Small bamboo rods for the intimate fall water
Above photo: One of my personal rods that I make for tight, intimate water, a 6'9" 3/4 weight. Today it carries a half-tail of 3.5wt. and a 50" “shorty” silk furled leader loaded with 60" of 6x tippet. It's the rod I use a lot in the fall for casting micropatterns like tiny black fall caddis. Cane rods do not have to be heavy; this one is less than 2.9 oz.
Often in the fall, the water is low, clear, and spooky, so I typically reach for smaller rods. Tiny accurate cane rods can cast with very little splash, using lightweight furled leaders and very fine 2- or 3-weight silk lines. Over the years I have tinkered with many tapers and prefer quick-loading rods that vary in length from 5'8" to around 7' in length. Typically, casts are in the 15 to 30-foot range, but not much else is needed in such tight quarters. It's all about application, what you're casting, and the size of the water you are fishing in. In the case of intimate fall settings in tiny spring creeks here in the northeast, it's about quiet stalking and targeting sipping trout.
Above photo: Looking for a #20 Baetis dun on the side of a gravel bar. Even in late September or early October, you can still find tiny Baetis hatches, especially in gravelly riffles. During the fall, the trout just are not so hung up on time when feeding. It can be so arbitrary even with bigger fish.
I would say, based on the kind of water I fish in the fall, I need a rod that can drop a fly very, very quietly. Rods that shoot line that come in “too hot” are not my favorite choice. A good light DT line is always your best bet and consistently proves to be the most productive and least spooky for a weary brown trout. My leader butt is furled silk or Uni, typically at 50" “shorties” up to around 60", then a straight shot of tippet attached at around 6' to 7' with all connection points as nail knots. A very tight, simple, quiet rig.
Above photo: A small midge rod taper I distilled and tweaked over many years, originally a Leonard H.L. 38H taper. Now, years later, I make it in a 3wt. form, one of my favorite small-stream 7-footers.
In tight quarters, often less is more, and you can get the job done quietly, especially when considering lighter line weights and tiny fly patterns in spooky fall water. As my father used to tell me all too often, “the right tool for the right job,” and, I suppose, since he was an MIT engineer, I just didn't question it.
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Clint Bova
