Trip Report: Fishin' With Mike!

I originally planned to spend my weekend building a fly rod for someone but all of the components did not arrive on time. My brother in law Mike decided to make a last minute trip to the Minnesota Driftless and expressed interest in chasing some trouts this morning. New plan! We got on stream around 9am. It started out cloudy and mild but by the time we left at 11am the wind howled and temps dropped. We fished a headwater section of a local stream known to harbor skittish brook and brown trout. We noticed a few fish rising to midges when we arrived but we opted to fish the pink squirrel of prey.

Mike started the day with a decent brookie! His first brookie ever in fact! He also caught a little brownie, both on the pink squirrel of prey.

 This bad dude got in on the action too. I caught the majority of my fish out of three holes. I stayed low and tossed my fly deep through each pool/run. In one pool I landed at least 15 fish while in another I must have caught 20. As you can see from the backgrounds of these pics we fished in an area prone to windy conditions and today was WINDY!

 This was the big fish of the day. He wasn't huge but sure fun to pull out from under a rock in the midst of a deep pool. He took the pink squirrel of prey as well. After landing this chunker we headed back toward the car. As fish were surfacing sporadically on midges I decided to try fishing with a mini indicator and a black size 18 zebra midge. I found a pool where I could see at least 20-30 fish just sitting on the bottom. I turned to Mike and said, "I will now catch every fish out of this pool, it's all about confidence!" I proceeded to catch one after the other.

Almost all of the fish in the pool were brookies. I did land a few small browns as well. After landing around 40 fish total we decided to call it a day.

 Sexy!

If you'd like to purchase Pink Squirrels of Prey, Zebra Midges, or any other flies I may have in stock visit www.whitewatervalleyflies.wordpress.com

Trip Report: Fishin' With Friends

Today I got out fishin' with my buddy Shaun and his friend Josh. They both wanted to catch some fishes so we headed to a local rainbow trout factory (not the hatchery)! We met up at around 9am with temps in the high teens. Josh is an avid fisherman but had never fly fished before. After a quick casting lesson we hit the stream. Josh followed a few simple pointers and immediately landed three or four good rainbows.

This was a pretty little bow that Josh caught. He ended the day with 7 fish to hand, not too shabby for his first time fly fishing.

 Shaun landed a few shy of that. He still had a respectable showing but I'm hoping that Josh gave him some crap on their way home! Shaun hasn't been fly fishing very long but he could have fooled me. He was throwing monster casts and achieving drag free drifts like a pro.

Of course I had to catch the big fish of the day! This brownie took a Pink Scud fished deep behind a Pink Squirrel of Prey. Josh caught all of his fish on the Pink Squirrel of Prey while Shaun found success with a variation of a flashback copper john. Fish were found toward the tail end of long flats and in the middle of fast runs. I again spotted no midges today.

Check out my www.whitewatervalleyflies.wordpress.com to purchase flies used on today's trip. And like Whitewater Valley Flies on Facebook!

New Build Results

 Finished!

The new build turned out pretty good. Aside from some minor cosmetic blemishes that came on the blank this build turned out beautifully! Rather than fish with it I'm putting it up for sale at www.whitewatervalleyflies.wordpress.com

Also check out Whitewater Valley Flies on Facebook!

Fly Rod Build-Step By Step

I'm currently building a fly rod for sale on my website www.whitewatervalleyflies.wordpress.com and I thought I'd do a step by step guide to building a fly rod. Disclaimer: everyone has different methods but mine have build the rods that I have used exclusively for the last year!

I purchased a blank online and components from a seller on Ebay who has been helpful to me in the past. I started out with 1-7 1/2 foot, 4 piece, 3/4 weight fly rod blank. 2-Silk rod building thread. 3-7 inch inletted cork grip, hardware and wood insert for reel seat. 4-appropriately sized snake guides, tip top, and hook keeper. 5-Winding check 6-Epoxy, syringes w/o the needle to ensure equal parts resin and catalyst. (not shown-superglue, rat tail file)

 I first reviewed a guide spacing chart. Using a pencil I marked the rod blank from the tip following these measurements closely. Pictured below is my method for checking the "tendency" of the blank.

Every blank has a spine and a belly. From what I've researched there is no rhyme or reason for placing guides on the belly vs the spine but guides must line up on either the belly or spine for the blank to perform at it's best. I then marked the spine at the first guide spacing mark on each section of blank.

Next I used super glue to secure the guides to the blank. There are a number of ways to do this but I've found that this allows me to get them all strait. Note: I payed a little more for guides but many styles require some prepping (filing and de-burring). After all the guides are secured I mixed up the epoxy and placed the tip top. 

I let the epoxy settle for around 30 minutes before carefully construction the reel seat. This part can be challenging as you don't want the epoxy to run over and blemish the seat.

Then I placed the blank on the jig and spun the thread over the guide feet. Tying off the tag end of the thread can be difficult. I use a length of thread placed a few winds prior to the end of the guide foot. Then I place the tag end through the loop and pull the loop backwards. This pulls the tag end back under the wrapping securing the wrap. I do this for every guide and at every ferrule (end of the section) for increased strength.

After wrapping the guides I used a rat tail file to ream out the cork grip. I do this little by little until the cork fits snug to the point where the reel seat will cover. I forgot to take a picture but the blank needs minor prepping before the reel seat is placed. I wrapped two sections of the blank with a thin layer of tape so that the blank fit snug into the seat. Hopefully at this point the reel seat is set enough to epoxy into place.

 After brushing epoxy onto the blank and into the reel seat I place the reel seat and slid the grip down to fit like so. Then I epoxied the winding check over the side of the grip opposite the reel seat.

At this point the guides are wrapped, the reel seat and grip are placed, and the winding check is set. 

Stay Tuned: tomorrow I'll include the final steps. I still must glue and wrap the hook keep, do decorative wraps, and finish the guide wrapping with epoxy.

Welcome to tomorrow!

This morning I added the hook keeper just above the grip. I then completed decorative wraps before mixing up a two part epoxy used to coat the thread wraps.

I ever so carefully coated the wraps being sure to apply epoxy evenly. You'll notice in the picture below that the color of the thread changes when the epoxy soaks in. If a builder would like to retain the vibrant color of the thread one can apply "color preserver" which...preserves the color. This would be done prior to applying epoxy.

 I don't currently have a rod dryer so I sat and watched tv for 1 1/2 hours while turning the rod 45 degrees every five minutes.

Finally I will let the rod sit for 24 hours for the epoxy to set. Before I take final photos I'll clean any marks that left on the blank from marking the spine and guide placement.

Stay tuned to see pics of the final product!

The Mohawk Midge

This fly probably has a name but I'm calling it the Mohawk Midge. As the temps warm up over the next few weeks and after the snow melts away a little the midges should start to hatch in better numbers. We'll see if these guys make it into rotation in my fly box.

If you're interested in purchasing check 'em out and more at www.whitewatervalleyflies.wordpress.com

Need Some Flies? Try Whitewater Valley Flies!

If you've ever thought to yourself "I wish I could get my hands on some of this dude's flies" you're in luck! This evening I launched my new fly tying and rod building business! Check it out at www.whitewatervalleyflies.wordpress.com