Blog Archives

Custom Fly Fishing Rods by Chris Lantzy, Custom Rod Maker

New Reel Available & Other News...

7/28/2014

I've added yet another vintage reel to the "Available Reels" page for your consideration. This one is a South Bend 1122A. It's a reel that will cover a lot of fishing situations.

For those of you who want a simple reel that will work for bass, trout, panfish, or other applications you'll like this reel. Everything on it works just fine, even though it has had some honest use. Necessary repairs were made & this reel will serve you well along the stream.

Plus, don't forget that every reel I offer, including this one, comes with a free custom fit reel case. That's a $20 value alone. When you consider the lower shipping costs than other dealers & the lower prices for the reels I've listed, I don't think you'll find better total prices on reels like these anywhere. Most places are charging upwards of $8 to $10 just to ship a reel. I'm working to keep my prices down so you can get these reels at the best prices possible. Where else are you gonna get a free custom made reel case??

Please check out the "Available Reels" page for this & all the other reels & accessories I have listed there.

More Wallets Coming Soon!!!

That's right. We've been busy as bees around here getting together some more fly wallets & mini fly wallets. There will be a new listing of the inventory coming as soon as they're ready.

In addition to that, I'll be showing you folks a special edition fishing bag that will be available in the late summer or early fall. More on that to come, but know that I'm excited about this.

Also, there's a good chance that I'll have more leather in the shop soon. This means that there will be more variety of wallets & cases. Our suppliers have been showing us some new materials that will add to your choices & might even allow us to add a discount line of wallets. We'll see...

For more info about all these wallets, cases, bags, etc please take a look at the "Accessories" page of this site. If there's something there you want, or you have an idea for something that you don't see, let me know.

I hope that you're all having a terrific summer & getting some quality fishing in, too!!!

The Muddler Minnow

7/23/2014

By far, the Muddler Minnow is one of my personal all-time favorite flies. I wouldn't be without it on the stream because of how well it catches fish for me. It makes a mediocre angler like me look much better than I really am.

The Muddler was developed by Don Gapen in Minnesota back in the late 1930's. By the early 1950's he was selling these flies & they inspired anglers all over. This pattern spawned many spun deer hair imitation patterns. In fact, it still inspires fly tiers today.

The fast popularity of this pattern is because it's so successful on just about all game fish. It can be used in both fresh & saltwater fishing. It can be used for steelhead & salmon fishing, too.

This is another one of those patterns that looks like something very specific & like nothing in particular, all at the same time. It can imitate sculpin, dace, leeches, & just about any other type of bait fish. When you start to use different color materials to tie this fly, the sky's the limit.

Personally I use the Muddler to catch trout, bass, crappie, & other panfish. But I fish the heck out of it at night in the summer. That's because that deer hair head cuts through the water & makes a lot of noise. The really big fish use sound to hunt their prey in the darkness of night.

It can be fished like a wet fly on a dead drift or swung through a good 'fishy' area of water, but it seems to be most effective when stripped like the streamer it is. It allows you to cover a lot of water & brings big fish out of hiding to take a bite.

Personally, some of the biggest fish I've ever been privileged to land - or the hardest strikes I've ever missed - have been with a Muddler tied on the end of my line. I can't say enough good things about them.

I only wish I was better at tying these flies. I need a lot more practice because at least half of my ties of this fly come out looking like a nightmare or a small clown car. So I'm inspired by this video below. I hope you'll be inspired too. It shows a really neat trick with a razor blade for trimming the head that I'm going to have to try.

So give the Muddler Minnow a go. I hope the video below helps both you & me get better at tying these awesome flies.

How To Blend Dubbing: One Method

7/21/2014

There are many reasons why you would want to blend together two or more colors &/or types of dubbing. Blending, or mixing, dubbing is a skill that takes practice & experience to get really good at - but it's not so difficult. Anyone can do it successfully after a few tries.

