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Hook: TMC 5262 Thread: Olive UNI-Thread, 8/0 Tail: Olive-dyed pine squirrel hide Body: Peacock herl, Natural Hackle: Olive-dyed pine squirrel hide Credit: Dave Hughes Notes: • I’m a big fan of wet flies for many reasons. They fish well in diverse conditions, and they often have a rich and interesting history. This is a Dave Hughes creation, influenced by the wonderful work of E.H. “Polly” Rosborough. I’ve made a few material modifications and, arguably, over hackled a bit. This, however, underscores the flies’s ability to invoke movement when fished. And the use of peacock herl is the icing on the cake that has proven deadly on many classic patterns. • For those experimenting with wet fly fishing, there is often a worry about weight. One may be inclined to add a bead, use underling wire, etc.. Try resisting this temptation. All fur wet flies are versatile. Dressing them with floatant will allow the fly to ride on the surface, in the film or upper water column. Submerging them in water before casting will weight them significantly, especially with such significant fur. Water as weight will allow depth to be achieved in a slightly more natural fashion. It will also allow the balanced pine squirrel fibers to perform naturally through the entire length of the fly. (1) Click Play. (2) See caption below photos for further details. My process for cutting agate for stripping guides. (1) Click Play. (2) See caption below photos for further details. My process for fitting machined ferrules. (1) Click Play. (2) See caption below photos for further details. …[F]or me the journey is truly the destination.” Fidgen, Tom. The Unplugged Woodshop: Hand-Crafted Projects for the Home & Workshop, p. 2. Tom Fidgen is a remarkable woodworker. I have two of his books, which provide a brief glimpse into his ingenious mind. He is a woodworker with a very quiet shop - there are no power tools.
Craft, in common parlance, seems to conjure up ideas of a messy workspace, things put together with less precision - the very first art class for a young child, smocks, paint and the need for a bath. It can be anxiety producing. Why do something messy by hand when a machine can produce a tidy output? These questions make meaningful conversation over crafting organic objects vs. mass produced plastic, almost fruitless. The driving force behind craft is passion. “People who lack passions of their own cannot understand the passions of others.” Hughes, Dave. Big Indian Creek, p.33. “Life offers fruits one would rather pluck himself.” Hughes, Dave. An Angler’s Astoria, 2nd ed., p. 48. Craft often requires far more personal resources than mass production, such as time, continual concentration and unwavering dedication in the face of tremendous opposition. From a mass production standpoint, it simply does not make sense. But it shouldn’t make sense, as their goals are antithetical. Craft is a journey of passion. Mass production is a journey of…mass production. One wakes the soul, the other blunts it. The diversity of skillsets required to build all parts of bamboo rods takes one from woodworking to fairly precise machining. The benefit of precision machining ferrules is that the maker has full and complete control over a given rod and its performance. Starting with round bar stock, one can make virtually any type of ferrule in any specific size. Although given tapers call for a specific ferrule size, when machining from stock, desired specifications are almost limitless. Fly Execution: Nymphing Date: 02/24/23 Time: 12:30pm Air: 34° Wind Chill: 20° Water: 42° Water pH: 7.47 Elevation: 320’ My favorite fly fishing author, Dave Hughes, writes, "...we fish for beauty and surprise." Big Indian Creek, p. 33. I agree. I’m fond of the less obvious streams and the less obvious areas of streams. The surprises are all the more exhilarating and rewarding. It is nice to know that healthy life exists in such areas. These areas become all the more beautiful with such surprises. On a recent outing, I hiked a substantial distance through a forest. The windchill on this particular day was significant, and I was chilled to the bone. It is interesting how days that are not overly cold can feel so much colder with wind. I passed several streams in this forest and came upon my targeted water, which was new to me. This stream was narrow and the water was skinny. My expectations dwindled. Below is the stream I fished. It became utterly impassable at one point. While an unassuming stream, it had the sort of thick bushy cover that serves as a protection from predators. I stumbled upon a run with some degree of depth. Depth is relative, and good depth on this stream was about 1.5’. I knew that if a fish was holding in such skinny water, I had to be as tactical as possible. I decided to fish this run with an aquatic worm - no bead, just a bunch of underlying turns of wire (0.025 lead-free to be exact) to allow it to sink and drift along at a moderate rate. The white arrows show the current direction and the white X is the approximate location where I surmised a trout could be holding. I was rewarded. These photos are of the same brook trout. I thought of Dave Hughes. I was surprised and the stream became all the more beautiful because of the surprise. And the release… “…[H]istory-making is more gratifying than being swept along by it passively.” Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. The Evolving Self, p. 12. There is a lot to learn from many of the master rod builders. As independent thinkers, many challenged the direction in which society was moving, opting for craftsmanship over mass production, organic materials over plastic. And within such a small bamboo rod making community, independent thinking flourished and innovation was realized - Edwards with heat, Powell with hollowing, etc.. They did not passively move through life; they made history. Today, those who choose to build and fish bamboo are making a history of their own, in the face of mass produced graphite and fiberglass. They value a quality of experience that cannot be replicated with synthetic products. And this quality of experience brings them closer to nature. Within this independent minded community, current makers have the ability to contribute to the evolution of bamboo rod making in meaningful ways. One such way is through the use of hollow building short, light weight rods. As a perpetual student, I’m experimenting with hollowing short, light weight rods in an effort to expand my education. While concepts of power-to-weight ratio, dampening and modulus are inextricably linked to rod performance, those who fully understand these complexities in relationship to rod taper and hollowing is arguably limited. At the end of the day, there must be a balance between a desired rod feel and required performance. This becomes a delicate marriage of art and function. Here are a few photos and videos of a recently built small stream blank with a hollowed butt section.
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