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1) But on smaller streams, would bamboo limit my ability to throw a dry/dropper rig?
2) Are 4wt bamboo rods pushing the lower limit of what the material should be used for?
3) What about length? I am coming to prefer a slightly longer (i.e. 8 ft) rod for the park in case I need to nymph a bit. Should I just limit my bamboo fishing to dries only and go with a shorter rod?
My answer would be:
1) bamboo is not the delicate material as being whimsy and all. Bamboo is REALLY tough, but it won’t handle abuse. Bamboo will certainly throw double rigs, be two (weighted) nymphs or a hopper-dropper rig. It will depend on the taper/action of the rod, line weight and not to forget your casting abilities.
I fish 90% with heavily weighted double rigged nymphs and have a blast!
2) Guess so. Again not because of the material being weak, more that it will handle abuse not so well. And unless you fish in small mountain streams for little brookies (that’s what these light rods are made for and which will be fine) you will probably put too much stress on these delicate rods when fishing in rivers with large trouts etc. You will end up with tip sets eventually.
3) It’s pretty funny how creative one gets when fishing with short rods, say 7 – 7.5 ft length which are VERY common with bamboo. I mean I fish with nymphs and I prefer high sticking a lot of the time. Go figure!
Rods above 7.5ft will get heavy in hand pretty fast. It’s not going to get you tired or something, but when compared to graphite you will feel it. Hollow built rods will get you a long way with longer rods. Some makers use the technique, many don’t.
Most hardcore bamboo fishermen won’t be bothered with it.
Me?… Hmm.. I think I’ll stay with the 7ft to 7.5ft rods I think.Jay
Abe you’re in for a long, diffuse and confusing ride.
If anything is confusing, then it’s the bamboo fly rod scene. For a beginner there is almost no way to avoid the trial-and-error path and it will cost you money. What you like in the beginning in terms of taper/action, length, cosmetics, maker, etc. WILL change after a while due to gathering more info, reading about them, casting them, talking about boo with other guys and personal preference. And this can and probably will be a costly ride.
Not trying to scare you, but you have to keep your common sense. Unless you have unlimited resources…
The Classic forum Zach mentioned is THE best place to be for bamboo rod info.
Good luck!
Jay
PS. Did I mention bamboo can be addictive? 😀
Lovely pics!
For these small cute cutts you’ll probably need a light short rod to get maximum fun?
Jay
Wow!
Thanks Neal! I never expected such a praise with a whole topic on it… 😮I started the site/blog because I was fed up sending friends pictures of my fishing trips by mail. Using a site I could post the pictures, add some comments and all of my friends could take a look & read at their leisure.
Quite soon I found out it’s a nice way to just share my ideas and thoughts about (mostly) fly fishing in general.
Jay
Cameron, those are really nice pictures!
Looks like great fun too. Casting dries to hungry cutts.Jay
I generally fish about 2 weeks worth of fishing a year and only on trout streams abroad. I could do all kind of nice still water fishing (not trouts btw) here in The Netherlands, but I prefer trout fishing in rivers and streams.
Oh, did I mention I have to drive 8-9 hours at least to reach the rivers I like?
It’s still not too bad though! 🙂
Jay
I had a new canon 10-22 overnighted and got it a couple hours before we headed out.
So this is an ultra wide angle lens. How much do they sell for?
Oops… probably 4-digit?…
Jay
Oh yeah .. Forgot to mention that my sigma wide angle took a crap on me (second time this has happened) two days before the trip! I really didn’t want to do this trip without a wide angle so… I had a new canon 10-22 overnighted and got it a couple hours before we headed out.
This kind of pictures makes me doubt if I should still get a SLR after all. I just hate the idea of carrying a heavy camera whole day long. I like traveling light… But the super wide angle pictures really look amazing.
Would any initial level SLR work this great?
Any thoughts I should consider when getting one?Jay
This looks & sounds like one of the trips you make and will remember till you are gone…
Great pics.
Thanks
JayGREAT pics!
Thanks for the report. Sounds like great fun.
Been to the Elk some years ago. I remember the shop.Jay
Thanks guys!
@Neal:
Drop me a PM so maybe I can help you with info needed. Maybe we can even hook up!
@Scott:
You’re welcome!Jay
I’ve seen all the new fly fishing gear Patagonia is making. I must say that the stuff is pretty sweet.
You’re making us curious!
Shed some light to us, what’s Patagonia coming up with?Jay
My SD card I used on my HP iPaq (a PDA) got corrupted. It’s not pictures, but files used on the PDA I can’t ‘see’ anymore.
Anyone an idea how to resurrect the SD? I really would like to get a couple of files back…. 🙁
Jay
Amen to Mike and Zach.
I use a Dynaking Professional.
Just functional, no flimsy parts, just SOLID.Jay
If you need a Windows environment, you can run either VMWare or Parallels in a window on your Mac set up side-by-side.
It’s pretty fast too since current Macs all run on Intel CPUs.
Do get additional memory. I added 2Gb extra on my iMac (24 inch).Jay
