Category Archives: Fishing

The Angler

Posted on August 13, 2013 by dave49

This sheet metal and scrap sculpture was recently placed on the river bank downstream from where I live. It is placed so that only a fly fisherman is likely to see it. I hope that keeps it safe from vandalism.

Posted in Fishing | 2 Comments

Grayrock 2013

Posted on June 23, 2013 by dave49

The Grayrock meeting of bamboo rod makers was held in Lovells last year, and again this year. So I attended even though I am not making rods. Wes Cooper Wayne Cattanach Judging tapers Outdoor session My interest in making a … Continue reading →

Posted in Rods | Leave a comment

Pentagonal Rod Gauge

Posted on June 5, 2013 by dave49

Lovells rodmaker RKP decided to make bamboo rods with pentagonal cross section, rather than the usual hexagonal. And now that he has started, he says that it takes less time to plane 5 strips than to plane 6 (!). The … Continue reading →

Posted in Rods | Leave a comment

Spring Mayflies

Posted on May 23, 2013 by dave49

My house is 200 feet from the river bank, and so attracts a few mayflies if lights are on in the evening. The night before last, some dark colored duns came to the screens. 36 hours later, they are molting … Continue reading →

Posted in Bugs | 1 Comment

Hex Spinner

Posted on June 23, 2012 by dave49

At the moment, fishing is taking precedence over making reels. Actually, I am creating the next design, but this involves short intervals of drawing and long intervals of thinking about what I have drawn. Some of this thinking can be … Continue reading →

Posted in Bugs | 2 Comments

Brown Drake Spinner

Posted on May 24, 2012 by dave49

The premier insect event on the North Branch of the Ausable is Brown Drake emergence and (3 days later) spinner fall. This year I have arrived at a satisfactory spinner pattern. Hook: 2X long #12 or #10 (Mustad 94831 or … Continue reading →

Posted in Bugs | 4 Comments

Brown Drakes

Posted on June 6, 2011 by dave49

We had Brown Drake emergence on the local river the evenings of June 2 to 4. Lots of bugs in the air and on the water, but little obvious feeding activity by the trout. I fished with John, who reported … Continue reading →

Posted in Bugs | Leave a comment

Perfection Loop

Posted on May 21, 2011 by dave49

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I decided to take a long downstream wade in the middle of the afternoon. This was after a morning morel hunt. Before starting out, I put new tippet on my leader. I use a … Continue reading →

Posted in Line/Knots | Leave a comment

Spool Capacity

Posted on April 23, 2011 by dave49

When I designed my first reels, I intended to accomodate 5 weight lines. I set the spool capacity from measurements of some other reel, now forgotten. So yesterday I made some measurements on the line that I installed on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Line/Knots, Spool | Leave a comment

Furled Leader

Posted on December 4, 2010 by dave49

This post isn’t about machining fly reels, but North Branch Reels is the only blog that I have.  This is about making furled leaders, a craft that takes less equipment and less skill than tying flies. Furled leaders have no … Continue reading →

Posted in Fishing, Line/Knots | 1 Comment