Thinking Cane Part 3

3/12/2013 - Wow, it's been over a month since I last posted.  In that time I bought two 1" x 1" x 5' sections of aluminum to make another set of planing forms that should hopefully last a bit longer and will be more durable.  I bought the aluminum well over a month ago and right away began filing each face of the bars. 



Here's the two bars clamped and ready for filing. 
 

As you can see in the picture above the bars are clamped together with some C-clamps and then flipped over and then the filing begins.  The first face to be filed is the part of the form that will be facing the inside of the form.  The filing takes away any imperfection and unevenness that shows up in the metal.  These peices must be in all sense of the word "perfect" so that the rod has the proper feel as it is cast and used while fishing.  For more information on how these forms are made you can refer to the following links

       http://www.thomaspenrose.com/form01.htm
       http://www.bamboorodmaking.com/html/wood_planing_forms.html
      

After a long tedious filing session the two bars are ready for drilling and tapping each station.  Each bar is 5' long.  Each station on each bar is 5 inches apart.  Starting one inch from the edge I then measured each station in five inch increments.  After each increment is marked the bars are then placed on the drill press and then each hole is drilled.  I used a 1/4" drill bit and proceded to drill each hole completely through both bars.  After the holes are drilled I used a 5/16" drill bit and enlarged the holes on the bar that was going to do the sliding as the form is open and closed.

Holes being marked prior to drilling

As you can see in the picture above the holes are being marked for each pull station.  The push stations will be marked in the same manner as above.  In the picture both the push and pull stations will have threads tapped on the same side.  On the opposite side of the form the pull hole will be enlarged as I stated above so the form can slide as it is pushed open and as it is being pulled closed.  Remember to take your time as you drill each hole.  Here precision is the name of the game.  If you're not careful you will ruin the form and you'll have to scrap it and then start all over.  So remember slow and steady wins the race.

The form finished in all it's glory

Here each hole was drilled then tapped and all the bolts placed and the form tightened down.  When this step is complete each of the planing surfaces are again draw filed.  This is a one of those other long and tedious steps in making the form.  After this step is complete I then losened each pull bolt about 1/4" then tighted down the push bolts separating the two halves of the form.  From there I went to each pull station and measured IN 0.006" then tightened each bolt at the desired measurement.  As I went up the form towards the butt I moved each station in again at the distance previously stated.  This gives a rough taper of 0.001" per inch as you move up and down the form.  From there I took a triangle file and made a tool to file the 60* groove in the form.  This is the most labor intensive part of the whole process because as the form is closed the groove becomes deeper.  When no more material can be removed from the file congradulations you're finished.

Please keep in mind I am NO EXPERT and I couldn't have completed this project without referring to the websites I refered to above.  I took bits and peices from all the sites and all the bamboo rodbuilding forums and made my forms.  At first is was very confusing with all the different numbers being thrown at me but eventually I got it.

Again, if you wish to make the form use the links above as they are loaded with great information on how to make one of these forms.

Randy

Thinking About Cane Pt. 2

You may think why go back to cane when graphite is so much better.  Graphite is lighter, stiffer, more sensitive and easier to wrap.  That's exacty correct but, cane is organic, it is just as strong as graphite, can be made fairly light if hollowed and when made right can be a work of art.  Also cane just has a warmth that graphite can never have. 

Seeing photos and youtube videos of people making cane rods has nearly consumed me.  I really don't even think about graphite rods anymore.  Well, at least at this time I haven't given them any thought.  The people who build these master pieces are truly inspirational. 

Yesterday 1/16/13 I took a ride to Home Depot and bought two six foot lengths of maple to begin making my planing forms.  Since I couldn't find a 45 file (if one is even made) I have decided to make a hex float rod after I learn on the two stirp bamboo quad float rod I am planning on making.  From there I will tackle the hex in all of it's glory.  Now I am getting ready to head to Harbor Freight for some measuring equipment, depth guage, and calipers, and maybe a micrometer if I have enough funds.

I'm planning on documenting the process here so everyone who stumbles across this page can follow along.  You will see all my screw-ups along the way.  This is a learning process and every mistake made will be a lesson learned.  I know for a fact some of the blanks my wife will use as tomato stakes.  But there will be one that will look like a work of art and it'll be something I can be proud of. 

