FLYMPH FORUM

Following Donald's (Scotland) advice in regard to the Goats Toe (Irish) series of flies I had been playing with, I tied a couple on Kamasan B 830 hooks this morning. It was raining heavily as I was tying, but stopped near as soon as the second fly was finished. I doubt the head cement was dry, but decided rather than risk the weather and head to a roofing job that was on the books I would head to the river and try a few things out.
Try a new to me rod, 9' Allcocks #6 weight split cane rod (made in England) which had spent most of it's life in Canada and was on the "to do" list of a very good maker of new cane rods before he decided to send it to me. It was badly delaminated (glue given way and the six strips of cane were no longer joined as one), the guides were still there but badly rusted and near fell apart when stripping off. The reel seat was very corroded. So I had a major rebuild. Having done this before, spending a bit of cash and a lot of time on a similar rod that broke at the mid male ferrule on the first fish hooked I was determined to do this one cheap and sort of rough n ready. If it breaks first time out it wont be so bad.
Reel seat was replaced with one off a broken glass Kilwell rod (NZ make), guides were a stripper off the same broken rod and any snakes that were laying around spare, some English twist and some not! Thread is Sylko sewing cotton and it got two coats of varnish over the wraps followed by two over the entire rod. No prize winner, but it should fish ok.
I matched it up with a Medalist CJ 1495 1/2 (American design made in Japan) with an unknown WF line (came on the reel but probably American) that weighed out as a #6 to 6 1/2 weight. Leader is knotted Maxima mono (Germany) and not the usual factory tappered I usualy use.
So with minimal gear, (rod reel line and net) I headed for a quick trip to the Mataura above where the Waikaia runs in as it is cleaner above. Also along for the trip was the new Panasonic DMC FT 4 digital camera. The net by the was is from Tasmania Australia.
The trout are also from Tasmania originally, but could be considered local.









So that is Scotland, Ireland, England, Canada, America, Japan, Germany, Australia and New Zealand all involved in one little fishing excursion.

fantastic....

Just a nice touch of detail that it was a cooperative nations effort. Nice brownie too. Ah... must be good to have the Mataura on the backdoor step.

Great reading and viewing, makes the day at the office bearable!

Nice!! Looks like that rough and ready rod did the business all right. Seems as the Goat's Toe did as well. Great looking rod and fish. We're waiting for the rivers to drop back into shape after a weeks worth of rain.

Ron Eagle Elk wrote:Nice!! Looks like that rough and ready rod did the business all right. Seems as the Goat's Toe did as well. Great looking rod and fish. We're waiting for the rivers to drop back into shape after a weeks worth of rain.

Thanks Ron.
The best surprise was that old Allcocks trade rod is a REALLY nice casting rod, either overhead or roll...... might have to decide on the perfect weight for it and look into one of those silk lines for it.
Water has only just almost come right after a lot of rain last month, more rain predicted and maybe snow..... I know what you are going through.

Excellent post -- thank you for taking us along and showing us the gear, not to mention the fine fish.

Boris wrote - "makes the day at the office bearable!"

Not on my end! This just makes me wish I were fishing, instead of working. These photos aren't helping one bit. (humor)

Jeff - Thanks for sharing, mate.

letumgo wrote:Boris wrote - "makes the day at the office bearable!"

Not on my end! This just makes me wish I were fishing, instead of working. These photos aren't helping one bit. (humor)

Jeff - Thanks for sharing, mate.

Agreed! This is a mixed bag, so glad for a mate to have the pleasure of such fine fishing and tackle and place...a brilliant package, and leaving me really dying to get out and wet a line. Not hunting Kiwi sized browns...but hunting just the same. Well done, mate.

w

Thanks guys.
I was lucky, most days you can walk a LONG way here between fish like that, yesterday I landed two near identical from about 300m of water in under an hour. That is the exception here...... not the rule.

As Boris stated, I am very lucky to be able to live within 2 minutes of one of the finest wild brown trout fisheries in the world, but that does not mean you can go stand in a pool, blind cast and land 40 fish a day. You have to be prepared to walk a lot, sight fish and be refused or spook/ put down fish, be ignored by trout you bounce flies off the nose of or rejected by trout fixed on natural willow grub that will take nothing artificial you throw at them, regardless of how perfect the cast or presentation is...... better than me have tried.
So whilst I share some stories of the good times, you do not hear much of the days I miss out completely.

There was a reason for this trip, try a lot of "new" things. I was really pleased with the rod and will have to finish out the second tip now that I was leaving until I was sure my repairs and what was left of the original rod were going to hold up. The Medalist had been laying here for a while without a rod to call home, but I am not sure it will stay here on that rod, the big step between clicks just doesn't seem right to me. It might get to wear the Sharpes Gordon 3 3/4" that is also homeless at the moment. The Goats Toe flies, they were a surprise, I expected if the did catch it would be small silly trout that hit them as they do not look like anything that swims in the water here. My reasoning for it being hit yesterday is those trout are hungry. Each was pretty hollow in the flanks with little fight in them, still recovering with spawning and the Spring has been harsh with high strong flows of very dirty water. I guess they were eating any and all that was within hitting distance whilst conditions were good. I bet I could fish that fly for the rest of the season and not do as well.
Was also my first true fishing foray with the new Lumix camera and trying underwater shots. Was pleased with what I got, quality is down a bit on the Canon, but the size is a LOT better for fishing and the Canon despises water. The hard part was trying to judge what was in frame as the LCD and view finder were underwater...... my eye was not! Trying to capture the fly underwater was fun as the current moved it on the end of the leader and it was dancing in and out of frame!

And last but not least I managed to "blood" a new fishing cap from Roscoe, very kindly sent over by Ray.

Great post. Thanks for taking us along.
I finally got out with the bamboo Montague rod that my girlfriend gave me for Christmas. I was surprised at how soon I picked up the rhythm of casting with it, but then I normally use an old Fenwick hollow glass rod that is pretty slow compared to the modern thundersticks that are so popular nowadays.
I paired it with the Cortland Sylk line, and it performed very well. The old girl still had lots of backbone and I even managed to catch a fish with it. Just a little tiddler, but it was nice to feel the old rod come back to life after who knows how many years sitting on a shelf.
Here is a link to the line I bought; they also have weight-forward styles:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cortland ... %3Bpod5488

John, sometimes it is just very relaxing to go to the river and fish the relaxed slow action of cane. There is just something about those old rods, the timing and just how good they are with a wet fly- which is pretty much all I use the old 9' plus rods for.
I have a few of those older FF Feralite rods from the big 116 Tarpon size down to the 856 and 85-3 trout rods, need to find a 75 or 79 to pretty much cover all options here, but I am hearing you on the nice action they have. Jim Green had it sorted when he designed a few of those blanks.
Don't get me wrong, I own a few graphite as well (some considered "good" rods) and enjoy them, but some days fishing glass or cane just seem right or better because of speed (or lack thereof) of the casting action.