This marks nearly eleven months since I completed my first bamboo fly rod, split and planed and finished on August 28th, 2025. Fishing was very, very slow late last summer, I never had the chance to take a log book trout with my creation. Today, amid a very productive summer season, the ARS came of age.
Indeed, this morning’s fishing made this drastically shortened season surpass my total of the log book boys from the entire season of 2025. Even missing my spring while nearly losing my life, this year has been better than last year! Taking three fine brownies this morning, each measuring twenty inches or better was the perfect way to close out a remarkable week.
The star of the day, outside the rod itself, was a heavy bodied, black spotted 23-inch brownie that gave my Lo o bamboo three-piece a true test.
Reflecting the eighty odd hours in the rod shop over eight months required to make this crisp casting 7’9″ hand planed bamboo rod feels well-spent, and taking a beautiful milestone fish sweetens the memory and the joy I felt last August when I first strung up a few different fly lines for my first test casts.
JA and I enjoyed a crisp fifty-four degree morning, a nice break from recent heat, and both found success with rods of our own make and memorable wild Catskill brown trout. It just isn’t better than that!
Bright Waters Catskill 