When Nancy and I travelled to visit Jason and Kelley and celebrate Brooke’s first birthday,  I received a most extraordinary gift–a rod from Jason. Let me back up just a bit. Jason is an exceptional rod designer. Not in the sense that I have helped design rods. I would tell the manufacturer to stiffen the rod just a bit here, make this section just a trifle softer, use larger snake guides, etc. No, Jason builds them from the mandrel up. Specifying the mandrel dimensions, cloth types, the cut pattern, and on and on, right down to the last detail of finishing. Jason’s rods really are completely designed by him. And they are clearly exceptional.

Having said that, Jason built and released a series of 20 rods called the SC20; that is, the Shadow Caster rod. It is 9 feet long for a 5-weight line. The 20 numbered rods were built to honor the 20^th anniversary of the movie, A River Runs Through It. I was deeply honored to receive rod 1 of 20.

I told Jason that I would not christen it with a small fish, but find a particularly good fish for the rod to cut its teeth on. And I did. It was a 14 pound 11 ounce hen brown in a Lake Michigan tributary. Then I took a 13 pound male coho with the rod. Feeling a bit like Jack the Giant Slayer, I took the rod after some huge kings. I hooked 11 kings up to 40 pounds but didn’t land a single one. It’s a great rod, but the kings were too heavy, and I couldn’t keep enough pressure on them as they shook and wallowed. Eventually every one was able to throw the barbless fly.

Still, the rod performed flawlessly, even casting a huge size 2 Icicle with a 3/0 shot ahead of it. The rod is butter smooth throughout the stroke. It throws beautiful tight loops without any extraneous effort. It responded immediately on the hook set, and I had no trouble with the big brown or the coho. It’s finished exquisitely. You can read about the rod in detail here.

This big hen brown (14 lb 11 oz) took a size 6 hair Leg Woolly Worm on the second good drift. Noice the delicate look of the SC20 . Delicate looking or not, it is an exceptional rod.

This 33 inch male coho (about 13 pounds) took a size 2 Icicle solidly on the third presentation. It fought like a demon, but the SC20 held its own and brought the fish in front of the camera.

John Beth and company fished the Great Lakes Tribs for kings and company, and found everyone at home. John connected with kings, cohos, and browns. He noted that he can’t ever remember such a large run of kings. So, if you’ve got a hankerin’ to catch a few of the big boys from the lakes, get to it.

The river of kings.

A nice big fresh female king.

The Cohos were in, too. This bright 30″ male took the fly strongly and fought like a tiger.

John found some nice browns, too.

And some of the nice browns were a bit more than “nice.”

Give a man a set of rubber legs and he will go wild. Theo is at it again. If anyone wants to watch him tie some of these easily done, and highly creative imitations, come to the International Fly Tying Symposium, November 23-24, at the Garden State Convention Center in Somerset New Jersey. I’ll be there watching right along with you.

What’s next? Will they actually crawl?

My good friend, Capt’n Jake Jordan spent some time fishing off Montauk with a couple of his friend a week or two ago and hit the stripers full on. They found the fish in about 20 feet of water and connected time and again. And then, just to be certain that everyone was having a good time, the stripers came to the surface and gave them all the chances they could ever want. When there are that many stripers at Montauk, one can be certain that the fishing all down the coast will pick up as the weather cools into November. I’ll be in southern Jersey looking for them just before the International Fly Tying Symposium, which runs the weekend of November 23, 24, at the Garden State Convention Center in Somerset, NJ. Stop by and check with me at the show to see how we did.

Nice striper, I’ll take a dozen, please.

Didn’t catch enough yet? Have another shot or two.

I’ve been traveling the last few weeks, and my good friend, Theo Bakelaar, has been feeding me information for my blog about tying and fishing. When this came, I got very excited. Talk about simple and fast to tie—and good looking! You be the judge.

These legs and the winging material that Theo has been experimenting with are all being distributed by Hareline Dubbin. Look for them at your favorite shop or at your favorite cataloger.

Here are the tying instructions:

Hook : TMC 212 R # 4 – 6 – 8

Thread: Black

Biots: Black or brown

Goldbead: 4 m/m

Ribbing: Goldwire

Body: Black or brown dubbing

Thorax: J:son realistic nymph legs

Step 1. Slip on a gold bead, tie in biot tails, then add a piece of gold wire for the rib.

Step 2. Dub on the abdomen and rib it.

Step 3. Dub on the thorax.

Step 4. Select the correct size of J:son realistic nymph legs.

Step 5. Tie the legs in just behind the gold bead, and wrap the thread rearward to secure them. Make several wrap at the rear of the thorax.

Step 6. Apply a bit more dubbing to the thread and wind it forward between the legs; finish the head behind the gold bead.

Step 7. Color the nymph and legs to match the natural.

Tie a golden stone the same way using appropriate dubbings and markers.

