The quest for steelhead on a dry fly has been an inescapable passion that has held me in it's grip for the past three decades. Among the joys of this journey has been becoming friends with like minded souls who share the common obsession with getting steelhead to rise; those that speak the same language where a special bond is made.
I became friends with Rick Fielder in 2016 after he reached out to me through my blog Dry Line Steelhead-Oregon. I realized that Rick was living in Idaho, but was originally from Oregon. I quickly knew that we spoke the same dry fly steelhead language and that Rick had a remarkable history of dry fly steelhead experience.
Rick decided to make a trip to Oregon in May 2016 to meet up in person and to fish my local homewater, the Middle Fork Willamette. We launched in my drift boat and not long into our float, I managed to get hung up in a root wad. The boat went down in seconds and we were fortunately able to climb onto the root wad until help arrived. I guess nearly getting us killed during our first fishing trip sealed our friendship.
Fast forward through subsequent safer fishing trips in the ensuing years and our circle of common fishing friends ever expanding, we are coming through the pandemic and experiencing diminishing steelhead returns. We weather through the ups and downs of fishing and life with the help of an ongoing text thread that includes Rick Fielder, Adrian Cortes, Rick Harrington, Bucky Buchstaber, Mark Stangeland, Lee Lashway, Jeremiah Bawden, Keith Tymchuck, and Tony Torrence. This text thread was initially set up by Adrian for "event planning ", but took a life of it's own and continues to this day. Stories are told and life is shared in this special platform.
So one day, in the text thread, Rick says "hey Todd, what do you think of bamboo?" I'm thinking that Rick was going to suggest a rod that I should start saving for. It was late and I went to bed after reading that message.
The next morning, I saw that our text thread was going again so I opened it up and found that Rick has posted a picture of two identical David Reid cane rods. The text below the picture read, "the rod on the left is yours". I re-read the text a few times and it started to sink in that Rick was gifting me a David Reid 11'6" 5/6 Fall Run cane rod!
Rick mentioned that he was getting himself a retirement gift by ordering a cane rod from David Reid and he decided to order the same rod for me as well. He had David utilize English Oak from Rick's father's farm for the reel seat and handles.
I was also in communication with David Reid directly a few days before he put the rod in the mail to me. We discussed lines for the rod and he talked of how he was blessed with being part of this surprise gift that Rick was presenting to me.
As things turned out, Rick and David planned a trip to come fishing for steelhead in Oregon a couple weeks later and I was able to spend a day with the giver and the maker of this special rod. It was blessed Fall day, with perfect overcast, but no dry fly steelhead showing. The company and fellowship were more than enough as Rick and I celebrated breaking in our twin cane rods.
David shared insights on rod design and he was interested in where I would land as to line matches and casting feel with the 11'6" 5/6 Fall Run. It turns out that I found myself "uplining" to get the load that I liked. An older Rio AFS 460 gr 37' was nice as well as the Beulah Elixer 33' 450gr. My favorite match on this rod has been the Beulah Aerohead 510gr @47'. This could be due to the longer line phase I have been going through.
As I thanked Rick yet again for this generous gift, he mentioned that our friendship had helped to rekindle his passion for dry fly steelhead during a time when life was providing distractions. I am truly blessed when my dedication with dry fly steelhead can provide encouragement and inspiration to others.
- Duke Ellington
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