1st Rod Done

Recently finished my rod.  It took me almost a year and few mistakes.  The following pictures show my first rod.  It is a 7'10" 3 piece - 2 tip rod with a bag and an aluminum tube.  When I finsihed the last coat of varnish I knew that I couldn't just get any accessories to go along with it, but had to get the right one's for the job.  In the light of getting the right stuff for the job, I got a classic reel and new line (turned out to be a 6 wt. rod) to go along with the new rod.

Hardy Bougle MKVII 3 1/4" Reel

As any new rodmaker will attest this was a long journey to a completed project that could have fallen off the rails at any time.  The mistakes that I made include a long list, that just wont be important in a couple more years and a few more rods.

And since no rod is truly done until it catches a fish I had to go.  But not any fish would do for the rod, but a cutthroat from the alluvial fan in RMNP.

 Don't they look good together? Like the proper spacing of well used tools in the shop when everything has its place or the satisfaction from people who live together easily with little friction.  A fish, rod and reel are the perfect afternoon.

Roaring River Greenbacks

What a fun day out on the river with Linde.  We hiked past the steep initial mile to get to the more gradual dropping section of the river.  The river flooded in July of 1982, almost 30 years ago as the result of an older damn failure.  The flood released a lot of water that damaged the drainage quite severally.  Floods, while regular and part of the natural process scourer the bottoms of the creek clear of boulders and sand.  This removal of debris usually results in a straightening of the river bed.  This straitening is not a good thing for trout habitat, as they require slower waters and varied depth to survive.

Since 1982 there have been quite a few different groups that have worked to reclaim the river as a quality spot to catch some native greenback cutthroats.

The bottom throat has quite a orange-red tint to the gill slits and probably the most shocking color on a fish that I have ever caught. With a quick day of two fish it was quite a successful day.

Rocky Mountain National Park

last Saturday went up to RMNP and got skunked.  The parking lots before fern lake were all super paked and unable to get a spot.  Tried some warm up in Morainne Park, but that is just super sparse and very unsatisfying.  Found a good spot on the way to Sprauge lake where I could see the fish feeding. 

After two hours of every dry fly I had(at least it seemed that way) with only refusals it is easy to loose the nerve and call it.  Funny thing was that since I was standing on an overhang after the hours of my weight sitting there some collapsed in and a huge monster slunk up the stream.  Just watching this thing move up the river it was obvious that he ate the fish that I was looking to get.  Color was almost a blue in the water and he sure didn't move fast.