Trout Bums

I liked the term Trout Bum ever since I read John Gierach's book titled by the same. That's my favorite book of his and I especially liked the chapter, Headwaters. His solo trips into the wilderness to find wild trout was a great mental vacation from the stressful job I had at the time...good read, indeed!

This week, I pulled out the old Trout Bum quiver of rods for a trip to the high country. And, like John often did in his younger days, it's a solitude fishing trip so this introvert (me) can get energized from being in the outdoors with my thoughts and pursuit of trout. I didn't ruff it like John did in his book, but I did find relaxation through the rhythm of casting a classic fly rod, wading pretty small streams, the kicking back at the camp at night. I needed it, and took these Trout Bums of mine to give them some fishing time...I was afraid they may be starting to feel neglected sitting way back there in the dark of the closet.

These rods were built in 2008 and are absolute fabulous rods. I believe this Superfine Trout Bum series is the only Superfine rods that had sanded blanks, deep olive blank color, and gold wraps...a really good looking rod in my opinion. I guess that's why I have a three rod quiver of them. The 8' 4wt and 8' 5wt rods are each matched up with  CFO II Trout Bum reels while the 7'6" 1wt rod has the Battenkill I clicker reel. I never had a desire to put any other reel on these rods...they balance and work too good to even think about another pairing.

Posted below are a few random photos of this week's trip to high country...you can click on a photo for a larger view.

Click on photo for larger view