gear

Testing Out the New Cloudveil 8X Stealth Wading Shoe

Each Fall Backwater Angler staff demos new products for the upcoming season. A pair of size ten wading boots from Cloudveil are about to be put through the paces on the Gunpowder River. After a few days of fishing, I plan to hand them off to other Gunpowder Guides for more testing. We will be posting reviews by different guides in the coming weeks. The Cloudveil 8X Stealth Wading Boot is extremely lightweight and features a 5.10 rubber sole. Soft rubbers like 5.10 are found on soles of rock climbing shoes. The sole smears to the rock, wet or dry, and provides constant contact by …

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Maryland Fly Tying Materials and Patterns

Fall can be the time for pursuing wild browns amidst the changing colors of leaves and reflecting on the past year’s fishing. Journals can help, often times a fly box can be a great place to look to bring back memories from months ago. The tattered snow shoe hendricksons and soft hackle nymphs in my box bring back early Spring evenings. Size twenty midge pupaes, zebra midges, caddis larvae and the faithful San Juan kept things hot on cold winter days. Wet flies, caddis pupae and pheasant tails in many colors and sizes dominate rows and rows of slitted foam in my boxes. My “fur …

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Bauer MacKenzie Superlight Series Review

The following is a review of the Bauer MacKenzie Superlight Series by Scott Burns. Thanks Scott! I have fished one of these reels for two years now- fished pretty hard. Smooth drag. Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin. A great reel for the price. Scott Burns

Bamboo Fly Fishing Rods built in Baltimore, Maryland III, Hon

Not much progress to report on the rod this week because I just got back from a week in the wilds of western North Carolina. I fished a little bit while I was down there but many of the streams I saw were low and warm and the ones that weren’t low turned in to a river of clay-colored slurry as soon as anyone even mentioned rain. I realized how spoiled I am with the Gunpowder River just a 30 minute drive from my house in Baltimore City. Even after a heavy rain the upper river is never more than slightly off-color and the cold …

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Bamboo Fly Fishing Rods built in Baltimore, Maryland II, Hon

I just wanted to update all of you on the bamboo rod I’m building for the shop and to lend some insight into the rod making process. There are five major steps in making a bamboo rod: 1.preparing the bamboo for planing 2.planing 3.gluing 4.attaching the components (guides, ferrules, reel seat) and 5.applying the finish (varnishing). So far I’ve flamed the culm (pole) of bamboo with a propane torch, split out the 18 individual strips that will become a butt section and two tip sections. A bamboo rod is not made of a single piece of bamboo which has been shaped into a hexagon from …

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Bamboo Fly Fishing Rods built in Baltimore Maryland, Hon

I’m proud to introduce the Backwaterangler.com community to our very own Bill Felter. Bill is a Maryland State Licensed Fishing Guide, Backwater Angler Clinic Instructor, and Bamboo fly rod Builder. Bill will be contributing to the site on various topics including fly fishing reports, guide know-how and bamboo rod building, of course. –Theaux Hi there, it’s Bill. I just started working on another rod for the shop. I finished flaming and splitting the culm that will become a copy of the famous Model 97 taper designed by Jim Payne. It’s a 7-foot, 2 piece rod with 2 tips that casts a 4 weight line. I …

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