'09 Elkhorn Bamboo Challenge

[JohnScott]

This thread is distinctly an FAOL Bulletin Board kind of thing. Last April, I won the monthly FAOL drawing and was awarded an Elkhorn ES1489-6 two handed rod. After outfitting that rod and learning some basics of spey casting, I put it in the corner until ...... Late last September, I was thinking about what rod to build next, and it occurred to me that Elkhorn also sells bamboo rods and blanks.

Never having cast a bamboo rod, I thought it would be interesting to build one and fish only it for a whole year. I had pretty much decided that the 1489 two hander was not going to be much use for the kind of water I like and the type of fishing I do. So after reading some more about bamboo rods and thinking about it for a few weeks, I talked to Brian at Elkhorn and we worked out a deal where I would trade him even up the complete two handed rod outfit for a bamboo blank, grip and reel seat.

That resulted in the Elkhorn Bamboo Project and Challenge thread that I started in late October on the Rod Building Forum. Follow the link for the Project part of it.

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...ad.php?t=24106

Last year I posted a number of threads on this Fishing Reports Forum for the different rivers, streams and lakes I fished - four long running threads and several one time only fishing reports, starting as early as late February and ending just a couple days ago.

I didn't really expect the level of interest in the places I get to fish and hike, the fish I get to catch and the scenery and wildlife that surrounds the whole process, and the feedback and encouragement I received from so many people to continue reporting on my outings.
Admittedly, some days I didn't much feel like sitting down and writing about a day on the water and posting pics, even though the reports and pics are a great way for me to relive my experiences. When I felt like that, usually some comment in a post or a PM came back to me and reminded me that while I can't take this all too seriously, some folks really do appreciate the opportunity, for whatever reasons they have, to go along with me.

So this year I decided to report on the Challenge in a single post, assuming the administrators don't shut it down !! MontanaMoose recently referred to the "Elkhorn Chronicle" in a PM to me. I almost decided to put that title on the thread, but finally settled on something a bit more descriptive.

I'm looking forward to another interesting year in my backyard here in the Intermountain West. I hope all that come along enjoy it as much I plan to. If at any time it seems I'm taking this too seriously, somebody please give me a whack upside the head.

John

[JohnScott]

When I heard voices, I looked around to see who else might be out here in low 30s temps with a stiff wind out of the SSW. No one upstream - no one downstream.

Then four trumpeter swans came into view, angling toward the river from off to the right. Their voices carried through the wind as they hung a shallow right and headed across the river almost head on into the wind about a hundred yards downstream. With that headwind, their progress was almost like slow motion - my sense of the usual flight of these beautiful birds suggested that they would stall out and fall into the river. Watched them until they were out of sight and went back to fishing.



There were fish rising on and off - whitefish from the look of the rises. Pretty much what I expected, although I was hoping I might catch my first trout on bamboo. No trout today. Picked up a couple whitefish nymphing a soft hackle pheasant tail under a griffith gnat and later had a bunch of hits at the fly as I swung it across the current on a down and across presentation. Had one fish on for a few seconds that felt more like a trout than a whitefish, but we all know what that counts for.



Somehow a whitefish looks better with a bamboo rod as background.

Can't wait to see how the rod bends to a nice brown or cutt, and how they show it off when they get the chance !! Depending on the weather, that could be in a matter of days, or a matter of weeks.

John

[JohnScott]

Temps steady in the mid 30s. Breezes steady out of the SW in the mid 20s with gusts into the low 30s.

Would normally use a 7 wt in these conditions, especially when fishing weighted stonefly nymphs. That's part of this challenge. To fish conditions I would normally fish with my different graphite rods with just the one rod.

One of the other compromises was to downsize the stonefly from a size 6 4X long to a size 8 4X long. And add a bit less weight. Since the salmonfly nymphs are in the system for three years before hatching, there is always a good variety of sizes available to the fish, so scaling down a bit shouldn't be a major compromise. Fishing a single nymph rather than the tandem I consistently use with the bigger, faster rod is more significant.

Kind of a pretty day despite the reported weather conditions. The spot I chose to fish today is sheltered by a woods which blocks the SW winds, to some extent.



With the recent cold spell, I was wondering if there would be slush ice in the river. Nope. A fair amount of shelf ice has broken free and is floating along, but otherwise the river is running clear and ice free. The shelf ice comes in pieces the size of a dinner plate up to the size of a dinner table.



Wouldn't be wise to get too close to the edge of the shelf without waders, and even then there are plenty of places where it is a very big step down to the streambed right off the shelf.

Today it was a two to one ratio on the whitefish to trout - two whitefish and one trout - in a couple hours on the water.



Fished a pretty long stretch, and caught all three fish in one small section, fairly quickly. Did get in a lot of casting exercise. Hard to call it practice in the prevailing conditions. The wind surely didn't get up into the 30s where I was, but a fair part of the time there was enough breeze to affect casting.

Good chances the conditions will be more favorable tomorrow. Got a recommendation on some water I haven't fished, but it is definitely exposed to the SW winds so I'll need to pick my day carefully. The fellow I talked to seemed to think there would be a better chance of finding some trout in this particular stretch - smaller browns mostly. Hope to find out soon.

