A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

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mfrench
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Joined: 01/12/23 18:24

A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#1

Post by mfrench »

Its been entirely too long since I've wet a line.

In Oct. 22, my wife had a dual hip replacement, 5 weeks apart. I attended to her needs as caretaker, in a full time care. In that time, I had lots of time to think about, stuff. One of the those bit of stuff was a 9' Montague Rapidan that i had bought as a garage sale. I bought it with the intention of making it into something that I might use, rather than a 9' heavy weight telephone pole.
So, I broke it down into a 6'6" configuration and just yesterday, I confirmed that it handles a 3wt perfectly with one tip. And, while I didn't fish with it, the second tip is an ideal 4wt, in this configuration. These are both perfect size for my home stream.
So, I wrapped, and wrapped, and, it became. I named it the Ladybug, as that is my favorite hatch up there.

I then went out and bought new tires, and readied myself with a new 2023 license.
This all proved to be too much for the California drought, the perfect counter-storm, so to speak. And the skies opened up, and the rain fell - lots and lots of it.

In this same time, an acquaintance of mine gave me his fathers cane rods, one of which is a really pretty little 7'6" 4wt Montague something-or-other.
So, suddenly, in an extremely rare moment for me, I had two new-to-me cane rods, one of which I had a large hand in configuring.
And the rain kept coming,..... and I started to go stir crazy.

Finally, yesterday, on a whim, I headed it up there.
I got there to freezing overnight temps, and, hard frozen dirt roads.

I finally got to my home stream, and it was flowing very rapidly, with very high water, but, nearly perfectly clear. But, the flows were in excess for this intimate water. But, I was able to wipe off the stink of new cane, with a beautiful ~13" brown on my 6'6" 3wt build-out, which is a quality fish for this stream; there are larger, and lots of smaller fish.
So, i then turned to the other new-to-me rod, the 7'6" Montague. It is a solid 4wt, and, it came to me as a gift. As part of that gift, was a set of three orphan tips, that I have now referruled, and, will be utilizing with this rod in a second capacity, that of a 6'9" 3/4wt, with two of the tips; but this is beside the point. SO it will have two lives; its original configuration, and, another of my moments of fun.
I took that 7'6" rod, and, caught a beautiful 10" wild native Rainbow on it.
Now, I managed a quick picture of the Brown that I caught, but, the Rainbow slipped the hook at my hand; so no photo.


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This is from when I first ventured into this canyon, some 40 years ago (apprx 1983)
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My first fish on my new rod. I was thrilled to death.
I took it with a size 12'ish Green Foam back, rubber leg beetle, with black flash belly.
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What the water was like yesterday. Take my word for it, this is a blow out; too much water.
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So, please join me in celebrating a big day for me, and, celebrating Lloyd Carpenter, whose son gave me the 7'6" Montague to have a thrill with.

Now, are you ready for the tedious part?
next post.

mfrench
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Posts: 99
Joined: 01/12/23 18:24

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#2

Post by mfrench »

The Tedious Part

So, I've been into this canyon a thousand times over the 40 years of fishing it. In that time, I've only been slightly inconvenienced by poor road conditions; literally once. And that is because I was stuck behind a line of people who thought it a good idea to slowly try to cross the road wide mud hole. They had carved a solid vertical face into it, and, no one was getting by it, until I hit it at speed, and blew through their vertically carved face.
I just kept going, and, they were all covered in mud, as no one else tried my method.
/rambling about the past.

Yesterday, I fished about 1/4 mile of creek, right where there is parking. I got stuck in unreal traffic in just getting to the base of the mountain, and arrived a tad later. SO, my day was abbreviated.
On the way in, the road was hard frozen, and, it felt like hard concrete (actuality is lots of decomposed granite soil), and I rolled in without any issues.
Then about 2:30, I decided it was time to head back out.
Well, this is where it all went to shizz.
Something quit functioning with my four-wheel drive capability, the front axle quit working, and, I only had two wheel rear drive to get back out of the creek bottoms. This meant at least 15 miles of uphill trudge to get out.
So, I started at the first leg, and, did a lot of slip-sliding of the rear end, but, I managed to get out of that first leg. Then came the second leg, the one with two creek crossing to manage.
Well, the day had worn on, and, the road soil had melted into a slip and slide mess
I got stuck at both creek crossings, but, was able to lift the truck with a high-lift jack that i carry. And with lots of clutch pumping and diesel roaring, I was able to get around those hazards. So, I got past those two show stoppers. But, then I came on the Chicane of Muddy Hell.
A Chicane in road racing is a series of right/left/right turns, sometimes banked/sloped turns.
My chicane came in the form of first, a giant sloped left handed turn with two truck ruts, and a third rut caused by run-off erosion. That erosion ran down the center of an uphill left/right chicane, both turns sloped, and with three massive ruts around each.
So, I decide to take the high line around the ruts, but, the now reformed mud, and no four wheel drive capability, I was quickly drawn into the natural rut, and a side rut, and, I ended up high-centered. on my front axle, and with only one rear tire touching the ground. I literally slipped into it with a frightening sideways slide.

