Was Redemption, now fly fishing

[Roy Drinkwater]

     The Redemption topic got me thinking about how many RBW members fly fish.  I know that Grant fishes, but how many others?  Fly fishing seems like a natural hobby along with good bikes, right?

Roy Drinkwater

Lititz, PA

[Scott Henry]

I do, I don't combine the two often, but I enjoy fly fishing, and fishing in general, especially with my sons.   I have a great Browning takedown rod that fits inside a 2foot case.  It could easily stick out the top of a pannier or onto a rear rack, mostly though, I use it from a kayak.   

Scott

Dayton, OH

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Ron Mc]

Hey, I'll play.  We fish 12 months/year here.  The Texas hill country has limestone warmwater creeks.  The southernmost trout tailwater in the US is 20 minutes from my house, and is in John Ross's book America's 100 Best Trout Streams (I fished with John when he was down here).  I'm two hours shortest distance to the Gulf coast.  It's lined with barrier islands and miles-on-miles of foot-deep flats and turtle grass.  

Within the hill country, one noteworthy county as removed the right-of-way from all county roads to eliminate parking at the crossings.  Texas also has a "navigable water" rule where the landowner owns the river bottom on any creek less than 30' wide.  The headwaters have wonderful spring creeks that fish better than the middle rivers, which get pumped for agriculture.  These spots are prime bike-fishing.  The right-of-way rule is not to keep out fishermen, but to keep out those who would literally bring their bbq grills and literally crap on the landowner's bank.  Likewise the landowners who don't have to give you access don't want your vehicle drawing attention to their crossing.  But the sheriffs and Most of the landowners are amenable to biking in - parking a car is the problem for them.  

So for many of these places, we can park at a state road and bike a few miles to get in.  Zoeller Lane from Sisterdale to Waring is both a great bike ride and a great fish.  Likewise, Morris Ranch Road between Tivydale and Harper.  With gravel tires, bike fish can open up a new world of access - crossing you can't get to by car (River Bend road and the back way to Waring).  

(anyone whose still interested, here's a slideshow of my home water  http://bulldog1935.u.yuku.com/gallery/slideshow/fid/61159 , and here are some fish, though most are tailwater trout  http://bulldog1935.u.yuku.com/gallery/slideshow/fid/61108 , and for the person who can't get too much, my hobby business is repairing and buying and selling vintage fly reels, which has paid for my tackle collection, many bike parts, and kayaks, even. http://bulldog1935.u.yuku.com/gallery/slideshow/fid/61509  ) 

Another kudo for Brian at Carsick designs.  His roll-top panniers have nice end pouches that fit a rod tube.  

of course the pannier easily fits a Brady bag and my wet-wading shoes.  With a second pannier and rando bag, I can haul my waders and cleated boots and everything I need for a day of coldwater fishing.  In the pannier slot is a 4-pc. rod, and I can also haul 3-pc, which is the typical bamboo rod configuration.  The Japanese travel everywhere by train, and have tiny multipiece rods to save face on the train.  

This is a 7' 6-pc. Japanese glass rod that fits in a rod tube only 15 inches long, and, of course, is a cinch to bikefish.  

[Justin Schoop]

I will be loading my Hunq up next week for a two day/night fly fishing excursion along the Jackson River in Virginia!

[Ron Mc]

Many years ago I had a weekend-over business trip in SW NY state.  I planned and took my weekend into the PA Grand Canyon, stayed at a B&B that included a bicycle, and bike-fished Slate Run and Pine Creek.  

[Leslie]

I do.   I've not done the two together, but see it as a future combo.....

When biking from the house, my usual jaunt along the Greenbelt runs down along Reedy Creek (a not-so-healthy stream, lots of farmland sediment from upstream, etc), past its confluence with the South Fork of the Holston River, then along the river to its confluence with the North Fork.   Good smallmouth fishery at the forks.    This has been on my to-do list for awhile, but, I've usually too many things on my to-do list to be able to get time to do both together... either run fish for a bit, or go bike for a bit....

There are some trout streams up along the Creeper Trail;  it's a "load up the bikes and drive to the trail" to get there, and could then fish the streams alongside the trail, except, it's across the state line (and they double the cost of the licenses :/ ).  I do fish some other in-state trout streams, but they're not as bike-friendly.... 

On Monday, August 11, 2014 12:12:24 PM UTC-4, Roy Drinkwater wrote:

[Ron Mc]

ok, a plug - if any of you like slow noodle-y Japanese 3-wt rods (tight spaces, great roll-casting), my good friend here is selling the same 6-pc. Axisco Arrite rod in my photo above.  http://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=48493  I've known Matt for years, and bought my 1932 FE Thomas Special from him.  

[Neil]

Yep, love fly fishing. Haven't spent much time on my favorite water this year to due extreme drought. I haven't done much bike + fishing combo, but will definitely bring a 5 wt rod when I do the Old West route along the John Day River in Oregon, hopefully next year.

So much of the water here in the northern Sierras is so skinny, I've been wanting to give Tenkara a try. Hopefully next spring.

[Evan]

I, too, fly fish. Just once or twice each summer. Dry flies. Mostly the Yuba River and thereabouts in Nevada County, CA.

Evan E.

SF,CA

[BenG]

At about 8yrs old (1969) Dad bought me a hardware-store bamboo fly rod, level floating line, tied on light mono for leader, and mounted an old autowinding reel just to store the line. Then for 4 years we stood side by side on grandpa's wooden pier and fished dry flies for bluegills at sunset. Those are among my best memories! One of the ways this boy was affirmed as a man. Bless my dad, he probably dodged a lot of saggy loops. Thanks for throwing this thread out there!

