Beulah Blog

Welcome to Central Oregon, the land of trout, steelhead, and… bass?!  For those who have been asleep the past ten years several of Central Oregon’s high cascade lakes have become home to substantial populations of hearty largemouth bass.  Keep in mind this isn’t a post about conservation or invasive species.  Its about bass fishing with Beulah’s platinum 9′ 9″ 7 weight.

Every summer I have a lull in my guiding schedule just before steelhead start to run in the Lower Deschutes.  I have made a habit of heading up to the lakes near Bend during this time to escape the heat and do the stillwater thing.  This time I was joined by my father in law Bruce Fox, lifelong Bend resident and fisherman.

For Bruce’s birthday each year “the kids” usually pitch in and we get him a Beulah rod.  He has built quite the arsenal.  One of the recent additions was the platinum series 9′ 9″ 7 weight.  We decided to give this rod a field test chasing ole’ bucket mouth.

A few notes about this rod…

Accuracy:  The way we do it this type of fishing is almost 100% sight casting so fly placement is key.  You have to land the fly behind or off to the side of the bass so that the fish thinks it’s his idea to investigate the fly.  The 9′ 9″ 7 wt is deadly accurate at medium to (relatively) long distance even casting huge not-so-aerodynamic flies.  

Delicacy:  Summer conditions on the Cascade Lakes are often calm and sunny.  This year we have low water.  If the fly line lands too splashy say goodbye to garbage gut… he didn’t grow that big by entertaining sloppy presentations.  The 7 weight line lands softer than heavier lines, providing us with many opportunities under spooky conditions.

Safety:  In our boat safety is an attitude!  These bass are looking for a meal, not a snack.  We obliged by casting giant streamers that I found in the saltwater fly bins at Deschutes Angler.  These flies are big, and the hooks that they are tied on are down right scary.  Now I trust my father in law to do his very best to avoid snagging me, but I am a little bit gun shy these days after taking a size 2 owner to the face back in April (winter steelheading accident).  I have to admit that the extra nine inches of rod made me feel much more comfortable having a caveman sized hook zipping overhead.

It was a fun day, even with tough fishing and 90+ degree heat.  We caught a handful of bass and even a few nice rainbows sipping callibaetis (the seven weight worked well for that also, not too heavy).  We brought a few different rods but since we took turns fishing and managing the boat we never had to fight over the 7 weight.

The Next Big Thing

The next big thing in the fly fishing world? Really? Seems like most of the advances are relatively small; new products are okay but nothing really rocks the boat.  However… I just may have found the game changer in the trout world.

I had my first taste of “swinging” flies to wild steelhead in Alaska just last year.  I was nothing short of astonished and amazed by the relative ease and productivity of Spey casting a 13-foot rod and throwing line 80 feet across the river.  Instantly fascinated, I was determined to increase my skill at this increasingly popular discipline.  So with some advanced planning, my Texas-based fishing partner made a swing up through Montana last week.  After two days of epic trout fishing on the Missouri River, we took off for the Sandy River Spey Clave (SRSC) at Oxbow Park near Sandy Oregon. I knew I’d be completely out of my element, but was intrigued and excited to try my hand at this technique, under the expert tutelage of many Spey casting maestros.  Living up to its reputation, the SRSC was crawling with the best in the business.  Humble and friendly, every one of these professionals were eager to impart their wisdom upon anyone willing to ask for help. Bruce Berry, Steve and Tim Rajeff, Simon Gawsworth, Klaus Frimor, Jerry French, Mia and Marty Sheppard, Mike McCune and the extremely funny George Cook were just a few of those on hand at the SRSC.

Beulah representative Bruce Berry was on hand for personalized casting lessons and wowed with three fly tying demonstrations.  There are no reps more impressive than Bruce—he is a masterful tactician.  I watched as time and again, anglers approached him with seemingly unsolvable technical questions or issues.   He’d diagnose the problem in a millisecond, then follow it up with a fitting solution.  I also caught Mike McCune’s presentation on “Trout Spey” rods.  Mike has fished this new style of rods extensively on numerous western rivers including the Missouri River, my home water.  Using 11ft 2 or 3wt rods to delicately present a dry fly down steam is an excellent way to fish spooky trout. Using the same rod, but this time swinging soft hackle flies on a tight line is a sure fire way to get lots of tugs! “Tug is the Drug” as streamer junkies always say! Can’t wait to open my mailbox and see my new trout spey rod waiting there for me…

If you missed the SRSC this year, don’t worry, they have been going strong for 15 years. Its is a totally free event and even most of the meals are donated.  But you must get with it early because the casting classes fill up rapidly.  Get it on your calendar for next year, its well worth your time!

