Swing-Ku, South Fork Eel, March 2017

Gett'n itchy to go. 

just feel'n like day trip'n, until the main event.

California dreaming.

Along the river trail,

the secret spot we all know well.

fern and moss, encourage hopes.

A perry poke and swing.

Around rivers bend.

Todays perfect tail out found.

Black and blue, swung into  shade

3 on 3 off.

Bend that bamboo!

Yuba-Ku 7-24-2016 Yuba on fire!

Sparrow, swung pulses.
Big flash, rainbow kype-jawed.
Oh, what a monster!

Yesterday I fished the Yuba River with no expectations, just really going to field test this new ‪‎bamboo‬ quad ‪‎spey rod that I've been making over the past few months‬, to this date I revised the mid and tip section three times. Each time making the rod faster and faster. It really likes a 435 scandi head with a floating poly leader, effortless casts to about 90 feet. Well I guess with the results I think I'll go ahead and take off the masking tape wraps and put some silk on her! I just can't settle in on the color.... I sort of like the idea of Black against the auburn cane,sort of how my buddy Dave does of his switch rods, but then again I like the dark olive translucent wraps I've been doing on the single handed 6wt Quadrates. What do you think?

A new small brewery opened down the street from my workshop here in Oakland so my buddy Jacob who is a rod maker had a few of their IPA's while talking tapers.... a very good time!

McCloud River, Emerald Cathedral 10-28-2012

Columns of light cascading,
Emerald green blue,
Dappled variants
Red bands splash.

Turning Dogwoods and Maple,
Willows
Oak
Fir
Cedar
Indian Rhubarb
Moss covered stone,
Tangled branches canopy, reaching.
We add filament and fly’s above, the diaries of our casts.

Sun climbs to zenith.
Canyon walls, a shaded envelop.
Fecund fresh,
this river cathedral.

Splashy rise,
of golden butter hues,
black and red freckles.
Your mighty tug.

Morning air crisp,
The mountains breathe, deep calm.
Even the Dippers are witness to the rivers truth.

Fire-ring tales,
dancing fish, lost fly’s,
Warming feet and soggy socks.
These old leaky waders.

Like minded friends,
Together trouting,
Like Aries and Triangulum,
except light years away.

Clouds parting.
Of volcanic legacy.
Under the Hunters moon.
Caddis flutter and entice.
This river of wonder.

October Shreders

These are going to shred! I'm getting ready for my annual hallowen trip to the Mac. This year i'm join friends of the GPFF club on the river and I really have focased on developing a true set of game changer flies for this river.
My go to caddis dry fly isn't neccesarily a dry but an emerger or spent caddis. I've had great success all over california with it. My R&D river of choice has been the A game Yuba River near Smartsville. hands down, these "Rainbow Trout" are as strong, witty and forceful as any Stealhead you'd meet and on top of it they all seem to have graduated with PHd's from an Ivy-league college.

Often sometimes I swear they seem to just want to humiliate you off the river. Fish seem to swirl flys just to see if there's line connected, often this is percieved by the fisherman as takes with no fish at the other end...
Anyways, these flys ive been tying for the Yuba have been specificaly targeted as Rhyacophila and Hydropsyche hatches. However for the McCloud I hybridized the patern to fit the Dicosmoecus syntax of Puppa and Emerger stages this fall on the "River Cathedral".

Scrap Wood?

What do you do with all that scrap wood someone asked me the other day. Well since exotic woods are becoming more and more expensive to buy as well as find i tend to save pieces that are big enough to make something out of. The past week i've been too busy to go fishing with my show in Denver of my sculpture and drawings. However being in my workshop and studio, being inspired by my friend Jim's landing net, i thought oh why not try and make yourself a nice landing net to go with your Bamboo rods? plus the experience in learning the craft will be a great excuse as well.
I settled in on a piece of Lace Wood for the handle, with Red birch and Wenge for the hoop. I took and old piece of ABS to make a quick steamer for the hoop strips and soaked them for two days in the heat.
i made a template for the handle and with the shaper quickly had the rough for that.
the next hurdle was the glueing form for the hoop. i came up with a shape and size i liked that would fit a Ghost netting from Brodin, that i bought from their on line store.
The next day i began forming the strips of Birch and Wenge around the form to pre dry them to the shape before gluing. after they were dry from setting in the sun, I took them off the form and started the glue up with Gorilla glue and lots of clamps.
While this was drying i sanded the handle with the horizontal sander to get the form in an almost finished state.
The following day i sanded the hoop to rid the dried glue and merged the handle then to the hoop on yet another form to help hold the clamps in place.
after this was dry i began the careful process of sanding the complete net frame into a finished form. next i need to router the thread groove around the outside of the hoop as well as drill the holes for the cord....

Yuba-Ku 8-31-2012

Mars and Saturn Set.
Fruits of the rise, Salmonoids tail dance.
Once in a blue moon.

