Awakened once more by the sounds of running water, rain tapping upon the roof and running down the gutters. You should have seen the clouds holding tight to the river, well beneath the mountain tops as I drove to the Rodmaker’s Workshop last Saturday. Should have stopped to shoot photos.
All of my tip strips have been finished planed! I made it through after sixty hours or so of toil, and soon they will be glued and subjected to the same filing and sanding the butt and mid sections are getting. At last, I can actually envision these coming together into a rod blank. Much still remains to be done of course, with ferrules to be fitted to the bamboo along with the lovely nickel silver and curly maple reel seat the folks at Classic Sporting Enterprises have crafted for me. I have a spool of rust colored silk I believe will complement the cane and the maple!
We are a week and a half into June and I still seem to greet each day with thoughts of rising rivers rather than rising trout. I stole a day yesterday, hoping that the rains that awakened me early would not resist my need to wade bright water. I thought perhaps the cool, damp day might elicit some insect activity and bring a good trout to the surface, though I walked away come afternoon still wanting.
They say the Red Gods have another half an inch or so in store for the Catskills today.
The perennial high water has forced me to fish graphite rods, rather than the delight of bamboo. When one cannot wade within ideal presentation distance for the situation, every foot of distance casting is called for. My old Thomas & Thomas Paradigm casts with a familiar grace after more than two decades, but the sweet magic of bamboo is missing. If the Red Gods allow me to go forth today, perhaps the 8-foot Paradigm shall walk with me. If I find that one fish rising between my longest cast with cane and my longest cast with sibling graphite, so be it!
Bright Waters Catskill 