the yellow fever

awhile back, a friend show me a really interesting fish, it is a cutbow hybrid trout. Despite the mixture identity from different parents. This trout is really showing off some serious beautiful color, a bit copper brown, yellow and red and some interesting iridescent pink. I have to admit that I was in awe of those beautiful colorations. Those warm hues really match the yellowish fiberglass rod well... same warmth tone in those yellow blanks (Kabuto rods come into my mind). Needless to say those fiberglass rods are also bare those "warmth personality" - the soft actions! The more I fish those softer rods, the more I love them... the love of warmth hue and actions make it a sever syndrome of yellow fever! : )

awesome2

The North Umpqua, August 2012, Raw Footage...Why They Call Them STEALhead from T.A. on Vimeo.

awesomeness!!

a little bit history from flytyer

As Meiser and a few other have mentioned, it was Fenwick who had the first graphite fly rods on the market. It was in 1972 that Fenwick (which was then located in Bainbridge, WA at the same location Sage is now) began to send some graphite rods out to well-known fly fishers for testing and evaluation. They were offered to the public in 1974. I remember very well the first graphite rod I saw. It was when I was a student at Penn State in the spring of 1973 and taking Joe Humphrey's Fly Fishing class because I needed another Phys Ed credit to meet graduation requirements. Because I had been fly fishing since age 5 and tying flies since age 9, I looked at it as an easy "A" and a class that I'd get to learn some new stuff and get to go fishing on class outings. Anyhow, Joe had the class out at Fisherman's Paradise on Big Spring Creek (this is only about 6 miles north of State College, PA) on a gorgeous late April day. The Hendrickson's were hatching in earnest as was a brown caddis. Joe told me to make a cast over to the far side of the stream, which was an honest 75' from where we were all standing (you couldn't wade in the Fisherman's Paradise section then, or now) on the grassy bank. I told I him couldn't cast that far with the Shakespeare Wonder Rod I owned. Joe left and came back a few minute later with a black colored rod that was thinner than anything I'd ever seen. It has no maker's label on it, it was simply labeld 4/5 wt in white ink on the blank just up from the grip. The grip looked like a Fenwick grip though. At any rate, Joe strung it up with a 5 wt WF line, handed it to me, told me to tie on a Hendrickson, and make a cast over to where those nice fish were feeding on them off the far bank. I was amazed at how light, responsive, and powerful the rod was. I was able to make the cast and I hooked several of those fish in the next 20 minutes. As we were packing up to leave, I asked Joe what kind of "fiberglass" that rod was made of. He told me it was a new material called graphite and that it was the first prototype he had from Jimmy Green that he liked. He said the others were either too tippy or too stiff, but that Jimmy Green nailed it on these latest ones. I then asked Joe when they would be available to buy, he told me they would be out the next year and sell for around $175.00. This was quality bamboo rod money back then. The next year, I saw them listed for sale and they were called the Fenwick HMG. Intially they were black (very dark grey actually), but the following year the color was changed to a dark bown. The graphite revolution had begun. In about 1975 J.K. Fisher had graphite rods on the market, followed very quickly by Lamiglass (which was started by Gary Loomis and 4 others people. Gary wanted to start making rods out of graphite and get out of the aerospace industry he was an engineer in), etc. J.K. Fisher made private label blanks and finished rods for Winston, Scott, and Orvis. They now make their own blanks. Jimmy Green made a few fiberglass 2-handers for some folks he knew, but they weren't rods suitable for spey casting. They were designed for overhead, shooting head or long belly single-hand line casting. I think Jimmy was the first one to make a graphite 2-hander. Again this was for overhead casting, Jimmy never did learn how to spey cast as far as I know. He had no use for it and I've been told by some who knew him well that he claimed he could cast as far or further overhead with a shooting taper on a 2-hander than anyone could by spey casting. These first graphite 2-handers of Green's were not really suitable for spey casting because the tips were too flexible. The Sage 9140-4 originally had a weird grip on it. It had a long rear grip like a spinning rod and a normal sized front half-wells grip for the foregrip. These rods look very strange. There are some who call this grip the "lLemire Grip" because Harry fished one for quite a few years and they just assumed he wanted the grip made that way. They truth is, that is how Jimmy made the grip. I suspect he simply had the gals on the production line put on a spinning rod rear grip, add the reel seat, and then finally add the standard half-wells front grip because he hadn't really seen a true 2-handed rod. The old brownie Sage 9140-4 was designated as a 9/10 rod because Jimmy cast a shooting head on it that was the same wt as a 9/10 Scandi line. Jimmy's line was shorter than a Scandi line and was a true shooting head. This was back in the middle to late 1980's. Some of the folks here on this forum were friends with Jimmy Green and helped in the development of the graphite 2-hander. It didn't take long for the folks in the UK to start working with graphite to make 2-handers, and their rods were far more suitable to spey casting than the initial ones make here in the US. And the rest is history. Read the original thread from Speypages LINK

some stories you might want to know about..

