Bubble Chuckers and Dipsticks

[TubeDude]

[cool][size 1]Hey, Utahans, here is the stuff from a post I just put up on the float tubing board, after a discussion of building long spinning rods from fly rod blanks. I used to use them all the time for chucking water filled bubbles wayyyyyy out there...but for "drop shotting" flies in running water too. I favor a 9 foot spinning rod built on a 9 foot fly rod for an 8 weight line. But I have built several up to 10 feet long, on heavy action downrigger rods, etc.

The top two pics show the results of using long rods to give added control on small to medium sized streams. The first pic is a graphite rod. The second is built on an old Fenwick glass blank. It is soft but satisfying...especially when matched against 20" browns in small streams...like in the pic.





Below are some of the other long rods, including "dipsticks", where I attach a spinning reel behind the rod grip. It balances like a fly rod, for fighting fish, and makes it possible to delicately drop baits and lures into cover and rocks from a float tube. Of course, they can also be used for bubble chucking, but it requires some special handling on the cast.



A closer shot of the handles...showing some with long butt sections, to aid in two handed casting. Others have the handle forward, for dipsticking.



The last pic is a closeup of some of the fancy wrapping I used to do...when I had a life and some extra time to play with that stuff. Again, note that some rods are graphite. Others Fenwick glass.

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[polokid]

Since I havent official met you yet, is that you in the picture. Those are some nice rods.
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Yep, that's me...when my hair was darker and I was a few pounds lighter.

Some folks might recognize the Provo River, above the trestle. I had several holes and slots in that stretch that I fished the high-low dropper fly rig (drop-shottin') with my 9' bubble chucker. The long rod allowed me to make long casts, and then to keep the line up off the water better, for better feel and control as the flies bounced down the current.

Caught lots of nice browns, a few rainbows and some monster whitefish in that stretch. Also got to say howdy to a few "buzz worms" (rattlesnakes) while walking back along the tracks after dark.

The other fish pick, just in cast you're interested, was from the Duchesne River, down below Starvation. On the day I took that pic, just after the opener (remember those), I probably caught at least 30 browns in the low, clear flow, by fishing big flies with a small splitshot. I would either use the long rod to drop them over the edge into a hole, or cast either upstream or downstream into deeper pockets or runs. The one in the picture was about the biggest. I joked to my fishing buddy that it had taken off downstream and straightened out two bends in the stream.

I look forward to seeing you down here soon. The thermometer is supposed to hit a hundred for the first time, while I am fishing Saturday, and will probably not dip much below that until sometime in October. Hope you know some good ways to stay cool...like floating down the river, tied up to groups of other tubes full of ASU coeds.
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