It has been a busy, busy winter & spring here in the rod shop. Many raw materials have been coming in the door & finished rods & accessories going out. Many folks ordered ahead of the fishing season to gear up for another year on the water. Now that the season is in full swing everywhere, some folks are adding to their fly fishing equipment. I'm here & happy to help you all.

I was honored to make some very nice rods so far this year of bamboo, graphite, & fiberglass in all different sizes. Here are just a few of the rods that made it out the door in time for some spring fly fishing:

This rod below was a very cool rod. A graphite fly rod that I really like the wrap colors against the color of the rod blanks. I really like the over all looks of this rod & I'll talk & show more of it later in another post:

The accessories I make in the shop continued to grow in popularity this winter & spring. There were many long hours & late nights cutting leather very precisely to meet the demand for everyone.

​A big advancement in the quality of the leather fly & leader wallets I make was made - each wallet now has black dyed & buffed edges for a beautiful finished edge. This helps to protect the leather & enhances the appearance of these beautiful wallets. These are now some of the finest wallets on the market today:

As I said, it has been an extremely busy start to the year here in the rod shop. That is because of all of you. It's my honor to help you all out & to provide you with the best rods, wallets, bags, rod tubes, & friendly service as possible. Because of all of you I'm able to do what I love every day. Thank you all so much!!

For those of you still waiting on a rod or accessories, or any of you who need anything from me, you know that I'm here in the rod shop to help everybody out that I can.

I hope you're all off to a great fishing season so far. I haven't had a chance to hit the water yet, myself, but hopefully I'll be able to steal a day away here & there to get some time in on the stream & hang this on the rod shop door:

If I can be of any help to you please contact me & let me know. Good luck out there & save some trout for me!!!

I hope that your fishing season, wherever you are, is off to a good start. Today I thought we'd have a little fun.........Take a look at this Old Milwaukee Beer commercial from the 1980's. I remember when this was on TV, too.

Good luck on the water out there & if you imbibe, by all means enjoy yourself like these guys!!! 

If you've never read the book, "Trout Madness" you're missing out on a great read. No matter if you've read the book or not, most of us fly anglers can & will relate to Traver's words. Here then, is a short, 15 minute, vintage film showing the angler / author in his favorite environment - on a trout stream.

​As we gear up & get ready for the upcoming trout season, I hope this film excites you for the season ahead. Enjoy!!

Morris Kushner was a rod maker & an engineer who helped to make some very impressive advances in fly rod design during his lifetime. His work, nor the man himself, isn't as well known as it probably should be today. Regardless, Kushner came up & proved some very interesting concepts in rod design.

The following short film, from the early 1980's, tells his story. It is a fascinating look at his life, his travels, & fishing. Anyone who enjoys watching vintage fishing footage will love gazing at this film. In addition to that, this film features comments from the legendary rod maker Bob Summers & writer Rober Traver (John Voelker).

This is a beautiful, fascinating short film. Enjoy.

One of the things that always amazes me is how talented many fly anglers are in ways that are related to fly fishing. What I mean by that is so many of you have picked up other skills along with your fishing abilities. Some of you are fantastic fly tiers. Others are excellent writers. Some are very good photographers, while others are good with their hands making fishing accessories, & some even dabble in rod building!! The point here is that most of you take your talents & abilities & apply them in some way to the sport of fly fishing.

My good friend & fellow local fly angler Mike, is no exception. Mike is a traditional angler, to say the least. He likes old rods, old fly patterns, & I've even known him to mess with gut leaders!! Being that Mike likes the traditional aspects of our sport it comes as no surprise that he likes greenheart (wood) fly rods. Yes, that's right Mike enjoys those rods most of you have probably only read about - & he catches fish, too folks. In fact, he's very good at it.

I was blown away the other day when Mike showed me his latest project. It's an old 9 ft, 3 pc fly rod made from wooden blanks!! Yup, he went out, a few years ago, & got himself some old wooden rod blanks from the Partridge of Redditch Company (I think), back when those things were still being offered. He turned those plain wooden sticks into a beautiful, gorgeous fly rod.

As you can see, the rod features a reverse-Welles wood grip, all metal cap & ring style reel seat, & gorgeous yellow/gold silk wraps throughout. I also like the bent-wire traditional tip tops as well.

The hallmark of a skilled rod builder is in the fit & finish of all the parts & you can tell that Mike has done an excellent job with this rod. I particularly like the ever so thin winding check he made himself to fit this rod....

Wow!! Great work, Mike!!

I'm always so excited to see the things that you folks come up with related to fly fishing. I'm blown away by your talent. All of you are so creative & skilled in so many ways that it really inspires me as a rod maker to do the best work that I can.

To that end, you folks should always feel free to show me your 'extra curricular' fly fishing items with me. I'd love to see them along with your fishing photos & your stories of angling adventure. I'm often awed & inspired by the things you folks do & create - as I was when Mike showed me that fly rod!!!

I've just listed another fly rod over on the Available Rods page of this website.

Just in time for trout season comes this wonderfully casting fly rod. Are you looking for a great 3 weight rod for those delicate dry fly presentations? Need a rod that will fish dries, wets, & nymphs on smaller to medium sized streams? A rod that will do all that with a very smooth, luxurious action & feel? Well, this is your rod!!

This rod features:
-Lightly flamed bamboo
-Progressive, moderate/fast action
-Reverse half-welles grip
-Up locking, screw-lock reel seat with walnut spacer & aluminum hardware for reduced weight
-Nickle-silver winding check (above grip)
-Chromed, stainless-steel u-shaped hook keeper, line guides, & tip tops
-Chromed, stainless-steel traditional stripping guide
-Nickle-silver ferrules
-Rich, darker red silk thread wraps with black silk tipping throughout
-Tan colored soft cotton flannel rod bag, custom fit to the rod with red embelishment stitches to match the silk wraps on the rod
-Brown, custom fit, canvas covered PVC rod tube with padded ends, zippered closure, & leather name tag describing the rod inside

This rod is in new condition & has never been fished. It has only seen action on the lawn as a demo rod, showing the fun of casting this light line, 3 weight, rod.

​For more photos & a detailed description of the rod, please visit the Available rods page of this website. Please contact me if you have any questions about this rod, or anything else you see there.