[Call Me Jay]

I took up fly fishing about a year ago and it now rivals cycling as my favorite outlet. I've being try to combine the two when possible. Last weekend at D2R2, I stuffed one pocket full of fly fishing gear, strapped my tenkara rod to my rear rack and fished the Deerfield River on the way back to the finish. After the post ride dinner and beers, I put on my waders and fished the river again until dark. Epic day for a guy like me.

/Users/Jason/Desktop/IMG_4125.jpg

/Users/Jason/Desktop/IMG_4139.jpg

[doc]

Living near both the Letort and the Yellow Breeches, I noticed the similarities between country biking and fly fishing years ago.  Gear-centric focused on classic design, a Zen-like emphasis on getting things just right to achieve balance, a certain "uniform" that is readily recognized, and a focus on the journey rather than the destination/objective.

 

As for me, I have a Popeil Pocket Fisherman because I'm only permitted to have one expensive hobby at a time.

 

On Monday, August 11, 2014 12:12:24 PM UTC-4, Roy Drinkwater wrote:

[Tom Goodmann]

I started out combining the two with a multipiece strapped to my old LeTour while attending grad school in Indiana, where I first saw someone fly fishing in a small lake, and thought it the coolest activity I'd ever seen.  I still bikefish in Miami--there's a canal or a lake in a park nearly everywhere you turn--and always keep an old glass rod in the car on my way to anywhere around the area.  Biking aside, this summer I fished for a day while in Iceland for a meeting, catching many small brown trout on the Varma south of Reykjavik.  Am now just back from Montana, where I attended a Project Healing Waters benefit with Greg Brown performing; we fished the upper Big Blackfoot, where we caught lots of beautiful West Slope cutts, and then Hound Creek where it runs through one of those huge ranch properties--lots of browns, a few up up to 20 inches. Wow.  All of us fishing cane rods, the fly fishing analog to lugged steel frames!

Tom 

Miami, FL

[RJM]

I don't fly fish but I do fish. I do a bunch of pan fishing using a 7 foot ultralight pole, 2 or 4lb line and a spinning reel.

[Ron Mc]

gratuitous fish photo

[Tom Goodmann]

"Like.  A lot."  Nice photo, Ron.  (If I am right about what I see, I'd guess that not many here may know the significance of that reel in relation to your identity elsewhere!)

Tom

Miami

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/ZWOXLdbpAiA/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

[Ron Mc]

Always good to see you Tom.  The rod in the photo is a c. 1915-30 Leonard No. 39 Fairy Catskill, a true 3-wt. from the 20s.  A guy brought a leather box of cane pieces to my house offering anything I might buy from it.  Almost all of it was dead, and low-grade.  Sadly, there was a Thomas Special not even with salvageable hardware.  I thought the Leonard was toothpick stock:  only one piece of a tip, short and split, badly scarfed mid, missing two halves of different ferrules.  I paid salvage value for the Leonard hardware because I knew I could always sell it.  But I sent it to Dennis Stone and he said what was there was viable.  Amazing workmanship, re-scarfing the mid, scarfing the tip, new tip from scratch, new guides where needed and machined four ferrule halves.  He saved every original wrap that could be saved.  So with $650 in it, -and worth now maybe $100 more - I have the chance to fish a rod I could never afford in original condition.  

The reel I rebuilt for Michael Sinclair (cane rod author), then he turned around a year later and sold it to me for an embarrassingly low price.  
Just to show how sound the rod really is, a honking tailwater hen - not that this is a tailwater rod, but I have to take to the tailwater every now and then...

Great dry fly rod, but a real joy for swinging soft hackles

[Jim Bronson]

upper Guadalupe?  Frio?   Llano?

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Keep the metal side up and the rubber side down!

[Ron Mc]

Jim, the trout is the Canyon tailrace at Sattler, 20 minutes from my house.  Most of my warmwater fishing is Center Point and Hunt, plus I love the Pedernales headwaters above Fredericksburg.  I've fished the Llano from Junction to Mason, but never warmed up to it, because I like the smaller flagstone cypress tunnels.  

In monsoon years, when I can't fish close to home, I'll drive west to the Nueces and Sabinal.  Upper Sabinal has the best river bass and best sight-fishing in the state.  

On of my favorite places is the Sabinal confluence on the lower Frio.  

If you want to see some real south-Texas scrub fishing, check out this thread on the Frio Sendero s. of Hwy 90 and 20 miles from a paved road

http://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8498  

and here's gorgeous Seco Creek and a side trip to the upper Sabinal in a monsoon year

http://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=765

[Ron Mc]

Tom, here's "the bulldog" at work  http://classicflyrodforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=80246  offering suggestions to fix a 90-year-old reel.  

And yes, that Golden West, c.1920s-30s, acquired from Mike Sinclair, is the nicest I've ever handled, and great to fish.  That photo, btw was Chama, NM - a great place to take a bike.  

On Thursday, August 28, 2014 8:33:10 AM UTC-5, Tom Goodmann wrote:

[Ron Mc]

btw Jim, I lived in Austin for 15 years, and the San Gabriel was My river.  This map assembled by the San Gabriel fly fishers is very useful - the pins have links to descriptions, (mostly dated) fishing reports, and USGS.  http://www.sgflyfishers.com/GoogleMapWithMarkers.html  

With our feast or famine weather, droughts, monsoons, 60,000' one-block-wide thunderheads, flash floods, I always plan fishing trips using USGS flow data, Intellicast 24-hr precipitation, and NEXRAD.  

There is so little chert in the hill country, many of the headwaters creeks are clear and fish-able 24 hours after a flash flood.  This - the upper Pedernales 48 hours after a 900 cfs flood

  

On Thursday, August 28, 2014 9:59:28 AM UTC-5, Jim Bronson wrote: