craft. That craft was making handmade fly-tying vises. To say the least they were stunning! I asked if he, Marlo Dipietro, would be interested in doing an informal discussion with me about his Vises for my blog. In the morning we met at his campsite and this is a synopsis of our conversation.

Alpenglow
What sort of metallurgy craft background did you develop before you began making these?

Marlo Dipietro
I started out real basic in a c-clamp style with the goal to make a custom vise for my tying needs. I never had tapped a hole in metal or used metal in projects. I had made a bunch of wood items up this time. Benches, tables and other small nick knacks.
After starting my third vise, learning from the two before, I wanted to use wood with a c-clamp style, to give it an old brace and bit type of look. Then I gobbled up any material I had to use and and would 2 or 3 at one time. These early ones are modern art looking, with acrylic and purple heart wood. Very out of the box looking.
I evolved to a point of adoring the metal and expanded that direction with a classic type floral style.
I always enjoyed engraved firearms and even as a kid I thought it was cool. So I studied that and began to learn the process.

AG.
looking at your vises they have an aesthetic that makes me think about a Victorian style. How did you develop the vernacular, or language?

MD.
I love building handles. I spend time chasing the possibilities of what it might look like and what I feel I might be able to complete
Furniture, firearms, themes art in general inspires me. An item can have great art as well as function. That’s the way things were made for centuries. CNC items are a cold snap shot on our societies tempo. It's really quite out of whack with the true nature of pure individualism.
To make a part I see a rough image in my mind and find a chunk of metal that will work. I execute the necessary machining and trim parts away. Hopefully the betterment of the whole. Sometimes not. I'll have to scrape the part and try again from another direction. Always looking for a balance and a statement at the same time. Some vises of late are spartan with and brief on purpose to shift gears abit. The less is more kinda thinking.

AG.
What do you do to pay the "bills".


MD.
I work at UPS, as driver in oak-town up around Rockridge to pay the bills. They cut into my vise time.

AG.
How long does the building of a unique vise take?

MD.
Right now I'm working on just one vise. In the past I would be juggling 3 at once. A series with similar construct.

I always seem to have several lined up for the future. Themes vises with marble, ebony and few hundred bucks of silver. They take some time to complete, all depending on how much free time I have and other stuff in my life. like a week of fishing at the Mc Cloud!

AG.
Vise 26 on your website almost seems like a crescendo of craft. You really feel that you have an exquisite handle on the language of, as you say "Florentine" adornment". The attention to detail and every part is considered. Have you spent time in Italy, Florence the birthplace of the Renaissance? What are your favorite European cities?

MD.
Both my parents are from Italy but I've never been. I've always freaked at Michelangelo and Rembrandt, those guys were the essence of versatility to me when art held a great value compared to today.

AG.
On your website, vise #33 the McCloud has a real turn of the century nautical sense, like maybe the vise Captain Nemo would use... your thoughts?

MD.
#33 is a theme vise using a ball and socket construct. It’s a dream to tie on. Many people see different thing when they look at it. It is one of my most mechanically pure and artistically balanced favorites. I see the mc cloud when I’m on it.
I’d like to think I can control all the elements of building one but faith in direction and purpose seem to have me on a leash and pull me forward.


see more of Marlo Dipietro's Vise art