Maine-Made Best Co Fly Tying Desks

Last weekend, while at the Denver Fly Fishing Show, I came across the booth of a unique company.  The Maine-Made Best Co. makes handcrafted fly tying desks, along with some accessories.   There were several models on display, and the quality was outstanding.  The drawers featured leather pulls, and the construction of the desks was solid, built the old fashioned way.   I spent quite a bit of time talking with Evan Emmott, who builds each of these products in Maine.   Evan was a very nice guy, a fisherman, and has an obvious passion for doing things the right way.   His great grandfather built similar desks many years ago, and Evan is continuing the tradition. 

Evan uses hand tools and turn of the century machinery to fashion each piece of tying equipment one at a time specifically for each customer and their requirements.  He has several sizes of desks available, and also makes several accessories, such as fly tying tool bags.  

I'm very fond of the State of Maine...and I enjoyed meeting a craftsman that appreciates "the way life should be..."

Maine-Made Best has a website, www.mainemodernwoodworks.com.  However, Evan told me that he spends most of his time building desks, so the best way to contact him is through his phone (preferred) at 207-790-2047, or email at evanemmott@gmail.com.

     

River X

There is always a magical dry fly fishing spot that you need to keep between friends.    An unlikely looking stretch of water that you only learn about after the friend that knows about it swears you to secrecy.   It's the type of place that big trout chase small BWO's in skinny, gin clear water.   We fished this river for a couple of hours, and we each caught some big trout.  The water was small, and we fished  several pockets together, each taking turns with our fly of choice.  One of my most enjoyable memories from this river was when JT called me over to fish for a nice big trout he spotted that was rising to small BWO's.  The water was very clear, and I had to lay the fly down very carefully in a small window.  I loaded the Scott S4, cast the line, mended quickly, then an explosive take...Fish on!  

 

The Frying Pan River

The Frying Pan is one of my favorite places to fly fish.   It is too crowded, and I generally don't like that type of thing.   But if you start off with the understanding that there will be some other people around...it's not that bad.   The trout are large, and they were chasing Green Drakes and PMD's.    One of my favorite experiences of the trip occurred on the Pan.   While fishing a nice pocket in front of me, I casually glanced at the water right next to me, and saw a Green Drake struggling to hatch.  The Green Drake is my favorite dry fly, and I was watching it with a smile on my face when suddenly a huge trout exploded out of the water to grab it, splashing me with water.   I stood frozen for a moment, then quickly removed my PMD and replaced it with a Green Drake pattern.   I took that as a clue...

Fishing crowded water is great for honing your skills as well...since you can't race from a nice riffle to the next pocket, it causes you to focus on each piece of water that you do have available.   I caught trout in water that I likely would have moved past otherwise.   It also reminds you that big trout like to hang in skinny water...

The Scott G Fly Rod

I've been able to get on the river at least once a week for the past couple months. The dry fly fishing has been outstanding this fall...and I've been catching a lot of fish on the dry fly of the moment, usually a parachute adams or BWO.    A few weeks ago, I pulled a rod out of my closet that I have had for a while, a Scott G 4wt 8'8 fly rod.  I've had the rod for years...but have sadly not fished it as much as I would like recently.    The Scott s4 4wt that I've been fishing is an outstanding rod, which handles dry fly and nymph fishing with ease.   The G is a moderate action rod that is not as flashy as some recent rods...there is no space aged material used to make it that I am aware of, just a beautiful, well crafted fly rod that is made to do one thing well...smoothly lay out a dry fly.

Most of my fly rods are faster action, which I like.    But fishing with the G for the last few weeks reminded me of some of the simple things that I love about fly fishing.    It forces me to slow down my casting stroke, and carefully fish the water right in front of me.    Although you can cast enough line when needed, the G is best when you are fishing close distances.    When you hook a fish on a medium action fly rod, you feel that fish fight through the whole rod...even a smaller fish is an enjoyable fight.   I can see why Cameron Mortenson and his fiberglass rod crew like those noodley rods.

They don't make the G anymore (Scott replaced it with the G2), and I think that makes me appreciate the rod even more.   It is a work of art...a classic rod, and I'm lucky to fish it.