E.W. Edwards was a famous and innovative bamboo rod maker who resided in Connecticut during his adult life until his death. It was in Connecticut that Edwards became famous and influenced other historic figures in bamboo rod building, such as C. W. "Sam" Carlson, and Harold "Pinky" Gillum. Many details of Edwards’ unique history and innovation would likely have been forgotten had it not been for Patrick C. Garner’s wonderful book, Playing With Fire The Life and Fly Rods of EW Edwards. On a recent trip to New Haven, I stopped by a number of spots in Hamden, steeped in the Edwards' Family rod making history–three different shop locations and a very special house. It is doubtful many locals are even aware of this history, but it was foundational and set the stage for the trajectory of future rod building, everywhere. Here are a series of photos of Edwards' home on Filbert St.. This rear one-car garage may have been the location where Edwards' perfection was realized. As noted in George Black's fabulous book, Casting A Spell, "At every stage he’d bucked the machine, balking at compromises, corporate pressures, and identity theft, turning his back on economic security for the independent pursuit of perfection. I think ultimately it was this, beyond the sheer beauty of his work, that made Eustis such a compelling figure to me." Black, p. 93. With Edwards' uncompromising standard of perfection, he left Winchester and would go on at the age of 67 to make 50 rods at this Filbert St. home that were thought to be his best, which he called the Perfection. Black, p. 93.
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Fly Execution: Nymphing Date: 02/07/23 Time: 12:15pm Air: 28° Water: 38° Water pH: 6.84 Elevation: 720’ I often fish alone, but the other day I had the opportunity to fish with a friend. Not only are we both small stream enthusiasts, but we both build bamboo rods and have a passion for native brook trout. Here are a few photos of my friend’s approach to various areas at the first stream we visited. This simply underscores the crucial need to approach low, especially when the sun is making silhouette shadows. In addition, at almost any cost, it is supremely important to work upstream. There are times when this is not possible, but the price of spooking fish is often too great. We relocated to a second stream and caught fish in a number of locations. At this particular pool, a place where I’ve historically been successful, we both managed to catch beautiful native brook trout. Boulders at the head of the pool created two feeding lanes, one on the left and one on the right. To some degree these feeding lanes converged a bit toward the slow water in the back of the pool, making it an ideal location for brook trout to efficiently feed. My friend worked the left side, and I worked the right. He chose a very helpful casting position. While maintaining a low overall position, he was on higher ground, which allowed him to cast into the pool at a distance and drift his nymph with virtually no drag. He jigged it in the softer back of the pool at the end portion of the left feeding lane. On the right side, I was able to present a dry-dropper down a current seam (blue dashes), where there was a depth change and slow and faster water met. I kept a low kneeling position, as I had sun at my back. As soon as my bushy stimulator dipped under water, I raised my bamboo rod. We were both rewarded with beautiful native brook trout. My friend fished a 7’ 4wt Orvis bamboo rod, and I fished a recently built 7’ 3wt bamboo rod, along with my early 1900’s Meek 45 reel. Fly Execution: Dry-Dropper In Pool Date: 02/07/23 Time: 12:15pm Air: 28° Water: 38° Elevation: 720’ I really enjoy fly fishing in the winter. The conditions are challenging - slowing trout metabolism, crunchy snow / ice, spooky trout, precision casting around ice, etc.. February 7th was no exception. I found a pool that I believed had the necessary qualities for holding a trout - sufficiently deep and slow water. The surface of the majority of the pool was slightly rippled, thereby distorting my view of the pool’s contents and a trout’s view above. Given that it is winter, takes can often be subtle. So, I rigged up a bushy stimulator with subtle colors - no hotspots. I had no reasonable belief that a trout would take the dry. Rather, I was using it as a strike indicator for the nymph I dangled off the hook bend. The beauty of a bushy stimulator acting as a strike indicator is that it allows the angler to come in under the radar. It lands quietly and provides great visual tracking. Like many small stream pools, this was a plunge pool. Fast water spills in at a particular point and quickly slows and disperses toward the back end before continuing along to another stream section. The ice made things tricky. Beyond serving as a beacon to trout when it cracks, it also causes additional obstructions for one’s flies, which can quickly get swept under an ice shelf. So, one must cast and remove flies from the water before they get stuck under ice. This reduces the normally short presentations to even shorter ones. In these photos, the arrows show the current direction in the pool, and the circle shows the slower water section where I reasonably believed a trout would be holding. The X in the last photo shows the location where I cast my flies. My goal was to drift my flies from the X to the back of the pool, an inconspicuous feeding and shelter lie. I cast my dry-dropper, kept my rod tip high so to allow my rig to float into the slower water in the back of the pool without any unnatural drag. As the rig reached the slower water in the back of the pool, my bushy stimulator abruptly disappeared under water, and I raised by bamboo rod to set the hook. A beautiful native (winter) brook trout.
I had a wonderful time tying flies at the 2023 annual Connecticut Fly Fisherman’s Association's Exposition. There were great vendors and terrific fly dressers. It was a fun opportunity to catch up with old friends who I have not seen in awhile. I focused on overlooked and underutilized fly patterns for small streams, some of which were geared to year-round fishing and others to warmer months. I tied both an adult and larvae black fly; an adult and larvae crane fly; a drowning adult crane fly; and a flying ant.
As always, I learned just as much from folks with whom I engaged. One gentleman praised his use of a zebra midge with a white bead. It made me think more in depth about the black fly larvae I was demonstrating. Although it appears in a variety of colors, from olive to brown to a dirty yellow, it can also be tied in black. Interestingly, it seems that its fan-like structure on its head may bear a number of similarities to a zebra midge with a white bead and to an emerging micro-caddis. The ability to reasonably cover a midge, micro-caddis and black fly larvae with one fly should not be underestimated as a year-round dropper. Small stream fly fishing in the morning, baking bamboo and tying small stream flies in the evening...
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AuthorMichael D. Day, Maker Categories
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October 2024
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