The Sevens, Part 3: Garcia Americana Beaver Kill

I learned about the Garcia Company when I was but a wee lad. My dad had an Abu Garcia spinning rod and reel combo, and he seemed to revere it as one of the best things ever to be developed within the world of fishing. Actually, now that I think about it, his rod and reel might not have had the Abu Garcia name on them, they might have only had Abu on them...Garcia was a separate company, formerly known as Garcia Conolon, and Abu was a Swedish company, and at some point they merged to form Abu Garcia, but Garcia Conolon had formerly been known ad Narmco...This company has a very confusing family tree which I am going to stop trying to figure out. I'm not a big history buff, any way.

One thing I do know about Garcia Conolon fly rods is that they usually were quite nice casting tools. They didn't always have as many guides as what is now the norm, but they did cast nicely. I have owned a few over the years, including one of their light blue jobs that looked like it had gotten painted in the same factory as 1970's kitchen appliances. The one thing that always stood out to me about old Garcia fly rods is that 99% of the fiberglass rods you see for sale have metal ferrules. Even the spendy olive-colored "Lee Wulff" models all had metal ferrules, and I am pretty sure they were made in the '70s when most other companies had gone away from metal ferrules...Of course, I could be wrong about the timeframe. And everything else, as well...

There are a few exceptions to that metal ferrule rule within the confusing Garcia family tree, though, which make that tree even more confusing. The Garcia Americana rods were made with fiberglass spigot ferrules. I am not sure if Garcia Americana was another company to add to the tree, or if that was just a model name or something else. I do know that they were made in America, and I also know that they were awesome casting rods. How do I know this? Because I own one!

It's a Garcia Americana Beaver Kill, and it's a 7' rod rated for 5&6 weight lines. It's got a beautiful dark brown finish, nice spigot ferrule, nicely-sized cork grip, and it's a super sweet caster. Most older rods with a dual line rating always seem to cast better with the heavier line, but this Garcia casts a 5wt line better than a 6, in my opinion. Last fall I fished my favorite trout stream all day with this rod, and it handled nymphs, streamers and dries with equal aplomb. And I caught fish all day, so the rod must be great, right?

Gear used today: Garcia Americana Beaver Kill rod, 7', rated for 5/6 wt. line; Redington Drift 5/6 reel; Cortland Dyna-tip 5wt WF line.

2017-The Year of the Crappie

Don't pay any attention to the title of this post. 2017 is not really the year of the crappie, I just wrote that to excite, enrage, and entice people to read this post. I think I might need to work on figuring out what actually excites, enrages, and entices people...

Yesterday was April Fools Day around here. And everywhere else, for that matter. Nobody in my household got fooled, that I know of, but we did get a lot accomplished, both inside and outside, as it was a beautiful 65 degree day, and a lot of Spring cleaning occurred. The kids even ran around in shorts and t-shirts. Personally, I thought it was still cool enough for pants, but what do I know?

A beautiful first day on the lake!

The Boy

At the end of the long day, the Boy and I had about 10 minutes to stroll down to the nearby lake and try to catch something. The ice hadn't been gone for all that long, so I suspected there might not be anything swimming around within casting distance yet, but you never know. I brought out my newly acquired Shakespeare 1250 Wonderod, a 7'9" 6wt that is not the normal Wonderod white, but instead a brownish tan color that I think was meant to mimic the color of bamboo. Although the cork is a little hard, it cast like a dream. I was very impressed with this rod's power and accuracy.

The 1250 Wonderod

The Boy hasn't quite mastered casting a fly rod yet, and I didn't particularly want to have to dig the wooly bugger out of either of our hides, so I cast and let him strip it in. We fished that way for about 10 casts, until the Boy decided he would rather go up and gather sticks from the yard for money, like his sisters were doing. After he left I made 4 more casts. After the third cast I was starting to think this was going to be a fruitless fishing trip, but then I made my fourth cast. I was stripping in my chartreuse wooly bugger just like we had previously done, but this time it stopped, and I instinctively set the hook, even though I hadn't set a hook in about 5 months, After a short battle I pulled in my first fish of 2017, and the first crappie I have ever caught in this lake. As my mother-in-law, who happened to be standing nearby, would attest, it wasn't huge, but it was a fish, and I was happy to catch it.

My first crappie from this lake.

My trip ended with that fish. Hopefully I will get back out soon and catch something else. Then maybe I can change 2017 to The Year of the Crappie and Other Fish...

The ol' Wonderod did a fine job!

Gear Used: Shakespeare Wonderod Model 1250, 7'9" 6wt; Scientific Angler System 6 fly reel; No-name 6wt DT fly line; Size 6 chartreuse wooly bugger.