Making Due…

The rain…oh my gosh, the rain…did I mention the rain?  In a mere 24 hours over 2 inches of the “R” stuff bled from the skies and it was not done yet.  Thirty-six hours after I’d enjoyed an epic fishing adventure in gin-clear water at a manageable 1,170cfs, the river now resembled chocolate milk raging at 14,700cfs.  This, however, is a common occurrence in the spring on freestone rivers.

Three days earlier… Rugby, my 100lb yellow lab and I, jumped in the Tundra and headed 5 hours west in pursuit of Idaho’s wild, native West Slope Cutthroat Trout.  I learned from friends that Pat and Mike, owners of Northwest Outfitters in Coeur d’ Alene (CDA) are friendly, knowledgeable and “fishy” dudes.  Once there, I quickly briefed them on my intent and they directed me to the CDA River 30 minutes east of CDA. We also planned a trip to the St Joe for the following week.

An hour later I was reeling in my first CDA River West Slope cutthroat as Rugby swam circles around me, as eager as I was to see this beautiful specimen.  In Idaho, West Slope trout are in a protected class and are catch and release only.  These wild, naturally reproducing fish must be returned to the water immediately. The fish were incredibly beautiful, had broad shoulders and put up a great fight. (Mike and Pat lived up to their reputation)

The morning after the rains stopped, Pat called to cancel our adventure on the St Joe, as it was raging 10,000cfs beyond what is safe to float and fish.  Not wanting to waste a trip, I had to think outside the box.  A couple of days later, a 24-hour reprieve from the rain allowed us to go fishing. Pat took me out to a lake that had once been hayfields.  Now called Haydon Lake, it is surrounded by houses and hosts a variety of species.  I was not looking forward to rowing my drift boat a mile into the wind to drift back to the dock.  Pat surprised me by pulling out a small electric motor and we zipped out across the lake.  Maybe zipped is a bit of an exaggeration, but compared to my rowing speed we moved quickly.

Moments later I felt a small tug on my new Beulah 5wt, and I found myself face-to-face with an 11-inch Crappie. The next cast yielded a large mouth bass. After 30 or so of the small, warm water species we worked the banks in hopes of enticing a large pike out of the weeds, but they were not cooperating. Without fear of snagging the bank behind me I got the chance to really stretch the Guide Series II Rod.  Seventy foot casts were a breeze, making this a great rod for the long and short game. All in all, it was a great day of Idaho fishing and I added a few more species to my list of fish I’ve caught on a fly rod.  I’m only about 300 fish species behind the great Jeff Currier…

I was so impressed with Beulah’s new rods I swapped out all of my client rods with the new 2015 Guide Series II line-up.  As a guide, it is vital to have an arsenal of rods that perform under every condition Mother Nature will throw at you, including those miserable +40 mph winds that make you question your profession. They must be able to handle the surprise 8-pound brown lurking in a deep run and quickly transition to 17-inch rainbows slurping midges in dead calm slack water around the next bend. These rods shoot line like a laser, and at the last millisecond, lay down a feather soft presentation.

This past January, I was fortunate enough to spend 3 days at the annual Fly-Fishing Show in Denver, CO. If you have not attended, it’s an enormous gathering of the fly-fishing industry’s top professionals, business owners, a handful of celebrities and thousands of fly-fishing enthusiasts.  It’s a fabulous opportunity for all to demo new gear, catch a seminar from the best in the business and socialize with those fortunate enough to make a living in this industry.

I am a bit of a gear junkie and always eager to thoroughly test the next best product. Like other industries, the fly-fishing landscape is dominated by a few large companies and dotted by dozens of smaller ones trying to make their mark.  While the top companies may never be dethroned, the smaller ones do force the industry leaders to keep pace with the rapid changes and demands to maintain their place on the podium.

Beulah Fly Rod Company is tucked away in small, but beautiful Medford, Oregon.  The Rogue River wanders just a stone throw away from this southwestern Oregon town, making it the perfect fly rod testing ground. This gem of a company is shaking up the industry with a full series of rods that consistently outperform those commanding twice the price. Owner James Shaughnessy himself manned his company’s booth at the Denver show, accompanied by 15-foot rod division distance caster world record holder Travis Johnson and professional product representative Bruce Berry.

One thing the fishing enthusiast may inadvertently overlook is turn-around time and customer service when something inevitably breaks.  Beulah has a stockpile of replacement rods and parts and will typically have your repair or replacement headed back to you within just a few days.  As a guide, this is something that cannot be overlooked.  There are companies in the industry that can take “months” to repair your rod.  In my line of work, that is simply intolerable.  I know I can rely on the folks at Beulah Fly Rods to keep my clients’ lines in the water.  So, fresh off the production bench, I strung up my new rods and took them on a 4000-mile journey across three states, five rivers and even a still water.  Stay tuned…

The Futaleufu River is not known as a two-handed paradise, but it is paradise for fin chasers no less. Certainly the wind is famous, yes is the long hard road there, but between the late dinners among world-class anglers preceded by the last hours casting a world-class fish in the shadow of Patagonian mountains, there is something very personal, very special, and yet surreal about the entire experience. I’ve wanted to fish in Patagonia since I was 13 imagining how big those Chilean rapids are and how clear the Argentina side of the Futa is. Both exceeded my expectations in sheer volume, power, and beauty. I know we were the first to fish several runs in Chile hidden between Class Five rapids. Normally people cast with helmets on when teaching someone else- but we kept in on for the white water and rocks. In Argentina side where these pictures are taken, the river is big, smooth, painfully clear washing over volcanic rocks and settlement, and windy like standing behind a Boeing 757 on roll-up.

