The first cast...

[K7zb]

As a first rod I only got kind of close to the intended taper of Payne 98 - the tip section wasn't too far off but the butt... well, I've seen butts that are beauts but this one isn't. But then I have learned that's more or less true of most rods built... so here is my rod blank averaged data plotted against a couple of others.

Apparently the over-sized butt section with a substantial increase just below the ferrule is the primary cause of a noticeable ripple in the line on both the back and forward casts. I can toss either a 4 or 5 weight line with it but it does a fantastic job of roll casting with a 5 wt. The bottom line is, it works.

Next up is a Garrison 202E...

Rod no 1 vs P98 and Grnager Victory.jpg

[K7zb]

I just got back from 4 days fishing in Colorado with our youngest son, Jon. We fished Cheesman Canyon on the South Platte, the middle St Vrain southwest of Lyons in Peaceful Valley (and now I kind of have an idea of what John Gierach is talking about), the north St Vrain along the Wild Basin Trail just above Allenspark in the RMNP and, best of all, the Colorado River about 15 miles south of its headwaters near the Colorado River Trail (11 miles north of Grand Lake, CO) in the RMNP. Fishing for brook trout along the Colorado River is just so much fun... more fish than you could imagine. Jon tried my bamboo rod for the first time and here is what happened:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbYpTUJgmd8

[K7zb]

Here's the video of the entire trip to Colorado, fishing the South Platte in Cheesman Canyon, the St Vrain and the Colorado Rivers...

[NewTyer 1]

Those fish landing scenes are classic, especially the first one where you lost your net. Classic

[K7zb]

NT1, watching it in person was a real hoot - that's our youngest son, Jon, who lives in Littleton. He forgot to secure his net to his pack. He out fished me a bunch - nothing I caught needed a net! I have a still photo of this sequence where he was holding the net upside down at one point - we both thought it was hilarious.

[K7zb]

So I am now straightening strips for a Garrison 202E and just purchased the DVD of Garrison making fly rods. And I thought I was the only one struggling to get strips straight... at t=29:36 Garrison is sitting at his bench showing us how he straightens strips and he sights down along one he just worked on and mutters, "****, ah ****...". My sentiments exactly!

[K7zb]

I'm in Sweden right now and just heard from our son Jon who has returned from a weekend trip to Cheesman Canyon on the South Platte. In light of the fish-landing scene in our video I thought I'd post his report:

killed it at cheesman today, caught 4 really nice trout - all over 15" (i actually measured them this time, the largest was 1. *3 brown, 1 rainbow. *no pics - i had my phone in my backpack. *never go to cheesman without a net - i would've caught more if i had mine but i had to land them with my hands...tied good knots today evidently!

[K7zb]

Just got back from a trip to Montana - of the rivers and streams we fished here is a Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout caught on Bitch Creek in Idaho on my bamboo rod... what a thrill!

[redietz]

You should be close to finishing the 202E by now. How's that going?

[K7zb]

Hey Bob!

Well, I need to get hot on that - I have been traveling all over the place this summer and it is still in rough-planed state in my shop. This one (assuming it turns out well enough) is going to be a Christmas present for our son Jon out in Colorado. My mentor Mark thinks it ought to be a Granger since Jon lives in CO but I've already got it in my mind to keep it a G202E since I really like the way they cast. Now that I've had the opportunity to use my rod in Michigan, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming over the summer several things have occurred to me - first, I really, really like using a bamboo rod, and second, once I got over the mental hangup of trying to handle it like a piece of fine china it dawned on me that that's all it really is - a fly rod. But a good one.