John

[jimsnarocks]

John, I'm glad to see you got started. Looks cold man. Watch out for icebergs. Good fishing to you. Jim

[Mike Thomas]

Hey John, looks real cold, hope you rememberd your hand warmers. Nice to see the grass rod out in the cold.
It is 20 degrees centigrade her at the moment and it is 6:15 in the morning, it is going to be a scortcher!
All the best.
Mike.

[Lew]

Be careful on that shelf ice John. If a small piece breaks off with you standing on it, it's not too bad, if the water' not too deep, but if a big piece breaks with you standing on it, it'll just sink forward and dump you in the water. But of course, you know that by now. I had to learn it the hard (cold) way.

[JohnScott]

Had an all time record high for this date this morning - 50F before noon. Forecast breezes materialized at about 20 mph out of the SSW, with gusts into the low 30s.

Decided to give the Trestle Run another go. The wind could be a problem on that section of the river, but there would be a good chance to fish to rising fish - whitefish for sure, but maybe some trout also ??

Got to the river just before 1:00 p.m. On the way to Trestle Run, you walk past this stretch, upstream of the run.



A few years ago, the main channel blew down this side of the river and there was a very small side channel splitting off to the south side. Over the last three years, there have been dramatic changes. The little old side channel is now the main channel, and this side of the river has come close to closing off, at least at low flows from fall through spring.

There was an ice shelf built up since I fished here on the first. Not very wide, and not very thick. But this one was a bit different - it extended, in most places, several feet out underwater. Not a good way to start wading. Unless you want to start on the seat of your pants. Walked up from my immediate access a little way until I found a spot where the ice shelf dropped cleanly to the riverbed to enter the water.



As expected, there were whitefish rising sporadically, but fairly often. Decided to go with a soft hackled coppery john trailing a griffith gnat. Didn't take long to land the first whitefish of the day. Caught another one on that fly before deciding to try the t.c.t.k. Caught a couple more on that fly.

Decided to trail a soft hackle p.t. off the gnat. Finally -



First time out this year, I almost certainly had a trout on, but didn't get a look. Yesterday, I got a good look but he slipped the hook just as I went to pick him up. So this little guy is the first trout of the year documented with a pic.

After the little brown, went to a s.h.p.t off a parachute adams for a while and caught one whitefish on the trailing fly. Then went with a pair of s.h.p.t.s fished wet - down and across presentation targeting areas of rises. Had a couple hits before picking up a couple more whitefish, both on the trailing fly.

By this time, a couple hours into the afternoon, it had turned rather cold. Temps had dropped a good ten degrees since I started, and the breeze, which had not been a factor, was picking up. Had a few raindrops on and off but nothing serious. However, my feet were starting to get kind of cold, so I decided to fish off the bank for a while before leaving.

Rigged up a s.h.p.t. under a small indicator and targeted rises for a while. Picked up a couple more whitefish.

This was one of the larger whitefish on the day.



One of the nice things about fishing this spot in this weather is the ten minute walk back to the truck. Chance for the feet to warm up.

On the day, the whitefish outnumbered the trout about ten to one. It'll get better !!

John

[MontanaMoose]

Lookin' good already John, I'm anxious to see or hear about that first 5 lb. brown on the grass rod.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

P.S. The days are
getting longer !

[JohnScott]

Where to start ?? Where to start ??

A pair of Golden Eagles ?



Or some Pronghorn Antelope ?



Maybe a band of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep ?



Ah, how about fishies ?



Saw several Bald Eagles, but they were out of camera range. The Coyotes were also out of camera range - but not out of earshot, several of them in chorus.

Now that I got started, I'll head on down to Part 2, which is about fishing. Well, maybe a couple comments about the wildlife, first.

The Golden Eagles were having a feast near the side of the road. Probably a road kill which ended up far enough off the pavement to provide a safe place for these guys to chow down on it. They were pretty persistent. I took a total of three passes by them, and got pics two times. A couple were almost good shots of the eagles in flight, but just didn't frame quite right.

There were more Pronghorn Antelope up there today than any other time I've been there. The band in the picture is part of a larger band that I counted to seventy-five before stopping. There were several other bands of that size or larger, and several smaller bands. Must have seen around three hundred, probably more.

This was the first time I had a camera with me when the Bighorn Sheep were around. Over the past four or five years, I've seen sheep at this location five or six times. The biggest band before today was six or seven. Today I counted eleven, both with the binoculars before I approached and when I got within camera range. All eleven can be seen in the photo. There was one ram that had a full curl, a couple younger sheep, and the rest all appeared to be females.

Besides the wildlife that let itself be seen, there were lots of other critters, big and small, that left their sign. Moose and deer tracks around the creek, and some small tracks that I couldn't identify.

All in all, the ride was well worth it, fishing or not.

( Continued )

[Ron Eagle Elk]

John,

Your fishing reports are great reads. More of a travelogue. The pics are a nice compliment too.

Grass rod or not, there is no way to pretty up a whitefish. Nice little brownie though.

REE