 

I didn’t take a knife to a gunfight, I took the new Beulah 5 weight Onyx spey and had a hard time believing I was pouring more fuel on the spey revolution in Argentina, but this rod certainly did. Everyone wanted to “try” it and then didn’t understand my Spanglish when I wanted it back. It shot bullets in the wind, mended with precision, and had the famous Beulah bend, lush and full bodied as my evening’s Melbec, once connected to these fish.

Well, another good day for the Beulah CZ 5 wt.

 

Same fish. #16 Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear. Water too fast to fish any other way. It was windy, pissing rain and cold. We had a blast.

 

The rabbit gets out of the hole, goes around the tree and leaves. No. The rabbit avoids the hole and goes around the tree three times and …….

 

Hey Jared, the fish are over here…..

Seriously, they’re over here. Long-leader-it, I have a spool in the car.

This is prototype number 2 for the Beulah 5 wt. CZ rod. It’s my build and it was a great performer today.

 

Wind knot? Well…the rain is blowing sideways instead of down. Getting tired, cold and ready for a barley soda.  Let’s pack it in. Nobody else is out, wonder why?

 

Warm and dry awaits.

I stopped carrying a net today. I think the fish do better in shallow water with less handling. It was a lot easier to get a picture and release them so I’m going to try net-less fishing.

The CZ rod was a champ. I’m really glad I took the risk of building it.

 

And we all know how rivers like to be blown…plus I have a new camera. I have a Nikon 1 AW1. A waterproof, interchangeable lens high tech battle proven beast.

Stayed in the same house in McCloud again, but this time we fished below the lower falls and into the Nature Conservancy property. We were the only people on the McCloud and nobody had been to the Nature Conservancy property in over 3 weeks. The Fly Shop – “The McCloud is Blown”, Ted Fay –  “The McCloud is blown”. Well the McCloud was definitely blown because it was pretty relaxed and congenial when we got there.

On the drive up we stopped and fished the Upper Sacramento. It was around Lunchtime so we scarfed down some chicken legs I grilled the night before and raced each other down to the river. We were armed with our Beualah 5 wt. CZ homebuilts and our 11’7″ “mystery rods”, modified Burk leaders, my sculpin jigs and Bird’s nests, Hare’s Ears and P.T.’s .

Just look at the pics:

Jared, there aren’t any fish there.

 

They’re over here.

Stop fooling around and get over here. We’ll alternate casts, just get over here! Now! Hurry, get the camera, another one!

More of the same….

 

Went back to the stretch above the lower falls of the McCloud where we did really well last trip. The water was skinny and clear. Nothing going on here.

 

Just for the hell of it we scrambled down and forged the river just below the falls. It was sickening. We caught a lot of fish stripping muddler minnows and sculpins jigs.

 

We weren’t alone….

 

It’s hard to see but a bunch of otters were devouring fish under the overhang opposite us. The white specks are fish.

Anyway, the McCloud is “blown” somewhere below here. I thought it would be a great experience for Jared to take him to the Nature Conservancy property on his first trip to the lower McCloud the next morning. Here we are. Nobody is there, because of the blown-ness of the river and the log shows that we are the first anglers there in more than three weeks. That’s crazy. Everybody from everywhere has fished, will fish or has dreamed of fishing this water. I don’t care for it personally. Upstream suits me better. But Jared had a great time, as the pictures will tell. The Beulah 5’s, that’s all I’m saying.

 

 

This is what “blown” looks like. It’s not crystal clear.

 

I got bored with the Nature Conservancy water. No more dinks. On to Rattlesnake Hole, let’s get something going to wake me up.  #14 tan Bird’s Nest on upper dropper. Notice the fish’s girth with respect to my forearm. It’s around 23″ or greater. I carry a tape with me.

So, the Beulah 5 wt. CZ rod emits the proper frequencies under load to attract decent fish.

 

I’m tired of talking, here’s an album:

 

I thought I’d clarify the “mystery rod”. It is a 5 wt. Beulah Spey rod that I built as a single hander. I doubt we’ll put it into production. I wanted you to get a sense of what product development and research for Beulah is like. Think about what would work better than what’s already available, build it, fish it, refine it. Repeat.