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3. fished but not enough time on water

The forum is 'quiet'.
I took my brandy new fiberglass CGR rod to the Little Lehigh to try it out.4wt 6'6". Tossed a small prince with a size 20 midge off it. No weight, no indicator. Then added the smallest BB. I probably scared one or two. That lasted about 15 minutes until I tangled in the brush next to me and getting close to dark, I stepped on my fly. 6X didn't like that. Searched for about 5 minutes and realized the futility of it. Then tied on a rainbow warrior - fingers too frozen to do much else. Flipped a few runs. Then saw a biggun turning in about 2.5 feet of water on the other side in heavy flow below a decent sized rock. Couldn't interest him. Also didn't adjust to get down to him either. Time was of the essence. Walking downstream saw another one turning in about 18" of water - already O-dark-thirty at this time. Threw at it a couple times but not really 'trying'. Just had about 45 minutes to wet a line and see how this rod casts. Using rio in touch LT WF line. Mends really nice and picks up easily. Nice roll casts too. Just an hour of 'practice' really. Hoping to get out again soon.

Sounds good. Sounds like fishing to me. Anything worthwhile takes time; That's often the hard part. Hope you are enjoying your tangles; They are part of it.

Quite a while back I came to recognize what I call "episodes": Short periods of pure chaos during which I am at the whim of "The Entropy". It starts with a small tangle that winds tighter and tighter as I hastily work to disentangle myself from its grasp. The end result can be... downright incredible in which one could believe that there are supernatural powers at work. The key word of course is "hasty" and the understanding I've come to, the action I must take, is to freeze, sit down, and breath deep for 5 full minutes. It's amazing what 5 minutes of sanity will do. Not uncommonly, I suddenly realize my incredible tangle has mysteriously undone itself, and the trout are rising. :)

I keep hearing that the CGR rods are incredible rods, especially for the money. Maybe I should acquire one for myself and try it on the Big Thompson.

Good of you to get out and give that new outfit a whirl. Frozen fingers were a big part of my fishing steelhead up north for years.

Funny about the CGR rods and other fiberglass rods that are pushing into the cost areas of top line graphite of a few years ago. Us old timers (73) fished and loved fiberglass for many years, then everyone said we had to upgrade to graphite. For many of us it didn't take long to go back to fiberglass or bamboo for many of us and I'm glad to see the shift back to fiberglass, though you'll never feel the real "soul" of a rod until you fish grass.

Nick

been out a few times over the past month, with other rods... caught a few, lost a few scared many probably - but fishing blind... fished Tully a few days ago on a whim, didn't check weather and after 15 minutes a very nasty storm came through, I waited it out and then went fishing for sticks, caught quite a few... amazing how that tiny little hook will latch onto to every stick floating by under the water
Nick - CGR $59 while they lasted at beginning of 2017, the newer version is out now - about $130 or something

Hello Bassman,

Welcome to the forum.



Yep old guys had two material choices for their fly rods back in the late 1950's to early 1980's. Either bamboo rods if you had a very good job or were single and were able to save up $200 - $300 and get one. For other guys it was fiber glass rods.

My very first fly rod was a 8' 6" Phillipson that was probably for a #6 line. I don't remember the old lettering system to designate what fly line matched with a specific rod.

My 2nd fiber glass rod was at the time a very good rod called a Sila-Flex. It was a very nice rod and it cost me close to $100. I used that for years and then in the mid 1960's I started buying Fenwick fiber glass and had then in lengths from 6' 6" up to 9'. I think I had them in 6" increments. They were nice rods and I remember the medium brown color blank with the half Wells cork grip and the kind of bronze anodized down lock reel seat.

In the mid to late 1960's I was single and buying all makes and lengths of Orvis cane rods. Then I bought two Leonard Baby Catskill rods. Both 7' #4 with two tips. One was their blond cane with red wraps and the other was a flamed cane model with dark brown wraps.

I also had F.E. Thomas rods, a Dickerson, a Ritz and a 7' 6" #5 Carpenter. All the cane rods are long gone except I kept the Carpenter and use it once or twice a year on the Yellow Breeches during the Hendrickson hatch. I told my wife to slip it into my coffin when the time comes.