The Sevens, Part 2: Orvis Fullflex A

Any fly fisher person who hasn't been living under a rock will recognize the name Orvis. Orvis is one of the biggest names in the industry, selling rods, reels, and everything else fly fishing related. They have some of the sweetest casting rods in the world, and have for a long time. My first "nice" fly rod was a 7'6" 3wt Orvis Silver Label graphite rod that I got back in the mid-90s. Before that I had done all my fly fishing with an "adequate-but-hardly-high-end" Cortland GRF, which was fine, but not "sweet". The Orvis rod changed my impression of the fly rod, from something that was fun and different, into the most awesome tool that man has ever created.

Some of you may already know that before Orvis sold graphite rods, they were a big seller of fiberglass rods. For the first 10 years or so their glass rods were made by the Phillipson company. The Phillipson-made Orvis rods I have cast have been very nice, but I much prefer the Orvis rods that were made in-house during the later years. Most of these Orvis made rods were known as Fullflex "A" rods. Don't know how they came up with that name, but I do know that they are sweet!

The rod I am writing about today is my 7' 5wt Fullflex "A" rod. It is a sweet little rod with plenty of reach to make 40-50' casts with ease, and enough backbone to cast medium-sized nymphs and streamers, or big-bushy dries. But it can be super delicate, too. The rod I own has a perfectly-sized cork grip, and a nice downlocking reel seat. Fullflex "A" rods were not known for their fancy accoutrements, and this rod is no exception. Simple but elegant script writing on the brown blank, along with single-tone orangish-brown wraps on the guides. But don't let that simplicity fool you. Let me tell you, this is one awesome casting tool. If you can find an Orvis Fullflex "A" rod in any size, I think you will happy with it.

Gear used: Orvis Fullflex "A" 7', 5wt fiberglass fly rod; Ross Gunnison G2 fly reel; No-name peach colored 5wt DT fly line.

Mini Glass Cast

If you have spent any time on this blog at all, you probably know that I have a deep rooted love for fiberglass fly rods. They are slow, you can feel them load, you don't have to have expert timing to make them work correctly, and they are cool. I, personally, also have a special thing for vintage glass. It's not that I don't like modern glass. It's just that I usually can't afford modern glass, so instead I have piles and piles of vintage glass. I think it secretly makes me happy inside to know that old things can work so well. Gives me some hope for myself...

I have several friends who also love glass rods, and we have, on occasion, gotten together to cast each others' rods. But I recently found out that I have two more friends who love glass, so of course I made plans for those two to join me in a hastily planned "mini glass cast".

It was a cold, windy day on the Minnesota tundra. We had heard that it was supposed to be in 40s, which seemed doable, but I don't think it ever got above 35, and the wind gusts had to have been around 35, as well. In other words, it was almost too cold to be out casting fly rods in a yard, but that didn't stop us.

I forgot to take any pics at this mini glass cast, so this is from an earlier get-together...

My friend, Greg, was the first to arrive. He unveiled several lovely old Fenwicks, along with a newer Diamondback 7' 3wt, a really cool James Green Spring Creek 8' 4wt, and a cannon of a Seele 8'8" 6wt. I brought a couple of Scotts, a Sage, a Wonderod, a Berkley Parametric, and a couple of others. Greg cast my rods, I cast his, and then we switched up, and then we went back to what we started with, and so on and so on.

Along the way my friend Peter arrived. He did not bring the numbers of rods that the rest of us brought, but he more than made up for that with quality. The first rod he took out, if my memory is correct, was a 7'9" 4wt Lemon Drop, which boggled everyone's minds. Then he unsheathed a 7'8" 4wt Chris Barclay rod, which made our jaws drop. Then he brought out a 7'6" 4wt Orvis Superfine, which took a backseat to none of the others. Talk about nice, modern glass rods!

So the three of us spent the next couple of hours trying to ignore how cold we were as we all went back and forth from rod to rod to rod and then back again. After all of that casting, we came to one conclusion: all glass rods have their own merit and strong points, and they are all awesome in their own way. What a fun, cold day!

The Sevens, Part 1: Phillipson Royal

I think that the fly rod is the coolest tool ever to be invented my mankind. Right behind the fly rod is the Matarelli whip finisher, but that's a story for another day, so let's get back to fly rods. I have cast a lot of fly rods over the years. Not only have I owned a bunch, but I worked at a fly shop for 12 years, so I was able to cast all the rods we sold there. Over the years I have come to appreciate fly rods of seven feet in length. I know they aren't always the most useful fly rod around, like if you are on big water or are chasing muskies, but I usually don't do those things. Seven-footers are very useful on a lot of the streams and ponds that I fish, so I have a special place in my heart for them.

Good thing I like them so much, because I own several! This is the first in a many-part series of posts about some of my seven-foot rods. Each post I will talk about an individual seven-footer, and why I like, or dislike, it so much. First up is my 7 foot, 6 weight Phillipson Royal.

