Arguello 3 Weight

This particular rod is my Boulder Creek rod. I fish Boulder Creek more often than any other water, and consider it my "home water." It's a small-ish creek filled with small-ish fish, and I know just about every foot of the creek very well.

Joe lives close to me, so I was able to visit him at his home/shop before I ordered a rod from him. Before I visited Joe, I actually had in mind a 5 weight rod for bigger water, but as I test-cast some of his tapers on his lawn, the little 3 weight was just so sweet, that I changed my mind and asked him to make me one. In the past, I've fished Boulder Creek with a 4 or 5 weight rod, but I've always thought that a slightly lighter rod would be better suited for this water, and Joe's 3-weight was the perfect fit

Finally, the rod arrived, and I took it to its namesake Boulder Creek the very next day to fish it. The day started out sunny, without even a breeze. The Creek was running slow and low, and the water was so clear, I could see all the way to the creek bottom, even in the deepest sections. The slow, shallow water meant that the casting had to be from a relatively long distance, and very delicate, or the fish would be spooked. I tied on a lightweight furled leader, 4 feet of 6x flouro tippet, and a small Royal Wulf. The Arguello rod performed very well in these conditions. It turned over the long, lightweight tippet nicely, and allowed for very careful and delicate presentations. It wasn't too long before I hooked into a feisty little trout.

This being Colorado, it wasn't too long before the weather began to change. After a while, the wind kicked up, and soon I was casting into a strong breeze. I ended up casting a lot of side-arm, to keep the fly line close to the water and out of the wind as much as possible. The Arguello rod turned out to have enough backbone to force the light, 3 weight line into the wind.

Conditions were challenging, but the rod handled it with aplomb. By the end of the day, conditions changed again, and I'd worked my way upstream to a part of the creek with small pools seperated by riffles. Here, I was casting very short distances, with just a couple of feet of fly line out. Again, I was impressed with the rod's capabilities.
My only discomfort with the rod was a result of my long use of heavier rods to fish this water. Many days of fishing Boulder Creek had conditioned me to set the hook very gently, to avoid yanking the small fish out of the water and launching them over my shoulder. With this new, lighter 3 weight, I had to shrug off this conditioning, and put a little more "umph" into the hook set. By the end of the day, I had the hang of it.

If you've read this far, you can probably tell that I'm really happy with the rod. It's a terrific fishing tool, and it also has beautiful fit, finish, and cosmetics to match its function. (I particularly love the golden brown wraps, which nicely complement the dark cane.)
I'm looking forward to many more days on Boulder Creek, and the other small streams that this rod is suited to.