Well time to get the tools and supplies.  Stay tuned for part three.

Randy

Updates:

1/18/2013 I thought I would add some more to the post.  I started on the planing form and so far it is coming along nicely.  Metal would have been the better way to go but for now the wood planing form will have to do.  The bamboo should arrive via UPS today sometime.  So, this coming Wednesday I will attempt to split the culms and then try my hand at making a bamboo fishing rod.  I'm looking forward to this new challenge.

1/19/2013 I got the cane today and began splitting the culm.  What a pain in the butt it was splitting it.  I used a heat gun to cure the cane which took an awefully long time to do.  I know I need a torch to properly flame it so on Wednesday I will stop by Home Depot and buy one.  So.... After I split the culm in half I then tried to split each of the halves in half with no success... I ruined the entire culm, luckily I have seven more to screw up on.  This time I am going to try to use my dremmel and cut each individual strip.  I am hoping that this will allow me to make each strip straight and with out splintering as every other try I had did.  Boy you guys on the cane rod forums sure make it look easy.

2/04/2013 Well, I went to Home Depot and bought a new propane torch and used it to flame another bamboo culm.  What a difference the torch made.  Starting at the middle of the culm I flamed the outer enamel to the outer end of the culm as I progress to the outsides the moisture escapes and the bamboo dries out and after that it was so much easier to split.  After that each section was planed, tapered, and glued and then a final taper was planed. 

Thinking About Cane

Well... After getting laughed off the rodbuildingforum.com website for asking about how to go about making a five piece float rod with out resorting to going the spey blank route which was recommended by a few fellow steelheaders (you obviously didn't read my post well enough). 

I came across a few threads dedicated to build a two strip cane fly-rod.  So after researching this matter a little more I have decided to dive head first in this endeavor and build a three piece 13' cane float rod.  I'm not buying an already made blank.  I am buying the bamboo pole and will then split it, plane it, glue it, plane it again and then finish the rod off with my stainless-steel wire guides, utilize spliced ferrules, and silk thread to attach the guides to the blank.  The only bad thing about this build is I will be using the two strip quad cane set up due to the fact that I do not have access to a planing form.  However, building a rod using this style can be done without a form thus the other name it was given was Poor Man's Quad.  I will post pictures of the progress of the build.  The goal of this build is to learn how a particular taper affects the action of the rod and how that rod behaves with that particular taper.  Keep in mind I am not reinventing the wheel.  I am simply trying to create a fishing rod that I can learn something from and have fun doing it.

As for my graphite multi-piece float rod.  It is still floating around in my head on how to go about making it.  I am stuck at how to go about building the taper and finding the perfect blanks to use to find that perfect action I am looking for with out seeing the blanks in person and feeling each one.  I set out a number of years ago to build a spliced-tip float rod and last October I made it but I didn't finish wrapping the tip.  I think this year I will get that done and finish wrapping the rod (it was pictured and mentioned in my other posts).  So stay tuned in to this post as I will be updating this blog as I complete each step in the process of building my two-strip quad cane float rod.

Rocky River 11/17/12

Sorry for the late post.  I decided to sneak out of the house for a couple of hour break away from my statistics class which is just driving me crazy.  Anyways, I took the Bear along as I usually do.  I arrived to a spot on the upper main branch of the river and managed to hook into three average size steelhead.  The fish all hit near the tail of the hole and all of them were on uncured king salmon eggs.

The water clarity had to be at least 2 feet but the water was slightly turbid.  There was I would have to describe it as a mild to moderate current flow.  And agian the fish were found near the tail of the hole but I did see a few surface up in the meat of the hole as well... I think my dog's constant barking may have spooked the fish as well.

Shall I mention the performance of the wire guides?  Sure why not... I am still satisfied on how they are performing at this time... No grooving noted yet and all of them so far have kept their form so at this time I can say they are a success and will be used on the rods I build.

Oak Orchard 11/12 - 11/14

I fished Oak Orchard 11/12 through 11/14 with a friend on our annual steelhead and brown trout fishing trip.  We left Ohio a little after one AM and arrived on the river right at first light.  The water that first day was slightly turbid and had a perfect flow and the level was just right.  I wouldn't say the water was low or high but in my opinion just about right.  Visibility was at around 2 feet give or take.  We started at the dam and fished a good part of the day there.  We managed to get into a bunch of fish at the beginning of the morning, which is the norm for this stream.  As the day wore on we decided to move downstream to see if we could get a spot in one of the more popualr holes on the river. 

