As the wind driven rain tapping on the glass moved me into consciousness at two AM, I knew this would not be a fishing day. Another day left to my thoughts where, as on many a winter’s day, I turned to fantasy. To begin the day, I immersed myself in “Chasing The Taper”, watching that lovely film for perhaps the two dozenth time. Later I checked the Classic Flyrod Forum and tied a trio of Isonychia mayflies, the rusty dun hackled 100-year Dun variety the trout have taken a liking to.
Afternoon advanced and I finished Gene Connett’s book “My Friend The Trout” yet the sunshine and cool air beckoned me outside. I took a copy of a magazine from long ago out to the porch with a chilled ale, “The Bamboo Flyrod” from twenty-five years ago. I read Per Brandin’s primer on rod design and various articles before I came to the last piece in the issue, a beautiful “Bamboo Odyssey” penned by my old friend and mentor, Ed Shenk.
Ed was the major proponent of short fly rods for many years, as rod manufacturers spent great sums advertising the perceived virtues of longer and longer flyrods. He kept a special place in his heart for his collection of diminutive bamboo fly rods, and I felt that love again through his words.
Of course, reading of my friend’s adventures with little cane brought me to memories of my own little bamboo treasures. My first came as the result of meeting Tom Smithwick, a fine gentleman rodmaker, and an absolute wizard with tapers. Tom came to my Cumberland valley fly shop with his little prototype in a long, slender aluminum tube, a deal was struck, and that rod became mine. Upon retirement, Tom moved into the valley, providing numerous chances for me to cast some of his other creations. The original shares space in my rod rack with Tom’s 6’6″ one piece built on an original taper crafted from the same design theories, and a unique seven-footer he made for my quest to take large brownies out of dangerous cover, something a shorter fly rod does better than a long one.
The 5’5″ rod was my brook trout tackle when I headed upslope into those Pennsylvania mountains, but its most adventurous memories involve the limestone springs. There was a hot ticket brown just over eighteen inches long we battled in the Falling Spring one evening, and a like sized trout from the larger limestone influenced waters of the Little Juniata River. The rod is short and beautifully light, but it handles larger trout with authority.
The 6’6″ Smithwick forced a strong and willful seventeen incher from a West Branch Delaware log jam on it’s very first visit! Not to be outdone, the seven-footer comes from the same taper design lineage, and presents flies from 60 feet or more with a double taper five weight perfectly.
I acquired one of my friend Dennis Menscer’s sweet casting 6′-8″ three weights several years ago. He told me that model was no stranger to larger trout, so I took him at his word. A heavy bodied eighteen-inch Delaware rainbow will test any trout tackle you’ve got, and I tangled with mine in fast water with a little CFO reel. Suffice to say the rod was doubled over and the reel screaming wildly throughout, and I loved every minute of it from hookset to net!
There is one more rod and one more special memory, and it is tied directly to my departed friend, the great Ed Shenk. I was able to acquire Ed’s Hardy Featherweight fly reel from his estate, and I commissioned friend and rodmaker Tom Whittle to design the ultimate seven-foot four weight cane fly rod to honor Ed’s memory and allow me to fish with my late mentor on our wide Catskill rivers. Fittingly I fished the rod on the historic Neversink River and brought a beautiful brown to hand with an original fly inspired by one of Ed’s classic patterns.
There is a special joy in fishing a short, lightweight bamboo fly rod, and the Master kindly showed me that fact. Reading his words again brought all those emotions to the fore. May the trout all rise for you in Heaven my friend, as they did on earth!
Bright Waters Catskill 