It’s a quiet and overcast Saturday morning and I’m looking forward to meeting up with my friend Bob Hallowell to get a few hours of fly fishing on the books. Last night I texted him asking how the fishing was in the Quehanna Wild area streams we fished together last year, and he suggested going out together and fishing a small stream close to home this morning.
The creek is classic PA small stream fishing, and it’s really pretty. The banks are lush and thick with stream vegetation and the canopy overhead can be a bit tight. Perfect for a Hallowell 4 weight, 7’-3” bamboo fly rod, hand-crafted a few miles from this stream in Bob’s custom rod-making shop. Bob knows this stream better than anyone, and he’s a true “headhunter” when it comes to fishing any stream. He’s also a really good caster so he doesn’t waste time and effort once he starts throwing flies. Stick and move he calls it.
Bob checks the stream temperature and it’s 60 degrees. Fishing for brook trout is generally more productive when stream temperatures are 64 degrees or cooler. We’re out on a cool morning and the tree cover helps keep the stream shaded which helps keep temps lower. The water level is down but it’s cold, clean, and gin clear – ideal for brook trout, the only true native trout in Pennsylvania’s thousands of miles of streams and waterways.
Fishing is tricky with the stream level down. Today there’s not a lot of stream cover for the fish and the pools aren’t very deep, so we’re moving through the sections quickly. Other than the sounds of song birds and the occasional kingfisher, it’s extremely peaceful. Bob is a great conversationalist and we cover the usual topics – family, fly rods, and mutual friends I’ve met through him and a few fly fishing escapades.
Bob’s fishing a beautiful 4 weight, 7’-3” bamboo rod he’s recently built for himself. The guides are wrapped with a pretty green thread and then epoxied for strength and appearance. The Hallowell signature fiberglass (“glass”) ferrules are also finished to look pretty, and the ferrule “flex” helps to more evenly distribute force and action of fly line when casting compared to rods with metal ferrules.
My Hallowell Fly Rod has the same specs as Bob’s and is a work of art in both form and function, but Bob says his is a bit softer in casting. One reason is that Hallowell cures and bakes the bamboo rod strips as part of the crafting process. Baking the bamboo at lower temperatures produces a lighter finish color, and my first Hallowell Fly Rod (HFR), I affectionately refer to as the “Blonde.” The guides are wrapped with pretty red thread and the fiberglass ferrule is shiny and a beautiful shade of amber.
Casting his rods on a stream is like making music – there’s a very soft rhythm to their casting, and flies can be presented delicately and precisely on the stream surface. When Bob made the Blonde he also made a “Brunette” and a “Blonde with Dirty Roots.” All three are 4 weight, 7’-3” rods, but by baking several bamboo strips at both higher and lower temperatures to be able to craft three finished HFRs. The Blonde with Dirty Roots has alternating light and dark strips making it truly one of a kind. The Brunette is a rich walnut color, and I’m proud to say I now own all three. The rod he’s fishing today has the same specs but is a Brunette and the baking process lends to a softer feel when casting.
This morning, Bob is dry fly fishing an attractor pattern, a size 16 Yellow Humpy, and the second pool we come to he’s getting strikes. It isn’t long before he hooks into some handsome fingerlings which we both admire for their fine markings. When it comes to brook trout, size doesn’t matter. They are the prettiest salmonid ever, born right here in Narrows Creek.
So now it’s my turn to lead. I’m using one of my buddy Eric Wilson’s “High-Vis Parachute” dries and on my first cast I hook a handsome native brookie. The pool isn’t very deep and Bob comments that with the low water these trout are probably in competition for food. Makes sense. Bob caught two here in this pool and normally the fish would have easily been spooked, but I got mine on my first cast.
We continue to work our way up the stream and Bob points out some spots that were modified by fish and game folks over the years to make this a healthier habitat for the fish. We’ve been out for a couple of hours and haven’t had a chance to fish or catch up in a while. It’s Labor Day weekend and Bob’s got family commitments, and I have mine, so we decide to call it a morning and fish again soon somewhere on a Blue line in central Pennsylvania.
Bob Hallowell has a Facebook page – Hallowell Fly Rods – so you can check out pictures of his rods and the processes involved in his rod-making, and leave questions and comments. He’s set an uncommon bar in creating performance art in his fine bamboo fly rods, and I’m lucky to call him my friend.
Ray Hunt is an avid outdoor enthusiast who enjoys fly fishing, kayaking, mountain biking and hiking in the PA Wilds. He is a member of the PA Outdoor Writers Association (POWA), PA Wildlife Habitat Unlimited (PWHU), Trout Unlimited (TU), and can be reached at raygwhunt@gmail.com.
