DS Fishing Blog

So, in the two weeks since I had visited the East Walker River and the Golden Trout Wilderness, I purchased a bamboo fly rod and tied a couple dozen flies.  The phenomenon of having an amazing time fishing combined with having my business pretty much crawl to a stop lead me to another necessary weekend of fly fishing.  In fact, I decided to just cut and paste my most recent itinerary and try for a repeat performance.  Well, here's the good, the bad, and the ugly.

First let me start with the rod.  I happened to be browsing Craigslist when I came across a bamboo rod that the owner claimed was a 2/3 weight.  Well, this is exactly what I wanted for those tiny goldens.  The rod was a two piece that came with a brand new hard case.  I made the long haul to check it out and $40 later I had my new rod that I knew would need a little work.  Truth be told, I have no experience whatsoever with bamboo so I didn't know what to look for.  The guy had brought it in to the local fly shop and had been told it was a 2/3. 

The rod really wasn't very pretty.  The Varnish was sloppy and the wraps looked like they were put on by a fifth grader. But, the ferrules were tight and the rod was straight.  I figured refinishing the rod would make a nice little project that would leave me with a pretty cool custom rod.  Once I got home I got some help from some bamboo fanatics online who helped me identify the rod.  It's a post-WW II H-I (Horrocks-Ibbotson) Tonka Prince.  A mass produced rod in its day that, although it was not high end, it developed a reputation for casting very nicely.  Also, they normally fish 4-6 weight line.

I decided to try fishing it over the weekend with different lines to determine what felt right.  This would also give me the opportunity to see how it fished.  I figured it I should find out if I enjoyed fishing the rod before I committed to refinishing the rod.

I used #6 line for the late afternoon caddis hatch Friday at the East Walker and I had a ball.  It took a little getting used to the slow action, but I smiled through the learning curve.  I used #4 line for the same hatch on Saturday.  On one particular fish I took notice of the bend in the rod.  I could see that whoever had done the refinishing on the rod before I received it had done a worse job than I had originally thought.  It was obvious that the guides were spaced incorrectly and the ferrules where taking too much of the force.  I had a premonition of something bad happening right before the rod snapped.  I think if I hadn't brought the fish to hand I would have wept.  The tip top had an agate ring creating a very small hole that the line would travel through.  As I broke down the pieces of my rod, the nail knot in my line caught on that agate and actually snapped the rod again just below the tip top.  Well, it was fun while it lasted.  And if you're wondering it loaded best with the #4 line. 

The Eastern Sierra is HOT right now.  I wet waded the whole time from dawn to dark.  Water temperatures were close to 70°.  This can be very dangerous for the fish.  I actually chose to not play them very much at all.  I would bring them to the net as fast as possible and then hold them facing upstream until they would swim away under their own power (this is something I do regardless of water temperature by the way.)  You'll notice there are no fish shots in this post.  I did take a couple, but I stopped making the fish endure the extra handling time because of the heat.  If you are heading anywhere in the East Sierra over the next couple of months be aware of water temps and be kind to the fish.

Early morning and late afternoon were most productive.  The temperatures were lower and the hatches were on,  At 6:30 in the morning there were mayflies all over my car.  I started and ended Saturday on caddis and consistently hooked up.  From 10 to 5 the fishing was more challenging.  Everyone I talked to had spent much of the day switching flies to try and figure out what, if anything, the trout were dining on.  Even those who had dialed that in generally caught smaller fish.  I only met one person who said he had caught one over 15 inches.

On Sunday I headed back to the Golden Trout Wilderness.  In two weeks I could see how much less water was flowing.  The trickle of a meadow stream I fished last time seemed to be an even smaller trickle.  If I saw any sort of pool, I would have to crawl within 20 feet on my hands and knees or they would spook.  I was wearing shorts and after a couple hours my knees were pretty raw so I called it a day.  As I drove back I saw some folks that I had met on the EW pulled over to the side.  They were stringing up their rods.  I pulled over and decided to do the same.  It was a bit of a scramble, but not far from the car was this amazing stream full of goldens.  This stream was a little wider, deeper and faster than the trickle in the meadow above.  Parachute ants brought a rise on almost every cast.  The next couple of hours were the highlight of the weekend for me.  The scenery was spectacular.  The temperature was perfect.  I smiled the whole way home.  God, I love fly fishing.

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