The Little Sur is my favorite local coastal stream. It's just a little stream, with tiny trout that requires a long hike to get to, but that all adds to the charm. Earlier this season, I wrote about how excited I was that the Little Sur seemed to be "bouncing back" after the 2008 wildfire season. The trout were more numerous, and bigger than the previous year. So I was really saddened about a month ago, when I heard from my local fly shop owner that the river had been occupied by some people growing Marijuana in the national forest around Little Sur Camp. 

Now, while I don't begrudge people the right to do what they want in the privacy of their own homes, but Marijuana cultivation in National forests can be big trouble for fly fisherman. Firstly, they can threaten or chase away people who want to use the land, they can damage river banks, use pesticides thats kill fish and as the case is here poach out the existing fish population. Apparently when the ranger's went down to the river to clear out the growers, they found the river "fished out", and when one local angler had gone down and fished it, there were no sign of the usually eager little coastal rainbows. 

So, when I set out with my wife to check out the Little Sur this weekend for the last day weekend of trout season, I wasn't expecting much. We had a lovely hike, a delicious picnic, and although I was only able to fish for about half an hour I had several trout rise to my parachute adams and landed a nice little rainbow. It seems that rumors of this river's demise have been somewhat premature. 

Last year, when I first made the hike down to the Little Sur River in the Ventana Wilderness, I wasn't expecting much. The whole area had been burned badly in the 2008 wildfire season, and I was assured by those in the know that the already spotty trout population of the Little Sur was surely done in by the fire, or the resulting ash and mudslides.

My fishing buddy and I decided to check it out anyway. We had caught fish in Salmon creek, a similar river an hour south of the Little Sur, and the idea of small stream fishing close to home was too tempting. Therefore, our first trip down was filled with cautious optimism.

Our optimism paid off, and we found the Little Sur to be chock full of small 3-4" trout eager to rise to any well presented dry fly. Even better there was not a single angler on the river (although that first day there were a dozen or so naked hippies, but that is a story for another day). 

I made the hike down to the Little Sur often last summer, and each time was rewarded for the effort. It seems that something had survived the fire, and a small little population of trout was taking hold.

The river opened up again this last weekend, and once again I found myself full of trepidation. The winter was unseasonably wet, and I was worried that the storms might have filled the river with mud. Furthermore, the camp host at the trailhead had reported sightings of merganser ducks, which he believed were eating the trout.

Once again, the hike down to the river paid off, and we discovered that not only had the trout population survived it had thrived. Not only were trout rising to well presented dry flies, but the average size had risen from 3 inches to 6 or 7 inches, with fish as large as 11.5 inches being brought to hand. 

This story may not seem remarkable, but as a youngish angler, I have little experience with improvement in my fisheries. It seems that everywhere I go in California, I am told about how much better the fishing was "back in the day". I am told that overfishing, poaching, stocking, or dams have ruined once great fisheries, and that I will never experience what my older "brothers of the angle" did. 

It may be the case that the environment in general and river's in particular are not what they were, but it was really nice going back to work this week knowing that there is somewhere where things are getting better.

--Posted by Eben

I recently completed a rod build for my friend Ned. He has been fishing with us on-and-off  for the las year, and it was time for him to get his own rod. He picked himself out a nice 8.5 Foot Orvis Hydros blank, yellow whipping thread, a reverse half-wells grip and Struble up-locking reel seat with a zebra maple spacer. 

He got a chance to take it out for a spin this weekend at the Little Sur trout opener, which I hope to write more about later in the week. I don't love graphite rods, but I have to say that this hydros is a true mid-flex, and loads quite nicely. Ned was able to make the short delicate casts necessary to catch these little trout on a dry-fly.

Recently, I have been finishing my rods with thinned spar varnish, but for this more modern rod,  I thought I would use light build epoxy. Epoxy definitely saves a lot of time drying, especially on a four piece rod, but I think I get a cleaner, smoother result with varnish. One advantage of epoxy was that I was to make transparent ferrule wraps by mixing epoxy with acetone. This saved trying to find a thread color to match the blank. 

I have to say I really enjoyed making a rod for a friend. It let me branch out with style and materials, and gave me an excuse to keep building, even when I don't necessarily need another rod for myself.

--Posted by Eben

I was a very good boy this year, so for Christmas Santa brought me a pretty little honey colored blank to make a new 6'6" fiberglass 3wt. I was a bit unsure as to whether or not I needed another 3wt, as I already have a lovely Orvis Superfine Trout Bum 7'6" graphite 3wt.  Although I love my Superfine, it is a bit stiff and a bit long for my new favorite river, the Little Sur. The Little Sur was burned rather badly in the 2008 wildfires, but the trout population has rebounded and it is now full of eager little wild coastal rainbows, averaging in size from 3-6 inches. 

These little guys get almost no fishing pressure and will rise readily to an attractor dry fly. My superfine can place a humpy as delicately as any rod, but risks catapulting these litte fish into the brush when you set the hook. My hope is that the "softness" of the fiberglass will make it more fun to catch small fish, and protect them from becoming unintentional aeronauts.  

In order to keep the rod as light as possible I chose to use a cork reel seat, and because I am cheap, I didn't want to invest in any of the lovely reel seat hardware on the market. Based on this post on the Fiberglass Flyrodders message board, I decided to try to use stone rings as bands to hold the reel seat. 

I wanted the wraps to really "pop" agains the honey colored blank, so I decided to use scarlet colored silk thread. The this was the first time I had ever wrapped with silk, and I must admit that it was a challenge. The silk was considerably thiner than the nylon I have used on my previous rods, and it had a nasty tendency to pick up the oils on my hands. On the other hand, because the wraps were so much narrower, they blended together much better under varnish than the nylon. I used helmsman spar varnish, as on my previous rods, but I thinned it to only 40% concentration. I think this is finally the concentration I have been looking for. After four coats it had a nice low-build epoxy look. The guides and tip tops are all English bronze light wire, which also give a nice contrast. The butt cap and winding check are nickel-silver, from Golden Witch, and I think they finish the rod off nicely.

I wont get to take this out to the Little Sur until it opens at the end of may, but it is nice enough here in Santa Cruz that I took it lawn casting (something that always draws an audience of neighbors and embarrasses the heck out of me). The action was slow and sweet, bending down almost all the way to the butt, and it was able to throw tight loops with only the leader and six or seven inches of line. In any event, I am very pleased with it.

--Posted by Eben