First Day on the Water for the Worst Fly Rod Ever

Catching Fish, and it isn't even finished!

This brown took a bead head wooly bugger fished close to the bottom

Well, this rod still needs some work, but it is now fishable. Despite the gap between the two pieces of cork and still having the original cheap wire spin guides, I decided to take it out for a fish after work. The fish were rising in the tail of the first pool I approached, but the only way to get the fly to them from my position was with a downstream cast across the pool, thus allowing the fly to continue downstream to the fish. They blatantly ignored a number of good presentations before I spooked them. It was a frustrating start. It didn't help that the bank behind me was steep and had plenty of grass and foliage to snatch a fly on the backcast. This was the first problem I noticed with the rod - the length. It didn't like roll casting, nor was it easy to get the back cast over the tall grass. At only around 5 foot long, I decided that its real place is in super tight water with a lot of overhead cover to impede casting.  It also didn't help that I could see absolutely tiny mayflies around, but I didn't have a fly small enough to imitate them in my box.


Back to that first pool, I had spooked all the fish in the tail out, but suspected some fish would be hanging in the deep mid section, and if I went deep then perhaps there were some that had not been spooked from my previous casts. I tried a brown bead head wooly bugger, and had fish come up slashing at the fly but no hookups. I decided to let it sink almost right to the bottom amongst the small boulders and work it close to the bottom. A few strips and the fish pictured above snatched the fly and came straight up, launching itself clear of the water. I decided to take a quick shot with the phone since it was the first fish for the rod, but I was disappointed that it was not taken on a dry.I went on to hook three more - all on a parachute adams, landing two and spooking a number of other fish on approaching their pools. Not bad for the first outing. It looks like this might be a rod that sits in the car permanently for those quick unplanned trips, or just as a backup. I need to get the grip tidied up; both between the grip and reel seat, and the grip itself could do with a little more sanding. A few proper snake guides and some neat bindings will finish up a fun little project. 


I am not sure that it is the worst fly rod ever, but I am pretty certain it would be close. I did discover that it wasn't too bad for bow and arrow casting into tight spots, as long as distance wasn't important. No doubt you will see more of this rod around here from time to time.