Report and all images courtesy of Robert Farrand of Split Cane Blanks.

Just a quick update:

I have wrapped the base and one tip and have one more tip to wrap. Wrapping very fine silk can be slow and time consuming, it would be much easier to wrap with standard nylon thread, but it would also add too much bulk to the wrapping of a small 3 weight rod, in my humble opinion.

As it was the boss’ birthday this weekend, I thought fishing would be well and truly out of the question but, and instead, I was pleasantly surprised.

Doing the rounds on Sunday, and in order to visit and pick up the lucky birthday girl’s mountain of birthday gifts, one of our stops was at her dad’s. After a hefty slice of a fabulous, home-made cheesecake, the boss’ younger brother, Ben, asked if I wanted to go fishing. Fishing? During her birthday weekend? Is this a test of some sort? Luckily for me, Ben meant a new game on the Nintendo wii, and one which made my jaw drop ever so slightly!

Okay, so it wasn’t the real thing, but if you’re ever washed off a river due to bad weather, or just have a weekend of fishing abstinence forced upon you due to a certain special person’s birthday, give the game a go…you could always make the game more realistic by playing it in your waders.

Rapala Fishing Frenzy gets a FFISW thumbs-up. Thanks Ben; I’ll repay the favour by taking you fishing soon!

Rapala Fishing Frenzy - The answer to forced fishing abstinence? FFISW thinks so.

Report and all images courtesy of Robert Farrand of Split Cane Blanks.

After I ferruled and fit the blank, I dipped the blank for the first time in marine grade spar varnish as this helps to protect the blanks from the ambient moisture in the work area and give me a good base to wrap the thread on.

The blank took about 48 hours inside my drying cabinet to dry the varnish well enough to go on to the next step of the build process.

I start getting together the guides, hook keeper, and tops needed to build the fly rod. I am really impressed with the small handcrafted agate stripper guide that I ordered for this project. These strippers are all hand selected, polished, and fitted into a nickel silver frame by a little shop in Washington State on the west coast of the USA. Not to be forgotten; Pearsall’s Gossamer Silk thread.

Report and all images courtesy of Robert Farrand of Split Cane Blanks.

Having cut the ferrule station on the base section and installed the female ferrule, I am waiting for the epoxy to cure before continuing the ferruling. This will give me time to concentrate on the reel seat.

Gareth indicated to me that he would like a nice amboyna burl nickel silver cap and ring reel seat, so I searched through my wood and cut an outstanding piece of amboyna burl to reel seat size.

I first drill the hole through the 4 inch 1×1 amboyna blank.

Then I mount it to a steel mandrel and turn it on a mini wood lathe to .680 OD.

Once the reel seat is at the proper size I remove it from the lathe and mortise it to form a pocket for the reel seat foot.

Then I will give the wood a good coat of High gloss finish that will hold up under extreme outdoor conditions.

This is a little preview of the progress so far. I just dry fit the handle and grip on the blank to wet your apatite.

FFISW regular Martin is from Denmark (near Copenhagen to be precise) and has, just recently, visited the glorious land of Wales for work conferences, etc. It just so happened that Cardiff (his temporary city of residence for five days) is situated very near the river Taff, and as such, I managed to show him around some of the rivers and small stream tributaries of the Taff catchment.

Venturing out onto the main stem of the Taff we, unfortunately, enjoyed a rather difficult evening with very low levels of fly life and, consequently, even lower fish activity. Nevertheless, a few fish were caught, the majority of which though focused around the 5″ mark.

With the disappointment of the main river behind us, I took Martin to a place devoid of such emotions; a place where a newcomer is usually struck with awe upon entering its beautiful gorge-like expanse; a tributary of the main stem which, in my eyes, has no equal. Maybe it’s just because I fell in love with the old girl’s beauty a good while ago and, even though I’ll frolic with other streams, the affairs never go any further than the proverbial ‘friendly banter’; my commitment to this, my home stream, staying as rock solid as ever.

Picking Martin up from Cardiff at 8am, we made our way north towards the Brecon Beacons National Park and, in no time at all, were parked and tackling up by 8:30am. Mostyn arrived shortly after, and so us three stream enthusiasts began the hike a few miles down stream where our day of flicking amalgamations of fur and feather to lightning quick wild brown trout would soon begin.

Eventually stopping at our first pool, I parked Martin in a likely looking spot (which simply screamed fish), while I scrambled down a bank a little further down stream, and Mostyn moving even lower. All three of our runs accounted for no fish. I can’t explain it. They all should have held fish, and maybe probably even did, but there were no fish present that would react to our artificial flies with a rise, inspection, or otherwise. Such was the difficult morning that was set to continue.

Working our way upstream, we separated ways at a spot which slips the mind, all of us probably concentrating too hard on a riffle, pocket, or hole to notice another member of the group leapfrogging above the other. And so the morning went; working our way ever upwards, respecting the golden silence and solitude that these small streams require, and catching the odd lonesome fish. Soon, however, the slowness and unwillingness of the resident trout’s need to feed would change.

Progressing into late morning and early afternoon, we were still split apart, each of us enjoying the solitude, quiet, and the ever increasing number of wild trout which seemed hungrier and hungrier for a meal of CDC & Elk, with lashings of black Klinkhamer, and a side serving of bead-head Pheasant Tail Nymph.

I stumbled onto a lonesome, and quite hidden, low-corridor of streamy, riffley water, one such corridor which screams, punches, and practically has a fit while shouting “TROUT!!!” Within ten casts I had landed eight perfectly formed and quite impressively sized wild trout, with a fraction of my casts also catching a few of the surrounding and overhanging trees. This type of corridor really is the environment in which an angler will test his/her casting skills while crouching over on hands and knees, making a side/pendulum casts in order to present a fly under a dangerously low branch. That said, this really is my favourite place to fish.

As the day continued and the heat increased, even the glorious mayfly seemed to make an appearance for Martin’s visit (as did others). This sighting of Danica is becoming more and more common on this small tributary of the river Taff, and is a fantastic sign of the tiny river’s water quality.

As evening quickly approached we had fished more than four miles of small stream, clambering and hiking as we went. By the time the sun was on the incline, our energy reserves were so depleted that we decided on starting the long hike back to the car, fully exhausted, but at the same time, overjoyed at both the stunning beauty of this valley and by the huge number of wild fish we had caught throughout the day.

A definite fishing session to remember; Martin, I really hope you enjoyed the small streams. My thanks to you both for a fantastic day!

To see more images of the day, please see the relevant photo gallery by clicking here.