Poor fish

[Artin]

I've been working on a project for a few months, could have been finished sooner but life got in the way of progress most times hence the delay of game.... With the help of some board members her and other boards I managed to build a cane rod from scratch!. It's a Cttanach 6' 4wt... I picked this length rod for our locals but as I finished it my first trip ended up being in the Eastern Sierras....

So early Mon. morning I got up @ 3 am and hit the road.... Got to Bishop around 7:30 ish, checked into a room and off I went north to go to a small spring creek which gets hammered all day every day.... poor fish. Monday was no exception....
I drove by Daves shop but he was closed. I would try to see him on the way back home.

Hit the water and kinda went in between people fishing.... So I rigged up this short guy and went on fishin'

It was tough fishing the firs couple of hours until I figured things out and started to catch a bunch of these guys


(sorry about the pics, im playing with iphoto )
So I head up o the truck for lunch I decide to check out the other hot creek, and boy did I make the right decision


Yup, no one in sight! fishing in solitude on one of the most pressured waters in the entire US! WOW!
Here is another shot of my rod!


The next morning I went back up there and started fishing at around 6 am. No one in the parking lot at that time. So I fished till about 10 am and came back, got some nice uns in those few hours. Good thing too, as I got to my car a group of about 8 more fishermen and a guy with a guide just had started to head down.... adding to the20 something people down in the canyon...
On the way back, stopped and spoke with Dave about his Mako trip... got the hot midge for hot creek to tie up for the next trip when I head back up to ask for a rate reduction from the judge for the speeding ticket the nice man in the black and white sadan gave me....
So the flies that worked were smallish and caddissee


Artin

[WanderingBlues]

Wow! That's an awesome story! That's incredible that you could build a rod like that. And, you solved the STM mystery. I stopped by twice and it was shuttered.

[lucfish]

You did good and you'll never be that lucky to have that stream to yourself again! (Unless maybe the dead of winter)

[Pete]

Soooooo..... how did it feel to catch fish on your own work of art? Have you posted pics of the rod and I just missed them? Or am I getting old and forgot I already saw them ?

Pete

[stanbery]

Artin

Nice report and the rod looks nice as well.

Jon

[Bernard]

Awright Artin!

The picture of the rod leaning on the fence is classic. I am not much for that type of stuff but really dig that shot. Congrats on the rod.

AM I getting old?

B.

[khuzhong]

Great photos and Congrats on the sweet little rod. I envy those of you who are within a few hrs of the eastside.

[johnnhoj]

Very nice, I agree the pic with the rod leaning against the fence is real cool.

[Artin]

Thank you for the kind words guys,
Well, I did forget to mention
I went to the Fishermens spot before I wrapped the guides to cast and see what wt rod it was. I was actually shooting for a 3 wt for the locals since I have a 2 month old now and it's hard to get away for any number of days, this trip was a fluke, all the stars aligned and I went. So I casted it with a few different lines and it turned out to be a 4wt.
I must say I am converted..... the feeling of a cane rod when setting and fighting a fish is "much" more fun in my opinion. It's a completely different feel. I don't know how to describe it.
The rod "bent" like crazy, like it was a 1 wt! I was worried with the first fish.... I kept looking at my rod and not the fish to make sure that it didn't break apart! It didn't break and I was more confident in it. I also have to mention this... I did observe that catching larger fish (or spunky little ones) the rod helped in absorbing the shock of the fish taking off protecting the tippet from breaking with the lighter tippet materials, a definite plus in my book. The rod handled fish very well.
I am converted.... I don't think I will fish any graphite's in the near future while fishing streams. For the salt and lakes though I feel that it would not make any sense to fish boo. Salt especially since it would be too heavy I would think. But for streams it will become my staple from now on.
I am now working on a rod for my wife, I told her how cool it was and how much different the feel of a cane rod is and she is very curious to fish cane. So I will build her one and try to simultaneously build my self a 7'-6" or 8'-0" 5wt for myself for larger rivers like the Kern and the Kings....
One more thing I would like to throw in there.... Male portion of the ferrules come a bit over sized and needs to be ground down to fit the female at the time of assembly, so I did and I sanded down the male a bit too much, it was a bit loose, not too much though, but I had to align the two sections a couple of times on the water because the would slip a bit after a few hours and when pulling apart they would make the pop sound but easily removed. I will have to watch for that on the next builds.

Thanks again for reading my experience with my new rod,

Artin

[planettrout]

Nice rod and pics Artin...what reel did you attach to your new creation???


PT/TB

[1mocast]

I did observe that catching larger fish (or spunky little ones) the rod helped in absorbing the shock of the fish taking off protecting the tippet from breaking with the lighter tippet materials, a definite plus in my book.

Agreed. Its like the fish takes you along for the ride.

If you like the feel of bamboo, you might want to try out some light fiberglass rods. Its the best of both worlds. My glass is one of my favorites. And of course, the "Oughts" are pretty close too.

Congrats on your new rod...And sorry to hear about adding extra money to the state piggy bank.

[dray]

Artin, sounds like you had a great trip and those fish pic's are awesome. I'm glad to see your rod out on the water. It looks like it came out very nice. What color did you use for the wraps. I have yet to get mine out, hopefully soon though.

[Artin]

I had an Orvis CFO for I bought with my superfine a few years back. (great set up by the way) It already had a 4wt Shark Skin line on it so it worked out well with this rod. Went together like milk and cereal, saved me some $$$ as well Worked itself out.
The glass thing looks very interesting actually. I've seen some nice builds of glass. I didn't know that it was similar to cane. I thought it was a super light version of graphite.
For the wraps I used this olive/greeny shiny color(I will look at the color chart and let you know exactly what it is with black trims (3turns) I thought it would keep the color and turn a little darker once varnished but it went really dark. It looks black in the picture but it's actually a dark mahogany color in the sunlight which looks very nice actually, you can see the wrap through the varnish as well as the guide feet, pretty cool. I like it. All in all it came out better than I thought, look wise and performance wise. I'm happy with it. There is a lot of room for improvement though .
I hear ya about getting out on the water thing, I was itching sooooo bad that it became unbearable at one point. I couldn't go 15 min. in a day without day dreaming of running water and trout
You will love fishin' your "pole" Darrin!!!!!

Artin

[Pete]

Artin,

"Male portion of the ferrules come a bit over sized and needs to be ground down to fit the female at the time of assembly, so I did and I sanded down the male a bit too much, it was a bit loose,"

Sent a PM on fixing the loose ferrule


"The glass thing looks very interesting actually. I've seen some nice builds of glass. I didn't know that it was similar to cane. I thought it was a super light version of graphite."

Fiberglass: the next best thing to Bamboo. Most glass rods have a slower action, more inline with Bamboo's action. Steffen Brothers (Mark Steffen) makes a great glass blank. I am building one for a customer right now. A 2-3, 7'6" weight and I don't want to give it up.

Pete

[flyfishnevada]

That's awesome. I've built a graphite rod (which recently snapped in half ), but bamboo is a whole other thing. Not to mention they are pretty as heck! Good job and nice fish!