I tried for three hours to get out of that rut, but, only managed to get my truck pinned to the mountain side on the drivers side.

So, at sunset, I figured that the mountain lion footprints that I saw in this same mud, I was not going to walk out after dark.
So, I crawled into the truck, and took off all of the large bath sheets that my wife had put on some 20years+ before, to protect the upholstery from the sun and, one poly-spun blanket that just happened to be in the car, and with wet pants from fishing, I curled up for the evening.
The temps plummeted last night to below freezing, into the mid-20's, and, with a hard sharp freshening north wind of 40mph+. It howled hard enough the shake my truck all night long.
I wrapped my double-socked feet in one towel, and used two or three more as leg and torso blankets, and the poly-spun blanket became my comforter. I also had a kneeling pad of foam that I wrapped in yet another blanket, as a pillow.

I thought this would work well enough. So, I got into the back of the truck cab, onto one of those small bench seats, and I actually fell asleep (I'm 6'6" 350lbs - imagine the fit).

I do not have a cellphone, and had no way of contacting my wife.
Panic time for her? Dang straight it was. I should have been home by sunset, and was drastically late, and had no way of contacting her.

So, i had no access via the drivers door. It was pinched into the mountain, and only opened a foot or so. So, everything I did, I had to do through the passengers side, with very muddy feet.
I woke up shivering cold, about every two hours, with frost inside the windows. And to start my truck, requires the clutch to be pushed in; a challenge from the backseat.
So, I got to get out into a well freshening freezing north wind, and unload everything, to make the front seat accessible again.
I was able to start the truck, and, get the heater rolling. I had to do this about 4 times through the night, as I kept waking up shivering cold.

So, I finally got through the night, mostly. But about 4:30 am, my back was screaming at me, and I was done sleeping. So, I got my get-it-together list together, and I loaded all of my thousands of flies that I carry into my backpack, my two new cane sticks, my reels, the remaining splash of water, and a bit of food that was supposed to have been my lunch, and I started walking,........

I was only about 2/3 out of the canyon. But, if I were able to have gotten around those ruts without getting stuck, that was the last hundred yards of bad road, and the rest was smooth sailing. I came so close, but, ultimately it was an off-road failure.

So, at 5am, I started walking, and walking, and walking, in the dark for quite a while. And I had a hard freezing wind blowing in my face. I then got back to the main road, an asphalt road, I walked up it for a half mile or so, and I found a cabin there, with a light on, and a car out front.
So, I knocked on the door, and, then walked back from it, as a consideration, and because I look kind of scary; really big guy, wild beard, and, I had a backpack on, over my spun-poly blanket that was now more of an immigrants shawl, with spring clips holding it on. I had my rods on black tubes that could have held anything.
A gentleman answered the door, and I just said, I need help, I need water, and a phone if I may. I'm not a transient or a bum. I'm just a guy that needs help..
He asked if I wanted a cup of coffee, and to me, that was as if the gods themselves had intervened, and, given me one of their own. He invited me into his home, and on entering, he handed me a fresh cup of coffee, and a handshake.
He immediately jumped into action, with his own smaller Ford Bronco type 4wheeler, and threw a pair of snatch straps into his truck, and away we went. He reset his tripometer to zero, and in we went,.... five miles of downhill; or uphill when I walked it, starting at 5am.

So, we hooked up, and tried several directions of yanking, and finally settled on just yanking me backwards, the rough direction, and a long way down the natural rut, to a point where it ran out. He got me unstuck.
So, I cautiously tried the high-line around the chicane again, and this time, the ground was hard frozen again.

