"I think I fish, in part, because it's an anti-social, bohemian business that, when gone about properly, puts you forever outside the mainstream culture without actually landing you in an insitution."- John Gierach
It's almost mid-February and I've been tying flies, well, nonstop for the last year (it seems like it's the same every year). I consider fly tying to be a separate activity from fly fishing as tying is separate from painting your house. I love fly tying and hate painting houses!! But something else enters the seasonal picture and that's going over my collection of fly rods.
Thankfully that collection hasn't grown that much in the last few years. There will always be room for a deserving bamboo rod or three but that will not include trying to resurrect some sad old factory rod that stunk as a casting tool 70 years and is best left on the mantle,
I will also fish a rod that fits the water that I'm fishing. Tenkara can be fun but it's no fun on the Swift or the WB of the Westfield with all the overhanging foliage. I've come to the conclusion that you need a BIG river to fish any rod over 10 feet long if you need all that length in the first place. The truth is that the VAST majority of trout that I have caught in over 50 years of fly fishing have been while using rods between 6 feet and 8.5 feet long and I never felt undergunned. I think that the drive towards longer rods has been, in part, driven by manufacturers trying to create a need which will increase sales.
Ken
11 comments:
Hi Ken,
I was hoping to fish the Swift during this warm weekend coming up, but just checked the USGS website to see level at which the river is currently flowing. According to the website, it's flowing at 400 CFS, which is considerably higher than the 55 CFS at which it usually flows.
Have you fished it at this level? And is it wadeable?
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Tom from Boston
Ken - do you happen to have a list/article of your go-to flies? I used to buy a ton from you and then once i got my own vice I would use your fly page as a tying guide - ive sifted through as many of your articles/posts as I can but it was kinda nice having them in one place!
Also - any idea why the swift is still insanely high? Has that happened before? Can i expect normal flows any time soon? It's been harder than I expected to google...I was there last weekend and with a few extra feet of water it was super hard to access the usual pools.
Good morning Ken, I too agreed with you on your thoughts on 10ft rods, and nymph designed rods until about 6 months ago. I was with a friend of mine who was euro nymphing the same water, though not a competition I was traditional and got out fished. Sure, it could have been just me, but it got my interest & his explanation of what it was all about got my attention. So, I started really reading about and looking into how in general nymph rod setups & systems work, now I actually disagree with my own original thoughts. Now I'm actually considering going against my purist and traditional fly-fishing ways that I've had for the past 50 years and accepting the fact of change, though my jury is still out.
The bigger thoughts of my own on the whole euro nymph craze is the use of jig hooks and trout/fish mortality rate against standard style hooks and how jig style hooks up fish. I don't know, jig style and catch & release? Tough to consider both of those going together, but who am I?
Springs coming....Phil Carroll
Tom,
NO, That is way to high!!!
You can euro nymph with an 8 ft rod. It just depends on the river you are fishing. Smaller rivers = smaller rods. My complaint is with the ultra long euro rods which seem very fragile. I believe some companies now give away an extra tip!
I have a 10 ft euro rod in a 4 weight (it was a gift) THAT CASTS LIKE CRAP. All it can really do is chuck weighted flies.
Ken
Andrew,
First, use this blog. Second, the HATCH GUIDE FOR NEW ENGLAND STREAMS by Thomas Ames Jr is a "must have" book for New England flyfishing.
Ken
Regarding longish flyrods, I agree some are only good for chucking heavy weights, but a well designed 10' 4wt can cast drys, swing wets, and tightline a 2.5mm tungsten beaded fly. For example I have a 10' 4wt Orvis Recon that does all I mentioned and some. My 9'9" Hardly Ultralite LL is perhaps my favorite for an all purpose flyrod which casts an underweighted fly line (2wt) like a dream for drys and is also perfect for mending when swinging wets. Attach a long leader and I can tightline too!
Oh, and I bought both mine used at a great price, as a great rod is still a great rod years after being introduced! I love compulsive rod traders!!
If I am fishing strictly drys I pick another rod. Maybe an 8' 4wt or 7' 2wt.
Good morning Ken, these are valid points. My main rods on trout streams are either my 7’6” bamboo 3 weight or my 3 weight glass 7’ 3”. I do have the obligatory 9’ 5 weight that I like to use when swinging wets/small streamers at a distance or nymphing with a lot of weight.
Not knowing any better I drove out from Newburyport Saturday morning to fish it, for the first time ever. I hit the lower section away from where the cool kids go and did manage to land a brookie and hook up on a rainbow. I guess I got lucky! But still I’ve taken notes now on what the better CFS level is. Even though I kept wading to a minimum I did lose my footing and get water down my waders for the first time in my life (45), I had a tight belt on so I didn’t get soaked.
Anonymous,
Where did you fish in Newburyport? Were you fishing the tidal section? If so you were very lucky!!!!!
Ken
Haha - no I meant that I drove from Newburyport to the Swift River (Bondsville) on Saturday morning. I didn't check the USGS website online because I just assumed it was fine. Had I known that it was at about 375 CFS on Saturday morning, I would not have made that 4 hour round trip drive. I got lucky I guess.
Oh, that makes more sense!!!!
Ken
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