Brookies on Bamboo

Little known fact: I actually first started teaching myself to fly cast with a bamboo rod with no guides aside from the last and a silk line tied to that. I stood out in the yard and taught myself how to make perfect tight loops with that short piece of line. And yet, until today, I had never caught a fish on a bamboo rod. I've had one for a month or two, not a very good one but usable after some work, I was just waiting for the right day. 

Today clearly fit the bill. I severely needed to get in my happy place, which is of course any place where wild brook trout live. So packed up the bamboo rod and a box of flies and headed out to some local streams. The first stream has some nice brookies but the numbers have been in decline over the past couple years, so I was happy to get there and see fish had gone to work and there were lots of fish on the redds protecting them. I took the opportunity to just walk and watch. 

After a little while I decided to visit another stream that typically has a later spawn and a better fish population. Those two factors mean I'd have a better shot at finding some fish off the redds. I did. I got a pair of beautiful wild brookies on the Cinburg and the bamboo rod. It felt magical.

That makes 21 months of trout on dry flies. Let's see how far I can take this streak...