So, in this post, please join me in celebrating, Daniel. Hes the guy that saved my azz.
He also manages a 130acre ranch, with a river flowing through it. nyuk nyuk nyuk.
We hit it off really well, and he said to stop by and say hi any time I was up there. Thats all he asked for what he did for me.
Last edited by mfrench on 01/27/23 09:38, edited 1 time in total.

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chsparkman
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Location: Woodbridge, VA

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#3

Post by chsparkman »

Wow what an ordeal! That canyon looks like a couple of the places I used to fish when I lived in So Cal.
...as for us we pin our faith and fealty to the silk-wound PENTAGONAL rod cunningly yet simply devised of its FIVE subtle, individual triangular strips of cane throughout...

Holden, George Parker. (modified by me) Idyl of the Split Bamboo

flyty2
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Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#4

Post by flyty2 »

:eek

angry_viking
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Joined: 03/18/22 09:23

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#5

Post by angry_viking »

Great read but not a great situation you found yourself in. Thanks for sharing. The water you were fishing looked great to me but here in Pennsylvania we've had really low water since spring so seeing that level of water was nice enough for me. I really appreciated the the two photos of the truck from different years, really awesome!

barebo
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Joined: 04/05/20 10:30
Location: Central NY State

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#6

Post by barebo »

Sometimes the world turns dark for us and becomes a struggle to not end up in total despair, and by some almost unfathomable occurrence there materializes a person with a solution that restores our faith in humanity. For those that haven't experienced this, it can border on being somewhat spooky. When a situation like this happened to me, I questioned it - my wife simply told me that some things happen for reasons that we're not supposed to question - take it for what it's worth and be grateful.

So yes, Thank You Daniel for your kindness and providing us with a positive outcome to a sketchy situation!!!

mfrench
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Posts: 99
Joined: 01/12/23 18:24

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#7

Post by mfrench »

So, wanna try something guaranteed to cause some shrinkage?
Think in terms of the notorious trucker bomb. Then add what you have at hand, in order to avoid opening the truck door on a freezing night. What I had at hand, an empty stainless steel water bottle.
That was chilly.

'nuff said.

mfrench
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Posts: 99
Joined: 01/12/23 18:24

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#8

Post by mfrench »

angry_viking wrote:
01/27/23 08:19
Great read but not a great situation you found yourself in. Thanks for sharing. The water you were fishing looked great to me but here in Pennsylvania we've had really low water since spring so seeing that level of water was nice enough for me. I really appreciated the the two photos of the truck from different years, really awesome!
This is what it is like in the ideal flows. It is a dry fly fishers dream. And, the amount of terrestrial life that is present makes for some really crazy action.


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angry_viking
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Joined: 03/18/22 09:23

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#9

Post by angry_viking »

mfrench wrote:
01/27/23 11:13
angry_viking wrote:
01/27/23 08:19
Great read but not a great situation you found yourself in. Thanks for sharing. The water you were fishing looked great to me but here in Pennsylvania we've had really low water since spring so seeing that level of water was nice enough for me. I really appreciated the the two photos of the truck from different years, really awesome!
This is what it is like in the ideal flows. It is a dry fly fishers dream. And, the amount of terrestrial life that is present makes for some really crazy action.


Image
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Beautiful stream. Would be a blast to watch a fish come out from beside that rock and take a dry. You're blessed with a nice stream there. Glad your bad situation turned out ok thanks to a good person.

driftless angler
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Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#10

Post by driftless angler »

Quite the ordeal! Glad it worked out. What did the missus have to say when you got home?

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GerardH
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Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#11

Post by GerardH »

My takeaway from all of this is that there are still kind souls out there willing to help a stranger out. It was quite the ordeal, but in the end you have a story to tell and a new friend....I chalk it up as a win now that everything is behind you.