Steak and Eggs:

Yuba River, below Parks Bar Bridge
Clear and sunny weather, windy
Water temp 52 degrees, air temp 85 degrees
Flow 1000cfs
Hours fished, 10:30am til dusk
Zero bug activity
9'5wt single handed rod and 5wt graphite switch rod
13 fish total, 4 on dry fly, 9 on swung soft hackles
Successful flies: Black and orange Stimulator size 8,
Partridge and pheasant soft hackle size 14,
Partridge and copper soft hackle size 14,
Golden Stone nymph size 2

South Fork and the Monarch.

Tumbling freestone glides,
hidden Iridocytes hover in place.
You,
veiled in shimmering opalescence.

The gateway guarded,
Sentinel looms.
Fish of the Monarch.

Steak and Eggs;

South fork Kings River between Hotel Creek and Roaring River
Et; 4 hours, wet wadding.
18 fish total, 8-15 inches, 15 Rainbows and 3 Browns
flow 200cfi
gear; 3wt 7'11" sage SLT and 4wt 9' bamboo switch rod
flies; Goddard Caddis,Tasty Bite,Mac & Cheese, HS Stimulator and Partridge and Orange.
Beer; Sierra Nevada Torpedo and Mammoth 395 IPA

Yuba-ku 6-8-2012

Your scales, dappled light.
Reflecting spectrum I wish to hold.

Mano-a-Mano.

The Mac and Cheese;

Yuba River above Parks Bar Bridge
Hours fished: 9:30am to 8pm
9 fish total: 1@20" 1@18" 3@10" 3@8" 1@4"
Water temp 53 degrees, flow 1650, air temp 91 degrees
Method: Spey cast slack nymphing, and Spey cast swung wet flies.
Gear: 6wt 11 foot Bamboo spey rod 350 grain scandi line, 10 floating polyleader.

Flies: Isoperla stone "Tasty Bite", Caddis puppa "hydropsycho" and infrequens CDC emerger "spitznatz"
Observed insects, Yellow Sallies, sporadic PMD's and Spotted Sedges.

Hydropsycho

Spitznatz

Tasty Bite

Putah-ku, 5-4-2012

Riffles run 454.
Planting moon rises like isoperla.
Putahs guarded secret.


Regulus and salmonoids,
        converging,
                 my rod's bent,
like the Alders sway.

Steak and Eggs;


Access 3,  
fished for 6 hours
landed 5 fish, one 19 inches, two around 12 inches, two 5-6 inches
flows 454 cfm
method; high sticking and swung at end of drift.
flies, size 18 zebra John, size 16 yellow birds nest, size 4 hot wired red worm.
weather; sunny slight breeze, high stratus/cumulus clouds.
water clarity;  clear/slight green tint  10 feet visibility.

Yuba-Ku 3-30-2012

Sap moon spoolers,
willows wane.
Mourning cloaks dance.

Follow the swallows.
Hidden spreckeld fish become,
Rhithrogena morrisoni.










Steak and Eggs:
Water clarity was about 24 inchs in slack as well as fast water, however water was about 47 degrees. Phil and I fished below the Parks Bar bridge. I landed two fish, one a salmon smolt about 10 inches and one trout 20 inches both on a march brown soft hackle fly. The exciting part was trying out the prototype bamboo spey rod i just finished. The rod tracked very true and straight and the taper equation for the Grantham ETspey is a very nice 6 weight. I was using a beulah 350 elixir line with a 6lb 10 foot furled leader that turned over smooth. The large fish took the soft hackle right under the surface film with a dynamic splash and then ripped up the run with little time for me to think just strip line. There was a good hatch of March Browns along the seem between fast and slow water, I basically fished the run where swallows were feeding. The hatch started about 11:30am and died out about 2:30pm.

Prototype Swing Boo

With the advent of rain and lots of money work in my workshop theres been no reason to go fishing since i went to the Merced a few weeks ago.
So i work and dream of swinging for hot fish on the river in weeks to come. During the time when I'm waiting for all that glue to dry i've been sneaking time in on a new prototype bamboo rod i'm working on.
I took a quick drive to my mentors workshop before he moves to his new shop.
Long story short, he offered a few great suggestions, like where to get the best flor grade cork and thought overall it was coming along well but it also needed more finish.
The cork i got from mudwole was spec'd as select A grade but when i began to turn the grip down to my design it was basically shit.
Well its just a prototype rod i keep reminding myself.
Its very humbling to have such an experienced rod builder give me his attention.
So off i go back to my work shop to spin more Spar and then into the drying cabinet it goes this afternoon for another few days.
Once its in the drying cabinet, i can start working on the prototype reel seat for the next evolution of the short 11 foot spey rod.
below are some catch up photos of part of the grip and the gun blueing of the ferrules.

River of our Lady Mercy

Caddis flutter,
swung tight, Partridge and Copper.
Scales, bamboo and silk.

Color flash,
in the water and trees.
Snow moon also rises.