Landing a fish on cane
Source: Clarks
Q. Can anyone recommend a good reference on the proper way to fish with these fine instruments? I read a lot of "don'ts" but not a lot of "do's." The Linnea web page has a great picture on how not to land a big fish. My question is this: How does one land a big fish on a bamboo? I fish the spring creeks in the upper Midwest where a 14" fish is a trophy. But I also fish the Gallatin and Madison when I go to Montana and next year, I plan on taking a new bamboo. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Paul
A. [from William Oyster] The simple answer is, you fish it however you need to fish it to catch fish! Yes, you can throw nymphs, you can throw streamers, you can double-haul it, make long casts, etc. etc. Here is a link to some pictures from my fish gallery http://www.oysterbamboo.com/fishpics.html . All of those fish were caught on bamboo rods. Bamboo rods are much more durable than plastic rods. Of course, any rod can be broken, so just be sure not to bend the rod beyond perpendicular to the direction of the fish. If you keep the grip to line angle at less than 90 degrees the stress will be safely spread along the length of the rod. The more you point the grip (and I say "grip" because the rest of the rod will be bent) at the fish, the more the stress is taken up by the butt of the rod. If you go beyond 90 degrees, like pointing the rod behind your head, it puts undo stress on it and could cause it to break or take a set. Even if you do everything right the rod could still take a stress set (permanent bend), so to avoid this it's a good idea to turn the rod over (guides up) occasionally while playing a big fish and especially when landing him. This stresses the rod in the opposite direction it is usually stressed and helps to prevent it from taking a set. A customer of mine just reported landing more than fifty fish over 20" on his 7'6" 5wt in the last three months (he's retired image ). Everytime he landed a fish, he turned the rod over to counter the typical stresses. He reports that it is still arrow straight. Just yesterday on our lake I fought a very large striper on a 5wt. just for kicks, for about five minutes on 20lb test before losing him in the tree tops. I just turned the rod over occasionally and there is no set at all in the rod. By the way, the picture of the guy (me) in the Clakacraft with the big 'bow is from this Summer while fishing the Yellowstone. We also fished the Madison and Gallatin and carried nothing but bamboo in the drift boat for two weeks - no damage, no problems. So, have fun, keep the angle low, and enjoy your rod!
Bill O.
A2: A couple of additional suggestions that can be applied to any flyrod and will greatly shorten the length of a fishfight and both protect the rod and the fish. First, if you limit the rod grip to line angle to 45 degrees you'll be fighting the fish from the lower 1/3rd of the rod, by far the strongest part. this allows you to put vastly more pressure on any fish. A very good way to get a feel for the technique and a better understanding of how much more pull you can generate is to take the rod & reel outside, strip off about 20-30 feet of line and tie the tippet to a small spring scale(a Boga Grip is ideal). Have a friend hold the scale while you tighten up the line and clamp the reel down with your hand. Lift the rod tip upwards into a standard "fighting" angle and take a scale reading then lower the rod to near horizontal, wind up the slack and pull up or to either side not exceeding the 45 degree angle point. Take another reading, it should be about 3 times more than the pull you got with the high rod approach. The top 2/3rds of the rd will be almost straight, only bend will be in the butt and that is what it was built for.
Secondly, when you have a fish on and within about 30 feet of the rod tip start fighting with the rod held parallel to the water surface and to one side or the other of your body, still maintaining the 45 degree grip to line angle. Frequently sweep the rod through a shallow arc from one side of your body to the other. This alters the angle of pull you are putting on the fish and forces it to constantly adjust its' balance against the changing pull vector. I've had a lot of fish just seem to give up, confused and disoriented, after being subjected to a few minutes of this technique. They would become docile and allow me to lead them to hand with minimal pressure, sometimes shortening the length of the fight by half or even two thirds the usual duration.
Ken
A3. here's one more while we're giving those bigguns a hard time. When contantly reversing the angle on the fish, as Ken suggests, you can actually dip the tip of the rod under the water and cartwheel the fish by pulling in the opposite direction and downward. If you flip him a couple times he seems to get dizzy and that "peaceful easy feeling" comes on a bit quicker. It may seem like harassment to the un-initiated, but by quickly subduing the fish you reduce the lactic acid build up in his system and increase the odds of his survival after release. These tips are easier on your rod and easier on those trophy fish.
Bill O.
I can't visualize how you would land a fish on a bamboo without bending the tip greater than 90 degrees...
One hand holds the rod, the other hand holds the net. The closer together your hands are, the tighter the bend in the rod tip. So hold your hands far apart when netting a big fish. You can even push your rod hand away and a bit behind you. so that the rod arcs in a smooth, broad curve above you, and the fish is in front of you within reach of your net hand.
Netting a fish with a leader considerably longer than the rod isn't as hard as it may seem. Yes, it is important not to put your rod into the severe U-shaped bend, so it is necessary to push your rod hand far behind you (while keeping the rod pointed toward the fish) as you reach in front of you with the net. The fallacy is the assumption that you have to keep the line/leader knot outside the tiptop. The key is to have a good clean line/leader knot with a smooth tapered coating of your favored flexible cement - e.g. Aquaseal, Pliobond, Knotsense, etc. In fact, you should also coat other knots high up in the butt section as well. You can then safely pull the leader into the guides to shorten the distance between rod tip and fish without worry about a hangup and breakoff. I fish in places where 15' leaders are common and you just have to take the knots into the guides to avoid torturing your rod - bamboo or otherwise. With smooth, coated knots it isn't a problem. Loop-to-loop connections at a junction between butt sections or especially at the line/leader junction are lousy for this purpose because they leave a big bump where the loops connect.