I'm glad everything worked out in the end...and thank you for sharing this, it was a very gripping read.

mfrench
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Posts: 99
Joined: 01/12/23 18:24

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#12

Post by mfrench »

Greetings all,

Sarge, she who must be obeyed (SWMBO), she was freaking out. We've been together for 45 years now, with only the occasional work, or, fishing trip separation (to far more sane waters).
She, had visions of me hanging by my foot, from a crack between two house size boulders, and dangling there, upside down, just above the mountain lions and bears that were jumping to get me, and, being eaten alive by yellow jacket wasps (it has literally happened to me up there before; a mass swarming of myself and my fishing partner).
The canyon just wants to kill you, and, shes been up in there with me a few times, and she knows it.
She called the sheriff dep't, who said that they would send out a helicopter, but, that the new wind was too much. And, if i had not contacted her by that next morning, that they would send a search team in. But, I was able to get to the fine gentlemans home, and stopped that process before it formed.
Her reaction to my voice, when I first called was of massive relief and celebration.
My twwo next door neighbors were ready to run up there, and do the search as well. They're both of the most wonderful neighbors that you could ever hope for; amazing people. But, they were waiting for Sarges word on when to react. And that same call called that off as well.
So ultimately it was a huge relief.
And it looks like I'll be getting a cellphone, regardless. ugh.

mfrench
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Posts: 99
Joined: 01/12/23 18:24

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#13

Post by mfrench »

OK,... sort of off-topic. But some researching revealed what happened, and, it is a plague with new 4x4 front axle systems, since even the days of my little gold truck above.
Transfer cases in modern 4x4 systems no longer positively, manually hookup. They now require a complicated system of vacuum tubes, and, switches that either cause vacuum, or, pressure to be applied to a rod, that engages a pair of forks in the axle, and engagaes the system, manually.. And that also causes the on-dash 4wd light to be active or not.

i found this out on a trip to northern ca, where my friends lived on the beach in a little community of Shelter Cove. They told me that I could drive the beach, and go way up coast on the beach. So I popped it into 4wd, and I made it just off the asphalt, and buried axle deep in sand. I managed to get myself out of that stupid, and only later found out that a small vacuum hose had fallen off, and, I was not able to connect to the front axle.

So, I just found out that my all manual 2500HD pickup, with its large handled manual transfer case knob, it couldn't speak to my front axle, because of a vacuum leak, and added bonus of perhaps a bad switch to the dash.

So, i just ordered another of these products, the first one was in my little gold pickup above.
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It is a manual engagement cable that is inside the cab. You mount it, and, it takes a one inch pull of the cable end, which positively locks and holds the axle engagement forks in place.
And it serves well at just confusing car thieves.

red 1
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Location: Ct

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#14

Post by red 1 »

What a story! I knew it was going to be a hairy one when you lost 4 WD and the day warmed up. Glad you made it out without search and rescue arriving on the scene. Buried my truck once like that. Found a bunch of kids 4 wheeling who were glad to help. Covered their dinner And bar tab that night to say thanks.
I want to be buried with my favorite rod.
I hear the Styx River has Fish.

mfrench
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Joined: 01/12/23 18:24

Re: A Two Cane Rod Break-in Day - And A Tedious Ending

#15

Post by mfrench »

OK,... so, inevitably, I had to dig in, and find what went wrong.
I had four-wheel drive going in. Then dead.
So, i needed to clean things out, before trying to find the problem, and i got to covering pretty much all angles with a high pressure water blasting, to knock to dirt and grime back. In doing that, this popped up in the motor cavity space, and flapped around.
This is a vacuum line, chewed in to pieces by a rodent. Something got up under the hood, and, chewed the vacuum engagement lines to my 4wd front axle.
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I strongly suspected this, as I had eluded to early in the thread, but, nonetheless, was extremely disappointed by this stupid engagement design.
the front axle depends on a switch activated bi-directional vacuum bell to engage and disengage the axle. And, the lines had been chewed. No engagement possible, even if I had tools on board.

So, I bought the manual engagement cable kit, and installed it. But , of course, installing it via the manufacturers suggestions, and template, were out of the question.
The manufacturers template sets you up, directly over the throttle pedal. And, normal, average folk, they were suggesting this too close to the pedal/foot controls.
I suggested normal/average people. I'm not that. I have size 16 feet, and, that cable just smacked of me getting my feet tangled up, and causing a hazardous situation.
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So, I went with a different location, which meant lots of my own 'cipherin, and inevitably, the much dreaded drilling through the nice dry cabin space, and into the partially unknown spaces.
I drilled through,.... into a delightlfully open space, and, routed by cable via the firewall/transmission tunnel interface, and quite a bit to the right of the foot catch location.
I can now manually engage my front axle. Will miracles never cease?

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So, my all manual pickup truck, just got even more all manual. I ain't getting stuck again like that, ever.

this could so easily segue into my love for popping cal ground squirrels with my trusty air rifle. destructive little buggers!

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