May 31st 2016
The last few weeks the only haven my lovely wife could locate me was in the shop. And that, as it happens, are three different areas in the home. I’m sure it was a longer period of time, but 50 – 60 hours of focus was spent on this recent 8′ fly rod construction. I shipped the rod this morning only because I was pleased with the final casting action and appearance.
October of 2015, my wife Rosie and I spent some time in Budapest, Hungary. For a lunch one day we spotted a French restaurant called Chez Daniel’s. We ordered the cauliflower soup. After 1/2 hour the chef Daniel approached our table and apologized, continuing that he would not serve the cauliflower soup as he was not pleased with the final results. He further commented that he would not serve any dish he was not pleased with himself to any client at his tables. Therefore, an apology and recommendation to perhaps a better dish in his eyes. We both took a breathe and thanked Daniel for his honesty and integrity. Afterward we did, beyond doubt enjoy a wonderful bowl of a split squash and asparagus soup with the dividing line being crème fresh.
Almost instantly I adopted this reference for rod and reel seat construction and delivery. I do not build many rods but the last year and a half I constructed 10 rods of different sizes. The following photos show a sample of the third rod of that style. In the preceding 25 years, I had constructed 4 rods, with several reconstructions for people which I will not pursue ever again. Although I had been away from building rods or having anything to do with Bamboo, the fire was always inside me. Dim perhaps, but easy to locate desire on demand. That is beautiful! I am glad for this.
This newest rod, I have been coveting as I built. The fact that the cane is pre-embargo and has been resting in my shop for 25 years lends an air of antiquity and certainly gave a nice finished patina. Heat tempered twice helped with this patina. It throws a 6 wt. line effortlessly. There are three of these rods out and about. One on the east coast, the west coast and recently Alaska. I will continue building this pattern of rod as it is a good trout rod. I have yet to build one for my own!? It will come, maybe. I have more results of feeling very well when this rod is requested to be in the ownership of a proud user. I continue to use my early rods and prefer these to keep as they were built along side my mentor Ed Hartzell. They’re just special.
I’m thankful this is a blog where blurting is an OK usage. I’m not trying to sell anything. Rather I will endeavor to be more creative through time with this process. I began a project for a friend in Europe. I completed the reel seat and the rod as well, only, I have been struggling with the cork shaping. I don’t know why this one is going sideways, but I did get a good laugh from the beating I was feeling. Previous shaping of cork for rods was a no issue concern. I’ll get it, eventually, and what I know at this point is that it’s not the cork not the lathe alignment or file and sand paper. It’s my lack of alignment. Ciao for now! Walter
Finally,, some nut like me… you love what you are doing because…… you love what you are doing! I buy rods and give them to any deserving kid that wants to get out in creation..You teach a kid to flyfish and he will always know WHO HE IS….I admire you greatly as someday I want to build bamboo rods.. or rod.. I fish bamboo exclusively.. old school….Walter.. when I’m in a stream, I’m in perfect peace… The breeze on my face is His breath… the sound of the rippling water is His voice… .and a fish the color of a rainbow is His Promise… I hope to purchase one of your rods as soon as one is available.. 7’6′ if you please…johnnyflyrod in Texas… eeeehaw..
As the summer winds down in Alaska, the evenings begin to darken around 10PM, I realized it was time to get in a few more days of fishing on the lakes. Ever since I received the bamboo fly rod, I haven’t fished with any of my other light weight graphite rods. I like the bamboo pole that much. This Wednesday morning, I drove 8 miles to Bonnie Lake, situated between the Talkeetna and Chugach Mountains. It’s a long narrow lake, with quite a few cabins along the edges, but most of the time no one is at the cabins. I had this lake on a lovely, mostly sunny 60F morning to myself human wise. The colors, mountains, trees seem to stand out more vividly at this time of year. There were a pair of trumpeter swans cruising the shoreline, a loon flew overhead and a family of ducks hung out along the shoreline. This lake has both Arctic grayling and small rainbow trout, I mostly wanted to target the grayling which seem to hang out in a shallow grassy section of the lake, sort of a honey hole. I began with a sinking tip line, using a tasty delectible chironomid and caught several small rainbows, then the grayling, but I changed to floating line with an elk hair caddis which the grayling absolutely went nuts on. It’s was usually a fish on every cast. What a trip to watch then flip out of the water to grab the fly. It was a perfect morning. As I floated back to the take out coyotes were howling in the distance. Walter, the fly rod has been absolutely wonderful. I just wanted to say thank you again for your amazing artistry.
So the rod has made it to its destination, Chickaloon, Alaska. When I opened the package it was there in all its beauty. My first thought after picking it up was, “This is heavier than what I am used to” as in the past 9 years since retiring I’ve taken to fishing with light rods, a favorite has be a 2 wt St. Croix and a 3′ graphite I put together myself, maybe not a thing of great beauty, but it did the job I was looking for, presenting dry flies to Arctic grayling. I came into the fishing bug way back when as a young sprite my older brother Dale took me fishing in southern Illinois and we had great success catching small mouth bass and catfish. Since that time I became an avid fisher person. I didn’t really get hooked into fly fishing until I was on a rainbow tagging project using 6 wt St. Croix, having unbelievable fishing days, its a fact one can get fisherman’s elbow from hanging onto too many large fish. I also used the 6 wts for catching coho and chum salmon, but I have since gotten away from salmon fishing going to the lighweight rods, except for a time I broke a 4 wt rod on a king salmon I hooked while fishing for rainbows on Montana Creek (Did you know you can continue to fish holding two pieces of rod together?). So there’s the bit of history when picking up the new bamboo rod. And why a bamboo rod? I didn’t have one and have been coveting one for several years, figuring it would be the last rod I would ever need. I talked to Walter briefly after the rod arrived, he said it would cast a bit differently. And now the time came to try it out.
The next afternoon, I, my son Adrian and his girlfriend Beth, drove up to Lower Bonnie Lake to use the portaboat. The day had become overcast, a few sprinkles, the water wasn’t calm. I did have an old 6 wt fly reel, but I didn’t really care for it, so I put on a Cimmaron Ross 4 wt reel that I like. So what if it isn’t a 6 wt line for the rod. My first impression was this rod casts really really nicely. We caught a fair share of rainbow trout from 4′ – 14″, but what I really needed to do was take the rod out in the float tube, so Sunday, I went to Fish Lake (secret spot only a mile away from home) had it to myself except for a pair of nesting trumpeter swans and 2 pairs of red necked grebes. Again it was a wee bit too windy for using dry flies, so I again used the 4 wt line and reel with a sinking tip. Holy cow, this rod casts beautifully, I’d never achieved such distance before, but it also worked for short casts, in fact any kind of cast I might toss, fishing was most excellent, I caught and released somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 rainbow trout, the largest going 17″ a great way to really break a this beautiful rod and of course the handle probably got a bit of breaking in with a touch of fish slime. And a plus is my wrist got a workout from the a bit heavier rod.
Thank you Walter for creating this bamboo rod. It is all that I ever imagined it would be. How will I ever go back to my other rods.
The check is in the mail.
craig