As we arrived at our next spot we found a couple of small openings where we thought we could manage a few drifts.  I started out drifting with eggs and adjusting my shot and float as the conditions dictated.  After a few drifts I hooked into my first fish at this hole.  After a short fight the fish managed to pop the hook.  Unfortunately this was the recurring theme for the day at this spot which in my opinion wasn't such a bad thing because trying to land a fish on the cliff side of this hole with a 15 foot float rod is a bit of a chore.  Most of the fish my friend and I hooked into were brown trout mixed in with a few steelhead.  As the day wore on we continued to hook into fish needing to change up our presentations when the bite went stale.  So... After a few more hours we decided to move up river and back to the Jeep hitting a spot here and there.  The last spot we fished was just a very short walk up river and found a few hook ups just above the confluences of the turbine channel and the overflow channel.  A few fish later we decided to call it a day and grab a bit to eat and a few beers to celebrate an awesome day of fishing.  All in all I would have to say that this was one of the best days of fishing I've had on this river in quite sometime.  I really didn't count how many fish my friend and I hooked but I would have to say that we were fighting fish at least 70 to 80% of the day.  Most fish caught that day were browns with hardly any size to them and they almost all had loose eggs.

On our second day we made it a point to be the first ones to the last hole we had fished the previous day.  As our luck would have it we were the first ones on the river.  We set up "camp" and waited till we could see our floats before making any drifts and got our rigs in order so we could make that perfect first drift.  When there was enough light so we could see our floats we made that first cast.  My buddie was the first to hook up (as usual) and  brought in a nice brown to the bank.  The fish was then promply released.  I managed to hook up with a nice hen brown and brought her into shore snapped a pic then gave her a prompt release.  The fishing went on like that for most of the morning.  We would hook into a bunch of fish then the bite would go stale, we would switch up tactics and manage to hook a few more.  As the morning went on we then decided to do the unthinkable... We got up and walked back up river.  Keep in mind that the guys we were fishing next to the previous day had been there the WHOLE DAY and not moved from where they were fishing in the morning. 

From this point on on the Oak my friend and I would hook into some of the largest steelhead I have seen in some time.  I lost two of the largest steelhead I hooked maybe in my lifetime of steelhead fisshing.  Since the river was down at least a foot since the day before I downsized to four pound leader in order to get a better presentation and possibly fool a few more trout.  After having a very large trout break me off I switched up to a six pound leader and did just as well and managed to land a few fish.  Then at our last spot on the Oak I hooked a fish that bolted downstream towards Lake Ontario breaking water as it went down stream.  Much to my dismay after running downstream trying to catch up to this speeding silver bullet it broke off.  Now I know that this sounds like one of those exaggerated fish tales but believe me....  This is not a far fetched fish tale... This actually happpened.  But, as usual my buddie puts on a clininc showing everyone on the river how to catch fish.  I've been fishing with this guy for almost 20 years and I am still amazed at how he does it.  Sometimes it can be down right frustrating at just how good of a fisherman he really is. 

Later on that day we drove to another stream where we gained permission to fish some very nice private water.  The stream seemed to have filled in one the holes we did quite well at last year.  This low depth could have also been a combination of the stream being way down also.  We had set our floats about 1-2 feet above our bait.  We moved up and down this stretch of river until my friend found a nice pod of fishi hanging out.  A few minutes later I joined him and we ended the day with my buddy hooking and landing two fish that in my opinion had to be pushing up into the upper-teens.  I was teasing him about the size telling him that they were minnows compaired to the fish I saw in his pictures from his most recent trip to British Columbia.  In reality the fish were literally couple of real river monsters.

Here's  my friend with two of the largest steelhead I have seen caught since we've been doing this trip.

