May Madness…

Well its June tomorrow and I’m long overdue an update on here!
Business wise thanks to all the customers we have had in the last 8 weeks. Plenty of rods made, some of which have already caught their first fish. Rob Mungovan sent us these photos of a nice 14″ wild fish he caught whilst using his new ‘small stream special’ for the first time. Nice one Rob!
Split Cane on a Small Stream

Photo by Rob Mungovan

 

We’re hoping to start offering some ‘traditional style’ fly reels in the coming months so watch this space for updates – the lathe will be busy!
Personally, I love this time of year. Everything is becoming greener by the day, temperatures are rising and Mayflies begin to flood off the streams, sending the trout into an absolute frenzy! So called ‘duffers fortnight’ and you can sometimes see why. The trout seem to forget every bit of nerves they have and just risk it all for a juicy mayfly. Luckily, I’ve had a couple of experiences like this recently.
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There’s a small overgrown stream that I’ve been dreaming of since last may. In the middle of nowhere, rarely fished, plenty of fly life and some of the most beautiful wild trout you’ll see. I hadn’t been yet this year and with the temperatures hotting up I had a feeling the mayflies may have started hatching – I HAD to go.
As I stepped onto the small footbridge near the start of the stretch everything just felt ‘right’. A few mayflies could be seen dancing on the banks, things were looking up! As I made my way upstream prospecting the likely looking places with my new mayfly pattern it wasn’t long before I rose a fish – I missed it – I wasn’t used to the ferocity of takes at this time of year and I jumped out of my skin! “I’ll be ready for the next one” I murmured, and I was! A beautiful little fish, perfectly marked and I was happy as could be.

 

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The fish are notoriously skittish in this small stream and returning from a few hours having caught a couple is usually a great feeling. I carried on fished up the stretch and ended up with 8, all on the mayfly!

 

 

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I’d barely reached the halfway point in the stretch and it was already 8.15PM and the wife was texting me, we still hadn’t had our evening meal… Needless to say I had to head home.
The next couple of days weret easy. I found myself constantly thinking about the joys I was missing on this particular stream! I HAD to go back! Tuesday evening I arrived at the stream just before 5PM – this time armed with the same 4’8″ cane rod and with my camera and tripod slung over my shoulder! The plan was to catch a few and hopefully get them on film. I ended up with a dozen or more – possibly my favourite and most rewarding evening of fishing ever!
It wasn’t easy on my own with the camera and the sun made things tough but I’ve put a film together of my evening spent on the stream. Here it is…
VIMEO:
YOUTUBE:
The mayfly will be tailing off now I’d imagine but I’m still itching to go back!
AR…
Adam Rawson
Dad, husband, maker of split cane fishing rods and lover of the great outdoors.

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