Hard to imagine it, but we have passed mid-August already. Despite a glorious beginning, the days turned hot, and rain came barely at all. As river flow declined, so too the fishing.
One event certainly commanded my attention. It was morning, crisp and cool, though not as early as I would have liked, as I stalked upriver in another hopeful search for a hunter. There was a sudden rustling in the brush, followed by gentle rippling of the water behind me, and I turned to see a young fawn in the shallows. Without warning, the little deer began bounding through the river straight toward me, veering just in time to pass me by four or five feet, running straight through the loops of fly line trailing in the water. Amazingly, the fawn avoided tangling it’s legs in the line and bounded quickly straight across to the far bank, vanishing amid the foliage of the forest’s edge. I didn’t check my watch for my heart rate… I didn’t need to!
The month has become zero hour for my rodmaking venture. Thanks to the vagaries of Mother Nature, the tasks spilled from winter through flooded spring and on into summer, and now the Catskill Gathering is just three weeks away!
Last Saturday JA and I attacked the project anew, mounting ferrules and tiptops, after checking dimensions and cutting the four rod sections to their final lengths. I wrapped the epoxied ferrules with dental floss and headed home, with finishing to begin on Sunday morning.
The hand rubbed application of Tru-Oil gun stock finish produces a very nice rod finish and is more achievable for those of us who lack the proper work area for varnishing. A few days’ time is required, as JA recommends some fourteen coats. I realized when removing the dental floss on Sunday that we had both forgotten the straightening needed on one rod tip, so the finishing process began for three rod sections instead of four.
The first coat was applied Monday at five o’clock, then the second through the sixth coats working early mornings and evenings. Sanding was accomplished yesterday at the Catskill Rodmakers Workshop. I had stained the curly maple reel seat spacer to bring out the beauty of my favorite wood’s figuring, so the work began yesterday with epoxying the spacer onto the butt. Once cured, the preparation and basic construction of the custom cork grip proceeded with individual cork rings being selected and filed to enlarge the bored holes, fitting each to the tapered rod butt. Fitted and glued, the rings are fitted to the clamp and tightened.
This Saturday morning, I began the second phase of finishing (the first on that laggard, just straightened tip) which will include two coats with a light sanding between.
JA is featured fly tyer at the Museum today, so I’ll visit and give him some good old-fashioned encouragement by kibitzing and arguing that his beautifully tied Thunder Creek Streamers won’t float worth a damn. If you are in the region today, stop by and watch a master at work! I have seen JA tie these flies before and his work is not to be missed.
Bright Waters Catskill 