Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

This board is for discussing concerns of fishing bamboo fly rods. Examples would be, lines, actions, classic and modern makers actions and the like.

Moderators: pmcroberts, uniphasian

Cimarron
Guide
Posts: 256
Joined: 12/28/14 19:55
Location: Northern New Mexico

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#41

Post by Cimarron »

I love to see how many people here are fishing those small bushy streams. I always think that everyone but me gets to stand in the middle of some Wonder River filled with eager trout casting away with the perfect long casting museum piece with not a worry about branches and canopy on the back cast or crawling on hands and knees through the mud and stream side growth. Downright heart warming.

rsagebrush
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 2266
Joined: 08/11/05 18:00
Location: RenoNV/FranklinWV 100%

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#42

Post by rsagebrush »

Cappy,
I've fished a lot of creeks like that, slow and careful because actually I don't want to break myself the rod makes it fine with this strategy.

NewUtahCaneAngler
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 2383
Joined: 01/22/17 17:05
Location: Utah

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#43

Post by NewUtahCaneAngler »

Webfly wrote:
02/25/21 15:30
Save up a little extra money and get that Flea. I challenge you to find one negative word about that rod on this forum...
How about that the tube is too long because it is a 2-piece and not a 3-piece. I had one and very much liked it while on the stream, but not while transporting it. The Dennis Stone 3-piece 7' rod sound intriguing. Many good options for the OP.

User avatar
cappy
Guide
Posts: 253
Joined: 08/23/17 04:09

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#44

Post by cappy »

rsagebrush wrote:
02/25/21 19:21
Cappy,
I've fished a lot of creeks like that, slow and careful because actually I don't want to break myself the rod makes it fine with this strategy.
Honestly I take one of my Tenkara rods when I fish those streams. Every rod is a tool with a purpose; I'm not married to a particular material or style, love them all.

Winter picture. Almost unfishable late Spring thru Fall. Good for the fish, not so much for fisherman and gear - LOL
The whole stream is like this and so is the terrain, narrow ravine steep thick sides, not for the timid - LOL

Image
Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.
Anatole France

User avatar
Flykuni3
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 3267
Joined: 12/21/11 14:11
Location: California

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#45

Post by Flykuni3 »

Ok, whip out yr brushy creek pics boys, weird as that sounds. But this is what forced me to learn to fish the small place, and she's a tough taskmaster -- such places are hell: slips and falls, lost flies, nettles, poison oak, biting flies, and once came up on a rattler who was sitting on a rock chest-high. Now that was something, this strange electric sound over the rushing water. And after a full five to six seconds I realized my peril and quickly stepped away from the sound without looking. At 10' away I looked back. There he was, coiled and rattling away, and staring daggers at me, and I said to him, thanks for rattling, sorry to intrude. The small place is fun and perilous, to man and gear.

This is exactly the sort of hell where I go very short, 6' Duracane territory, made for the short and the tough. But my advice is that this is extreme fishing with an extremely short rod, and that short a stick doesn't feel right to me in a wide open stream. Line control and mending is a challenge (if they're on top in warm weather, maybe). So imho a short but versatile length stick is best, 6 1/2' at shortest, 7' for general use.

Image

The small but mighty 6' 2/2 Duracane.

Image

In a small place this is a trophy fish. First cast is important. Their takes are usually explosive. Now that's livin'.

7' FE Thomas Special for DT3, sweet.

Image

joaniebo
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 4018
Joined: 11/07/05 19:00
Location: IL

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#46

Post by joaniebo »

Any of (The Elderly Gentleman's ?) Mr. Gofish's Leonards make for fantastic brush clearing, catching fish is another question unless, of course, the correct flies have been pilfered!

jimwright
Master Guide
Posts: 976
Joined: 01/03/13 15:52
Location: Baton Rouge, LA.

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#47

Post by jimwright »

I have a Saguache Rod Co. 6'8" 2 pc. three weight that is a fine rod for just such use. I would not hesitate to take it back to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park's tight, congested small streams and I used it last summer on some high, tight cutthroat streams in MT. last summer. Like some others have opined, I don't see the reason to consider an almost "disposable" rod for such streams. Go carefully and don't fall on it and you'll probably be o.k.

User avatar
cappy
Guide
Posts: 253
Joined: 08/23/17 04:09

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#48

Post by cappy »

jimwright wrote:
02/26/21 11:22
Go carefully and don't fall on it and you'll probably be o.k.
LOL - That is why they are called accidents, they just happen.
Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.
Anatole France

User avatar
Flykuni3
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 3267
Joined: 12/21/11 14:11
Location: California

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#49

Post by Flykuni3 »

cappy wrote:
02/26/21 12:27
jimwright wrote:
02/26/21 11:22
Go carefully and don't fall on it and you'll probably be o.k.
LOL - That is why they are called accidents, they just happen.
Ha, you're right. I shoulda listened when my fibula said, "Don't do that, I said, don't step th...".

jimwright
Master Guide
Posts: 976
Joined: 01/03/13 15:52
Location: Baton Rouge, LA.

