Taking a breath yesterday along the river, I realized that the fourth week, the last full week of August is upon us. I could swear it was just a few days ago I thought about August first coming up, remembering a particularly wonderful day when I walked up a pod of large brown trout I had all to myself. The season flows along as the rivers, and such moments do not wait for anglers.
I am about to begin the last sanding of three sections of my bamboo fly rod. These have received twelve coats of Tru-Oil, with two more to go, and then their finishing will be complete. My second tip is lagging behind. Finish application began later as there was a little sweep to be straightened under heat before I began to work the oil into the bamboo. That same finish is being applied to the curly maple reel seat spacer. Next week I will be wrapping silk to mount the snake guides, then varnishing those wraps, again finishing in multiple coats. Diligence, and a little luck, should see the rod completed just in time for the Catskill Gathering.
It was snowy January when this rod project began, the culmination of more than a decade fishing bamboo, reaching back to the beginnings of dry fly angling in America. My original hope was to complete the rod in time for spring fishing, underestimating the time that would be required to learn enough about this craft I have flirted with, and planning for more winter hours to spend in the Catskill Rodmakers Workshop during the first three and a half months of the year.
Of course, fishing has taken up some of my time. I have logged seventy-four days upon the rivers of my heart, fewer than expected five months into the dry fly season. Many days lost to heavy rains and high water this season, particularly during what is taken for granted as the highlight of spring.
I spent some pleasant hours this week, early mornings busying myself with rod work before sunrise, then haunting the rivers in search of the all too hard to find hunters in the mist. With the bright waters so very low and clear, I reached for that special three-weight bamboo rod I cajoled Dennis Menscer into making for me. Two very fine and difficult wild browns succumbed to it’s delicate solicitations, gorgeous trout of twenty-three and twenty-four inches. Their memories may have to last me through this coming week, if I am to complete my rod on time…
Bright Waters Catskill 