Butter For More Than Breakfast!



Some butter in the back country

Since I heard the news Redington was coming out with a new fiberglass rod offering I was pretty stoked to say the least.  I counted down the days as I figured this rod would be a perfect choice for back country fishing and for small farm ponds.  They hit the name right with it when they called it the "Butter Stick" it even has a pretty cool buttery kinda look.  My first fly rod was a fiberglass rod way back in the day when I started it was an old fiberglass martin combo that dad had from several years ago and was a great rod to get started fishing several WV waters and just getting my feet wet in fly fishing.  I am a small rod junkie that loves those slow action rods in the 1 to 3wt range.  Redington offers 6 rods in several lengths from 2wt to 5wt actions.  I figured the best choice was the 6'2" 2wt rod. 

They are all 3 piece rods which make them a great size to throw on a backpack for a back country trip.  I have got to test the rod several times for trout then got to hit up the local pond in search of some bluegill and bass and was pleased with the early results.  Thanks to the great work of the local FedEx crew I was able to pick it up on the way to some deep back country brookies and rainbow trout.  First trip I put it through a good workout with several types of flies.  It threw stimulators with ease, but after trying out some bigger flies you could tell one bad draw back was accuracy was sometimes a problem with big patterns.  However it threw a woolybugger decently for a 2wt and got the job done.  Second trip with we were after some brookies and some browns and it called for some nice long accurate casts.  The Butter Stick was up to the test and threw some good loops, ended up losing a couple really good fish that I would have loved to seen how the 2wt responded to in the battle.

The last trip took me to a farm pond and I was able to get some good long casts with a small popper and it even ended up throwing a sneaky pete that the 2wt responded to very favorably.  Overall I love the slow and smooth action of the rod it has some sweet sexy action for sure with some nice flex.  It easily throws a good 30ft cast on the farm pond I ended up getting a good 40ft out of it.  Even though it has some good flex it also has some good backbone and does great fishing a fish with. Overall its a great rod for those small streams especially when chasing brookies and performs great with blue gills and on farm ponds.  The butter stick is a nice little rod looks good has a cool name and preforms like you would hope!  Only drawback may be a little high in price for a small stream rod, but its a great rod for sure!

A Little Walk With God

View from top of WV

To quote Herbert Hoover: " Next to prayer, fishing is the most personal relationship of man."  Sometimes in life we need to immerse ourselves in the amazing creations that we so greatly have been blessed to share while we are on this earth.  Tony Blake said, "Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God."  Living in West Virginia we are blessed with so many great places where we can go and allow our souls to be renewed and refreshed.  Some people need a church to go to so they can pray and think about God but we are blessed with so many awe-inspiring places that you can not help but go to God in prayer.  For me the Seneca Creek back country is one of those places where when I go deep into those woods with no one around and the sound of the rushing waters allows me to go to such a spiritual place.  Things with our family has been a little chaotic lately with some major decisions we have had to make with our future unfortunately, so on this day my wife gave me a much needed day off to fish these extraordinary waters.  I started off taking the view in from the top of WV as the sun awakened another magnificent day.  I reached the trail head knowing a

long hike awaited me but full of excitement for what was ahead and what this great day had in store.  Being out of shape this year a 9 mile hike I wasn't sure about but I had hoped the fishing would make up for those aching legs after the hike.  After a long hike I finally reached the Upper Seneca Creek Falls and strung up my rod for action, which I was really eager to try out Redington's new Butter Stick in a 2wt version, the new fiberglass rod they offer.  The stream flow was a little low and clear but the falls was still flowing good and allowed for that first moment of prayer with God its amazing how a place like this can truly help a persons spirit.  Well the rod was strung up with a faithful stimulator as I seen a trout hovering just below the surface.  In no time a nice wild rainbow trout was the first fish for the day, it was amazing to see such great colors wild fish truly are special creatures and do not get enough praise at times and protection.  After a few casts on top at the falls with no real activity I figured I would try and dredge up something from the deep depths of the pool and what better place to go then a

good old olive woolybugger.  The butter stick doesn't seem to throw bigger or weighted flies with as good as accuracy as you would like but on a small stream you can get by with this at times.  And after a few casts I got by with it indeed as I hooked into a picturesque brookie in his full falls colors.  I hung around the pool for a while and soaked up all its pure beauty and charm.  I headed off up stream and the rainbows were eager to eat the stimulator as well as some brookies.  It seemed on this day the rainbows were a little more willing to take the fly for me as the brookies were a little more skiddish in those crystal clear waters, but when trout are this vibrant its hard to complain what type they are!  Sometimes the fish is truly a bonus on a trip on this trip in particular the fish were an extra special bonus as just being in some of God's great country was the true bonus.  The day allowed me to pray a lot about life and just reflect and know that no matter what he will always be there to help and a rising trout makes life always seem so much better!  Yes sometimes its about more than the fish and sometimes a walk with God is on a trout stream and sometimes those streams really do heal us!