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#50

Post by jimwright »

What your fibula said, that was the go carefully part. But seriously I don't feel there is any advantage in durability with a glass or graphite rod opposed to bamboo. If you fall hard enough any of them will break, again, go carefully.

User avatar
cappy
Guide
Posts: 253
Joined: 08/23/17 04:09

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#51

Post by cappy »

jimwright wrote:
02/26/21 16:24
If you fall hard enough any of them will break.
Totally agree with graphite, glass rods are pretty dam tough, you have to fall a lot harder with glass then with bamboo or graphite before they break or become unfishable. It's not always a fall, could be forgetting where the tip is for a second as your maneuvering around thick brush and the tip snags and snaps before you realized what just happened. As some have stated, last thing I want to worry about when fishing is my gear breaking.
Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.
Anatole France

User avatar
GerardH
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 1071
Joined: 06/20/19 08:45
Location: Wyoming, MN

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#52

Post by GerardH »

Broke a glass rod in a boat that an oar fell on...they all break, I think graphite the most fragile of the bunch. The beauty of bamboo is that is can be repaired or rebuilt...that's not an option for graphite or glass for the most part.
Last edited by GerardH on 02/28/21 20:44, edited 1 time in total.

Perry Palin
Master Guide
Posts: 408
Joined: 12/07/12 13:34

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#53

Post by Perry Palin »

GerardH wrote:
02/28/21 19:51
Broke a glass rod in a boat that an oar fell on...they all break, I think graphite the most fragile of the bunch. The beauty of bamboo is that is can be repaired or rebuilt...that's not an option for graphite and graphite for the most part.
I agree totally. Having attempted/performed minor repairs and restorations on glass, graphite, and bamboo rods, bamboo is the toughest and easiest to make whole again. I am a hamhanded amateur. I have some quality rods on which I would not attempt a repair myself. A good cane rod shop could make a broken cane rod new again.

User avatar
Flykuni3
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 3267
Joined: 12/21/11 14:11
Location: California

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#54

Post by Flykuni3 »

Comes down to being careful and slow, for your body, for your cane. And fine reel.

Arctic-Grayling
Guide
Posts: 156
Joined: 07/17/07 18:00

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#55

Post by Arctic-Grayling »

#37
Webfly...........I had a Orvis Flea, I didn't like it at all, sold here on the forum years ago. For the life of me I don't remember what I didn't like about it. I have a 7 foot Orvis Deluxe four wt. that I dearly love. Different strokes for different folks, I would guess. A special rod will, "Make your heart soar like a hawk." A semi quote from Chief Dan George as Old Lodge Skins, in the movie LITTLE BIG MAN.

Doug K
Master Guide
Posts: 511
Joined: 09/10/14 17:23

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#56

Post by Doug K »

I like cappy's suggestion. This is a good place for glass.. Chris Barclay makes beautiful rods for the small brookie streams of NC, would be perfect here too, and well under $1k..
he even has The Driftless Special, a 7’2" 4wt 3 piece.

here in CO we have tree canyons, instead of the tree tunnels of the Driftless and NC..

Image

User avatar
Flykuni3
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 3267
Joined: 12/21/11 14:11
Location: California

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#57

Post by Flykuni3 »

Oh my, that looks delish, an slippery.

User avatar
cappy
Guide
Posts: 253
Joined: 08/23/17 04:09

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#58

Post by cappy »

Doug K - That is my type of stream - LOL. I'm sure only the brave fish it.
Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened.
Anatole France

User avatar
GerardH
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 1071
Joined: 06/20/19 08:45
Location: Wyoming, MN

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#59

Post by GerardH »

Cimarron wrote:
02/25/21 18:58
I love to see how many people here are fishing those small bushy streams. I always think that everyone but me gets to stand in the middle of some Wonder River filled with eager trout casting away with the perfect long casting museum piece with not a worry about branches and canopy on the back cast or crawling on hands and knees through the mud and stream side growth. Downright heart warming.
Resurrecting this thread, one of the streams back home in northern WI that I learned to fly fish on...a back cast was something I could only dream about. I pulled several brookies from pocket water between the tag alders and overhanging balsams from this little gem last weekend.

Image

Image

Image

Image

snorider
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 3679
Joined: 04/04/13 10:20
Location: Southwest Montana

Re: Small brushy stream rod recommendations?

#60

Post by snorider »

Man that is just beautiful Gerard. This type of stream is where the short Leonard "tip action" rods shine. I will certainly not suggest using one for clearing the brush, as some here ascribe to. But sticking ones hand into the maw of the alder clutching a 6'6" 47 (Hunt Pattern of course), threading the line as you go, your fly just a hairs breadth above the water. Then hitting the opening you can "cast" the furled leader with a sort of cock of the wrist, and a drop of the tip. That often results in a nice loop around a branch, but in the odd case your fly alights on the water it can make your whole day. I mean just the cast of course. There is also the outside chance that the fat trout, river left, under that low branch, will eat it. Well in that case you just made the whole trip. Thanks for the photos!
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it. T.R.

Post Reply

Return to “Fishing Bamboo Fly Rods”