the salmon forest - great clip

"The Last Salmon Forest" The Drake awards submission from Detonation Studios on Vimeo.

what we going to eat tonight?

Lazy boy's meal! Seafood curry! : ) Here is the recipe for 6 people: One onion, 3-4 red potato, 2 scallion shoots, 6-10 chicken wings, one bowl of shrimps, one pack of squid and scallops(optional). 1/3 of curry paste. Here is deal, buy the best curry paste you can afford, I got them from Japanese restaurant. here is one of the brand I got from the US. link because this is the key element (duh). It will determine the final flavor a lot. Second, make sure you mix different brands of curry if you really want to impress your customers. The spirit of a curry dish is "blend in". See even I am cooking seafood curry, I still will use chicken wing to add another dimension of flavor. Same principle can apply to vegetable. put whatever you like, but be careful not to overpower the curry's main flavor. 1) peel off red potato and cut them in chunks. 2) chop up onions and green scallion. 3) heat up a pan with some vegetable oil, stir fry chick wings (all in) and some green scallion for 2 minutes until the chicken smell good and about half cooked (another 2 mins). 4) put in potatos and keep stirring(1 minute). 5) put half of chop up onion and stir. close lid let it cook for 3 minutes. 6) add half cup of white wine, or better yet (Japanese rice wine) Make sure the flavor start to blend in... and potato start to soften and soak in all the flavors. 7) move to a bigger pot, medium heat, add another cup of water to cover the items in the pot. (like making a soup) 8) Boil the pot, and put in 1/3 of the curry paste, turn the heat to small, slow cooking process start from here. The paste will melt quickly and start to blend all the flavor together. put in another half of onion here. 9) stir frequently to avoid burning the bottom. (the curry pot will thickening and easy to get burned) 10) now, put in any seafood whatever you like (shrimp, squid, scallop or fish). They are relative easy to cook, don't put them in the pot too early. 11) additional 5 minutes should get everything done. I like to put in some "easy cook" vegetable just right before the dish finished. something like colored bell pepper, lettuce, added color and add some "freshness" contrast flavor. 12) pour a cup of icy cold beer! 13) that's it! Bon Appetit! NOTED: curry usually will taste better the next day... not a bad idea to prepare the curry the day before your guests are visiting. : )

Madison

deep in a forest

spinning back the twisted running line

my favorite TV show!

Sage CIRCA - Fly Fishing with Advanced, Slow-Action Performance. from Sol Duc Buck on Vimeo.

Fenwick fiberglass 3weight 7feet "Little Yellow"

Last day on the Henry's Fork. The flow is perfect and gentle. I strung up my beloved Fenwick little yellow and have a cup of CDC PMD #16 flies hand-tied by Brad Smith. A 45 minutes stalking on a monstrous head and finally close in around 20 feet range. My hands were shaking so hard that I spend at least 5 minutes to just get the leader through the fly. The fish is forgiving about my cast... she swallowed the fly while the time seems freezed. I know my life won't be the same after this moment... No, I did not land her... but I know she is healthy and strong! Thank you Bryan — at The Trout Hunter.

fiberglass switch rod in good hands

Zach Wheeler fired up an laser loop on the Lamiglas switch rod. This fiberglass rod is amazing light due to the relative short length. But the smooth feel and strong butt section will get the fly out there 70-80 feet with a breeze effort. Nice and gentle and out she goes. Fiberglass is a overlooked material in switch/spey rods. If you got a chance to build one, you will understand what I said. This particular rod is built from 9' 9 weight Lamiglas blank and installed 1.5 feet graphite butt section to make it total 10' 8 weight switch rod. 420 grain scandi head and Airflo 540 grain @ 20' skagit switch line is what I like on this rod. Also I built a 440 grain @ 16' line for special tight quarter fishing condition. Cast like a little sweet home made brownie! : )