 

 

On our last half day of fishing we got to one of the bridges before first light and again waited till there was enough light, cast our floats and then it was fish on again.  My friend had the first few hookups landing every singe one of them.  After I get my act together and reset my float to the right depth I was then on the fish.  I believe all in all that morning the two of us hooked well over 50 fish.  And some of them twice (do we still count those as separate hookups?).  After that we went to the previous days private water and the fishing wasn't anywhere near the quality of the day before.  Then we decided to call it a day and head home.  As we did that we decided to check out a couple of bridges.  At one of them a ways up river we found a fairly deep hole for this stream and managed to hook the last fish of the day.

Yours truely with a nice hen brown trout

 

Me with a one of the few male browns caught

That last day and a half of fishing I used one of my Raven float rods with a different tip section.  The rod still uses the original butt and midsections and a tip from another rod.  This is the rod from my previous post about the wire guides I made.  Just like my trip to the Salmon River and the Oak a few weeks before the guides performed flawlessly as did the rod.  So far I have not noticed any grooving in the guides from the line.  They are still holding up as well as holding their shape and have not yet deformed.  The jury is still out on how well the guides are holding up.  I will conitnue to test them and refine the design.  So far at this point in-time I am very happy with how well they are performing and just how durable they are.  I know it seems like with all the technology out there and the quality of the guides being produced and sold I am taking a rather large step backwards by switching back to stainless steel wire for guides.  I understand this thinking... But... I am convinced that these guides are much lighter and thus maintains the original tip action in blank form.  But only time will tell.

Float Rod With Homemade Wire Guides

This is the first time I made a rod with homemade wire guides.  The rod is a Raven IM8 which was 15 feet in length at one time.  I ended up breaking the tip and was lucky enough to have a friend give me a tip that fit the rod perfectly.  My friend is a machinist and makes some of the lightest rods I have held from peices of old broken rods he has lying around.  From this he also made his own guides out of titanium wire for his flyrods.  After seeing this I had the idea to make some guides for the new/old float rod out of stainless steel wire.  I went to the local tackle shop and bought an assortment of single strand wire leader in three of their heaviest guages.  After that I placed a drillbit in a vice, heated the wire and bent it into shape and then cut off the excess and grinded a taper in the guide foot and then wrapped the guide. Here's a picture of the guide mounted.  So far I am very happy with the performance of the guides.  I have not seen any grooving from the monofiliment line (10 pound test Berkley Big Game) or distortion in the guides themselves.  The rod is very light and the action extremly crisp and nearly the same as the rod would be in blank form.  At this point I would consider using these guides on all of my rods due to the just how light and do far durable they are.  Only time will tell just how well the guide perform and last. 

wire guide from mid section

wire guide from tip section
 





Handle of float rod with the home made wire guides.  Reel pictured is a JW Young Trudex II

 

New York, October 2012

Well, what can I say...  A friend and I drove out to New York to fish a few well known streams and one that we thought wasn't that popular but as we checked out the stream access points we were quite mistaken.  I will mention it as I type. 

We got on the road at around midnight on the 24th and would fish the Lake Ontario tributaries from the Oak Orchard all the way up to Sandy Creek near Watertown, NY all in total we would fish 4 tributaries.  I was invited to hang out with a friend from work at his cabin which was near the world famous Salmon River with a small group of people for a weekend of beer drinking and four-wheeling and most of all partying with a great group of people. 

Our plan was to fish during the day and at night party and then do it all over again each day we were there.  When my friend and I arrived Thursday morning at the Oak we hightailed it to our favorite spot.  Surprisingly we had that whole side of the river to ourselves with the opposite bank lining up with fishermen.  The morning bite was as usual fast and furious.  I would have to say nearly everyone was hooking up on nearly every cast.  The hole was loaded with brown trout, steelhead, and the old moldy salmon.  The fish were hitting on just about anything that was thrown in the water ranging from large magnum spawn bags, beads, egg flys and woolly buggers.  I honestly believe that it really didn't matter what was tossed the fish were going to hit it.  But then again this is the norm for this stream. 

As the day went on and the sun began to shine hot and bright it turned the fish off and they got a major case of  lock jaw.  Now, don't get me wrong the fishing was still good but nothing like it was earlier.  So... We decided it was time to move up river and then from there we decided to head East and fish some new water as we made our way to the mighty Salmon River.  As we were making our way up river each spot we saw had somebody fising it.  We finally decided to make some casts at the dam and it was just loaded with fish and man were they skittish.  If your presentation was not spot on the fish would not bite at all.  We had a few hook ups.  Before we left I made some casts at my favorite spot at the dam and hooked into a brown trout the had to weigh close to 20 pounds.  This was the largest fish I had hooked in the nearly 20 years I have been fising this river.  As I was bringing the fish to the net the line broke just above the hook.  I was devastated but life goes on.

