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I had to go back to get my phone fr this one.

3K views 19 replies 17 participants last post by  flytyercurt 
#1 ·
I had to go back to get my phone for this one.

I went down to Denny's Dam to have a look around and came across this. I had forgot my phone in the truck but it was worth the return trip to the parking lot. It's an NRX 13' 7/8 with a bait caster taped on to the handle. I just shook my head. This guy also had a single hander with a spin reel on it he was using at the time.

Dan
 

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#5 ·
I have some buddies who fish floats and they swear by TFO deer creek speys converted into float rods. They have a rod builder who does a much nicer job than the rod in your picture.

I’ve seen it all down below denny’s though, guaranteed a couple times a year you’ll see someone with a switch rod, fly reel and fly line, with a float and a big gob of roe on the end. No idea how they cast the thing, but I’m sure it catches fish. 😉
 
#14 ·
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I’ve seen it all down below denny’s though, guaranteed a couple times a year you’ll see someone with a switch rod, fly reel and fly line, with a float and a big gob of roe on the end. No idea how they cast the thing, but I’m sure it catches fish. 😉
I have a friend who decided a bunch of years back to fish the T during steelhead season with a gob of roe swung off his fly rod. He was aware of the Great Lakes running line/slinky bottom-bouncing approach but decided to go the west coast drift rod approach with a big float.

In the end, he caught nothing on this rig and broke his rod tip. All this to simply nudge his catch rate up.

Karma is a *****.


P.S. The Great Lakes running line/slinky set up is absolutely deadly. I have not fished it in a quarter of a century. Still have lead and parachute cord tucked away somewhere in the house. Would be just as or more deadly on a 2-hand outfit as opposed to a single-hand fly rod.
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#6 ·
Guilty as charged .... back in the early '80s float fishing here on the Canadian side was just starting to emerge. Very little known about rods and technique. A lot of improvising was happening. I too had a spinning reel on my 9' 7/8 browning fly rod. Another set-up was a 9' 8/9 Loomis that I built myself and used a SA System II 8/9 with backing, running line and mono leader for bouncing bottom using small split shot. It was fun and effective. Later there was more development for float rods through Loomis and Lamiglas and guys were buying JW Young float reels from the UK in the mid-80's. I myself purchased two Loomis blanks and built them as float rods and started a small business building float and drift rods for guys, it was a lot of fun. I actually still have one float rod and my custom made float reel that sits in the closet. I guess I keep it for the memories ...


Mike
 
#12 ·
You can buy a pretty decent float rod for not much over $100. I think I would sell the NRX and buy a couple. I do have a Shimano 12' float rod still. I tried pinning for a couple seasons but just couldn't get into it. I haven't use the rod for a bit now but mostly it had a spinning reel on. As for bait casters, never got the hang of it, probably because I just didn't spend much time on them. I still have some nice spinning gear around. One is a Abu Garcia Sovereign reel and if it was better cosmetically it would be worth a few bucks. I sold a Fenwick 7' one peice w/tube a couple years ago. Nice deep water boat rod for jigging up walleye. Hmm, I should pull out some of this stuff. Should be a couple Berkley Lightning rods up there as well. Nice rods.

Dan
 
#13 · (Edited)
Having once made a 12' bamboo spey rod which I was not keen on, I decided to dismantle and salvage the lower of the three sections, including each of the corks. Waggling the remaining top two sections I thought they may prove to be a good 8" spinning rod, and so it came to pass. I added six extra and thin strips of bamboo under the length of the new cork handle to increase the rigidity in that area, it's a great fishing rod which is a thrill to use; coupled with a vintage and diminutive Mitchell 308 reel.

Sliding reel fittings purchased new, direct from Hardys. Custom brass and black rubber button end out of shot. Agateen lower guide, Hopkins & Holloway tip guide and (same make) light weight High Bells guides. Just above cork handle, dome of polished ebony. Intermediate silk wraps throughout. Bronzed nickel silver ferrule. Small blade spinner fitted with equally small and single barbless Siwash hook, enabling easy release.

It's not only fly rods which can sport a 'bit 'o class'..

Malcolm
 

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#15 ·
I went down to Denny's Dam to have a look around and came across this. I had forgot my phone in the truck but it was worth the return trip to the parking lot. It's an NRX 13' 7/8 with a bait caster taped on to the handle. I just shook my head. This guy also had a single hander with a spin reel on it he was using at the time.

Dan
Yeah I also have some conventional gear. But my nephew living in La Paz, Mexico --- he's got nice conventional gear, big-game saltwater stuff I get to use when we visit. We're more like brothers since growing up together and he still tries giving a bunch of $h*t and a hard time about my "fly"gear - I have to tell him to go hell or he just won't stop.

Cross-over, mix matched outfits ( taped together or otherwise ) don't bother me.

Maybe he has a plan in mind for the rod? Did you talk with him at any time - or after the return trip, taking picture of his stuff to post online?
 
#16 ·
Maybe he has a plan in mind for the rod? Did you talk with him at any time - or after the return trip, taking picture of his stuff to post online?
No I didn't get a chance to speak to him. After I saw him set it down he grabbed a single hander with a spinning reel and waded into the river. His buddy was pinning.

Dan
 
#19 ·
I learned about “fly fishing” when I was eleven and found a copy of Lefty Kreh’s “Fly Fishing in Salt Water”. I didn’t even know anyone who had ever touched a fly rod, and never did the whole time I lived in Florida. Anyway, from the pictures in the book I had someone make me a two handed “fly” rod like in Lefty’s book, only all he had was spinning rod blanks. So I went the other way and fly fished with a spinning rod blank. I’m guessing this is marginally less common that going the other way.:chuckle:

Sure wish I still had that rod for some reason.
 
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