Northern pike occupy many waters in Europe and are great sport fish. Theo Bakelaar sent along some photos of a recent pike fishing outing in the small back channels off the canals in Holland. The pike take huge flies, and the challenge is to make true monster imitations without much weight, so they can be easily cast with a fly rod. Pike are ambush fish, darting out of cover to grab their prey with a mouthful of razor sharp dentures. Thus, the take is always very sudden and very hard. Wire is a necessity, not an option. I typically use 8 inches of 35-pound test, single strand wire. Braided wire is okay, but the pike’s teeth can puncture between the strands and cut the braid. If you use braided wire, check it often.

Weedy, back channels like this are excellent pike locations.

Pike flies have to be big, with emphasis on big. Note the wire leader.

Theo with a smaller pike. Even fish of this size take the fly with extreme vigor.

Our friend, Theo Bakelaar, from Holland continues to experiment with foam bodies and the new winging material. Here’s a dragonfly. The winging material is exceptional, and will be brought into the US and available soon. Watch for it. When I get a hint that it’s available here, I will post the news immediately.

The winging material is an excellent imitation of a variety of insect wings. Here Theo has used it on a dragonfly.

Looks like it’s ready to fly off with the rock!

After our time at Clydehurst, Marc Williams and I fished the Bighorn for a day with Brian Carpenter and Derek Newbern. Brian acted as our guide; we used his drift boat, and he was kind enough to row for us. Brian is the founder of Refuge Foundation. Its purpose is to give pastors a week’s respite from the pressures of running a church, and get them into the beauty and wonder of nature—especially the beauty and wonder of fly fishing (see here).

We fished the 3-mile to 13-mile section. And since it was Marc and Derek’s first trip to the ‘Horn, we spent most of the day in the upper half of this section, thoroughly fishing riffles, runs, and pools. The fish cooperated nicely, taking a variety of small nymphs (16s and 18s). The biggest fish topped out at 20 inches, but there were plenty of rainbows and browns in the 14 to 18 inch size. All in all, a great day.

The day was perfect–clear skies, 90 degrees, and trout on the feed.

A classic Bighorn rainbow that took a large Down and Dirty sculpin–an exception of the day. Other fish wanted tiny nymphs.

Marc was smiling all day; the ‘Horn treated him well.

Our friend, Theo Baakalar, in Holland, has been dressing flies with some new foam body material and new veined winging material. This adult cranefly is his latest creation. Even though it looks delicate, the materials in the fly are very tough and make it a real fishing fly, not just an artistic creation.

These new materials yield some very nice looking imitations, indeed.

This weekend (Sept. 13-15) I am at the Clydehurst Christian Ranch on the Boulder River in Montana teaching fly fishing with my friend Marc Williamson. Today was a fishing day for us. In addition to the fact that it was fun, it was also a necessity because we want to be able to advise those in attendance of both the river level and the fishing conditions.

The water is typical mid-September for Montana, that is low and clear—very clear. We noted some Hydropsychid caddis adults in the streamside willows, but did not see any rising fish. Our day was heavily invested in nymphing the swift pocket water of the river.

We used the old “Bait and Switch” tactic to great success. To the end of the leader we attached a San Juan Worm. And then, Tractor/Trailer style, we added a small nymph (14 or 16) about 15 inches below the Worm. We used a Prince Nymph, a Hare and Copper, or Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear for the bottom fly.

The indicator went about three feet above the top fly. We used Thing-A-Ma-Bobber indicators because we wanted to accurately control the depth of the flies during the drift. The trout were deep, and the fly had to get down into the bottom waters, but at the same time, the rocks also bore a glaze of filamentous green algae, and if the flies raked bottom they came up loaded with the hair-like plant material. The super buoyant indicators worked perfectly.

To get the flies down, right now, we used bead head imitations, but also added small shot as needed. The cast was important too. A Tuck Cast that flipped the imitations over and allowed them to rocket to the bottom was essential because many of the pockets were short and the fly had to get in and get down, right now. The casts were rarely over 20 feet long, and immediately after the cast, the rod tip was lifted high to control the line and eliminate drag. Any odd movement by the indicator was met with a quick short jerk with the rod tip.

I fished the Hardy 10 foot, 3-weight Zenith. It was the prefect rod. I could control the line with ease and the delicate tip got the hook in without breaking the 4X tippet.

None of the fish were over 13 inches, but they fight hard and swift on the 3-weight in the strong currents of the Boulder. The day totaled 30 trout for Marc and me in 3 hours of actual fishing time.

The Ranch sits well up in the narrow valley of the Boulder, about 35 miles from Big Timber.

Marc and I arrived at the Ranch on Wednesday evening in preparation for our sampling day.

The camp grounds are well maintained and make an excellent spot to teach fly casting.

Why do they call it the Boulder River? Dangerous wading, fast pocket water, and more than its share of boulders.

Though not especially large, the trout of the Boulder are in excellent condition and fight strong and hard in the heavy currents.

The group has assembled and is getting dinner before sweet dreams of fly fishing school .