That afternoon we called it quits and headed East.  From there we stopped and fished the Oswego River.  Now this river is massive.  It's hard to describe just how big this water is.  The flows are also dictated by the amount of water dischraged from the hydro-power plants that operate there.  The river was peppered with warnings of high water and that life-jackets are recommended to anyone wading this river.  There were also floating rafts where a stranded fisherman could escape to had they got caught out in the rising water.  My friend did hoot a salmon in the river.  I instead took a spill and shortly there after bought a pair of corkers. 

The next day we headed out to the Salmon River and fished the DSR.  This is a two-mile stretch of private water.  As we arrived down at the river bank we were greeted with a raging torrent of water littered with tons of leaves.  Wading at this time was downright treacherous and the fishing wasn't any better.  We didn't see or hear of any fish caught or hooked that day.  My friend ended up landing one adult steelhead.  Soon after that we walked up stream hoping to find better water but to no avail.  Now, if you decided to fish the DSR it'll set you back $45.00 per day.  The people that ran the booth were not the friendliest people I've met.  They seemed downright rude when we were buying our passes.  My recommendation would be to find other places on the river to fish and save your 45 dollars for other things.  It would have also been nice to know that the river went from 450cfs up to 1000 in just a couple of hours.  It was water that we had a difficult time fishing.  Usually 1000 cfs in my neck of the woods is high and muddy.  So on that note thanks Hurricane Sandy. 

After a few hours of mostly wading from one spot to another and trying not to drown we headed up river.  We got to a hole called the trestle hole.  Below the trestle is a beautiful looking hole that should have yielded a few fish but we were skunked... Oh well, we'll get them next time.  We walked a couple of hundred yards up stream crossing a small channel that seemed quite benign but again we found the wading very difficult and nearly took a spill.  We set up on a bend that was a fairly uniform depth with a massive volume of water flowing past making drifting very tricky and finding fish quite difficult.  Luckily, we ended up with one brief hook-up.  Other than that the fishing was slow for everyone fishing there.  After that we ended our day of fishing and decided to meet up with my friend from work.  Our day ended with four-wheeling, shooting rifles, and drinking lots of beer.

Screen Shot of Sandy Creek

Saturday my friend and I decided to try Sandy Creek which was up near Watertown.  We thought that this was a lesser know stream which would see way less pressure than the Salmon, boy were we wrong.  Sandy Creek down low is a very shallow shale bottomed river with very few and far between holes.  It was kind of reminiscent of the rivers you find here along the Lake Erie shoreline in Ohio and Pennslyvania.  We ended up with one small steelhead to show for our efforts.  The stream does have some potential and does warrant further exploring the next time I am in the area.  Here's a picture of the steelhead.

Small Skipper Steelhead from Sandy Creek

A short time after that we made our way back to the Salmon River and fished the furthest upstrean we were alowed to fish.  We fished a hole called the School House hole.  And again the river was ripping which made finding the fish difficult.  Luckily we caught a few chubs which went an easy 12" each.   Again the fishing wasn't the greatest and we decided to call it a day and drown our sorrows in some more beer. 

Sunday was our last day to fish.  After a great tasting breakfast we quickly said our goodbyes and hightailed it back to the Oak for our last day for fishing.  We the cabin at around 9am and arrived at the Oak sometime around 1 o'clock in the afternoon.  We only had a couple of hours to fish so we traveled light and ended the trip with over a half dozen fish hooked each.  Here's a pick of one of the fish

Brian with Male King Salmon from the Oak

All and all it was a very good trip with some decient fishing.  As luck would have it Hurricane Sandy didn't have much of an effect on the Salmon River.  The flood gates were closed and by Tuesday the river was flowing back at 450cfs.  So.... I'm giving a big thanks to Hurricane Sandy for making my first trip to the Salmon River a difficult one.  Fishing a brand new stream acually made the trip.  I also couldn't have asked for better weather.  But what made the trip memorable was the great people that I shared the each day with.