The Phillipson rod company started out making bamboo rods, and switched over to being one of the premiere fiberglass rod builders in the country. I have cast a handful of Phillipson-built glass rods over the years, some of which were silky smooth casting tools, and some of which were clunkers. My Phillipson Royal is one of those silky smooth tools.

I hadn't cast my Royal in a while, so I recently took it out on the lawn to remind me of its virtues. It was fun. Being a 6-weight, this rod has some oomph, but it lays out a delicate presentation as well. I was able to belt out 45-foot casts into the considerable headwind that always encompasses my office building, and when I was casting with the wind, I was able to lay out 60 feet with little effort. I know this because I was casting a 100-foot long double taper fly line that I had cut in half to 50 feet. Let me tell you, seeing the backing never gets old, even if I am just casting half of a line...

I have never had any trouble casting large weighted nymphs and streamers with my Phillipson Royal, but it has the feel I need to cast tiny Blue Wing Olives on a long leader, as well. And every cast ends up right where I want it, as long as I haven't done anything stupid to mess things up.

I love my 7-foot Phillipson Royal. If you have a chance, you should try one for yourself. I think you will like it.

Gear Used: Phillipson Royal Model# RF70C 7' 6wt fiberglass fly rod; Scientific Anglers System 6 fly reel; No-name 6wt DT fly line.

Expo

The 2017 Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo ended yesterday, and I think it is safe to say it was the best one yet. I was there doing tying demonstrations all three days, and I had loads of fun. I met all sorts of interesting characters, tied lots of flies, and gave away most of them. It was great!

My work area for the Expo this year.

Friday was a little slow, but not as slow as the Fridays of some past years' Expos. When I arrived at the arena on Saturday afternoon for my scheduled tying time,though, I couldn't believe how many people were there. There was a sea of people. Way more people than I would have ever expected to have been interested in fly fishing! It was fun to see so many people there, but I momentarily imagined them all figuring out my secret trout fishing spots...That was scary!

Sundays at Expos like this can be fun, and this year's sure was. There wasn't the multitude of people that there was on Saturday, but there seemed to be a lot more kids, whom I had fun teasing, and a fair number of the aforementioned interesting characters, whom I had fun listening to. Sometimes I feel like my life doesn't have enough interesting characters in it, and then I go and spend three days at a fly fishing expo and I realize I have plenty...

So, I spent a total of about 13.5 hours tying dozens of flies, but when it was all said and done I only came home with 3 of them. I gave all the rest away, mostly to kids, and also to some of the characters. I started out tying Hippie Stompers, and then spent a majority of the time tying dozens of Stimulators. I tied so many that I used all the bleached elk hair on the patch that I brought with, and had to switch to tying them with black wings and tails. People still liked them!

Stimulator

Empty patch of elk hair

If you're in the Twin Cities next March, make sure you head over to the Great Waters Expo. I'm sure I'll be there, so stop by and say Hi!
 

In Print

I have seen my name in print a bunch of times, and let me tell you, it hasn't gotten old. Granted, most of the times that my name has been in print, I put it there. You see, I have been an Editor of two different publications in my life, and in both of those roles, it was oftentimes much easier for me to sit down and write whatever article needed writing than it was to find someone else who had the time or urge to write it.

RipRap

My first foray as an Editor was when I took over the publishing of my local Trout Unlimited Chapter's monthly newsletter, RipRap. I think that was around 2007, and I did it for about 6 years. In those 6 years, I wrote many articles and took many photographs, and got better and better at laying out a publication. It was fun. It won the Bollinger Award for best TU Newsletter in the country. And I got to see my name in print a lot.

I also had the opportunity to see my name in a now-defunct regional golf magazine called North Country Golf that I launched back in 2010. I put out a total of 8 issues over two years, I wrote about 95% of the content, took about 95% of the photos, did 100% of the layout, ad sales, marketing, and distribution, which is probably why it is now defunct. To be honest, I almost went defunct trying to get it all done, not to mention the fact that I still had a full-time job, a part-time job, and two kids under the age of 2 at the time. What was I thinking?!?! It was fun to see my name in print, though...

Every issue of North Country Golf. If you'd like to check it out, let me know. I can hook you up!

Which brings me to my latest endeavor. I recently found out that Fly Tyer magazine was going to run another of my articles. This one is titled Highly Adequate Parachute Flies, and it is in the Spring 2017 issue which is on news stands now. My first article for Fly Tyer ran in the Autumn 2014 issue, and that was about CDC-Enhanced Nymphs. I suppose, since I am tooting my own horn here, I should mention that I also had an article in The Drake a few years ago. You can read that one in its entirety HERE.

So, if you have a chance, check out Fly Tyer in the next couple of months. Perhaps I will have another article in a future issue. I might as well try, it's fun to see my name in print!