Once you know how to do this, your possibilities are endless. Essentially, you'll be making your own custom dubbing. You'll have complete control of the color of your flies, which will allow you to match any hatch in color exactly. You can see how this will come in handy, right?

There are many methods of blending dubbing. Some of them call for all kinds of dies & even food processors or blenders. The way I've always done it seems the easiest to me. So, here's how it's done:

-Take a couple of different furs - those that are commercially colored. You need only a small amount of each color, maybe a clump the size of a 50 cent piece.
-Put both clumps into a jar that's somewhere around a quart in size. It helps if the jar is transparent so you can see inside it.
-Fill the jar to about 3/4 full with hot water.
-Add about 2 or 3 drops of liquid dish soap - no more than that.
-Put into the jar the two small clumps of dubbing you want to combine.
-Put the lid on the jar & shake the living daylights out of it for at least a minute or two.

-When you've done all this, set the jar aside & let it rest for a little while, until everything in the jar settles down.
-You're going to need some kind of small strainer. I use a small kitchen strainer for this. Take the dubbing out of the jar. It will be kind of "goopey", like a wet cat. Put the fur into the strainer & rinse it under the faucet. Go at this for a while & take your time, you want to make sure you rinse all the soap off of the dubbing. Use luke-warm water for this.
-Finally, set the dubbing aside to dry on a paper towel after patting it dry. Once it's completely dry package it up in an air tight plastic bag.

Like an artist painting a picture, you'll have to consider what color two different colors make when combined. You're also going to have to do some experimenting to get the mix just right. That's okay because the more you do this, the more you'll learn how much of each color you need in the mix to get the results you want ("maybe a little more yellow next time & less brown").

Once you get onto this you can try combining three or more colors. You can also try combining different furs from different animals, like rabbit & muskrat, for example. As you can see, the sky is the limit. So go ahead & give this a try. Once you know how to make your own custom colors of dubbing, you won't have to worry if your fly shop or supplier doesn't have the exact color you've seen on the insects of your local hatches. Just think of the possibilities this adds to your fly tying.....

Vintage Pflueger Sal-Trout Now Available

7/18/2014

Adding to the inventory, I've just listed another reel. This one's a vintage Pflueger Sal-Trout - one of the most versatile reels made. It's great for large trout, bass, spey, or switch outfits.

This reel has the old bulldog trade mark. I would estimate it to be from around the mid 1960's. It has a few paint chips, but otherwise is in excellent condition.

This reel functions like new. There are no dents or dings on this reel. The click drag is strong. The spool spins freely. Overall this is one of the nicest Sal-Trout reels I've had. Plus, it comes in a custom-fit black reel case, making this a really nice buy.

To read more about this reel, see more photos, & to see all the reels I have please visit the "Available Reels" page. If you have any questions, please contact me. I'll be adding more reels & other accessories in the coming days & weeks, so please check back often.

New Reel Available: Gyro By Jana No. 53

7/14/2014

I've just listed another reel on the "Available Reels" page. This is a rare one: Gyro by Jana No. 53.

This reel was made in Japan. I've learned that Jana was a trade name used by some Japanese company to sell their products here. Who exactly made it, I can't be sure, but it's of very good quality so probably one of the higher-end Japanese reel companies like Olympic or others.

It has a cool drag system. There are notches that run all the way around the back of the spool. The click spring slides into these notches, thus the click drag, which can be turned off or on by a slide. You can also further adjust the drag by the knob in the center of the reel.

This is a neat reel that hardly ever comes to market. Everything on this reel works exactly as it should & is ready to be lined with your favorite 5,6,7, or even 8 wt line. It also comes in a matching red soft-sided reel case, included in the price.

For more information & photos about this reel, & all the other reels I have available, please visit the "Available Reels" page of this site. As always, if you have any questions about what you see there - or anywhere else on this website - please contact me.

I hope you're all having a great summer!!

Nocturnal Fly Fishing

7/9/2014

"You know, the night-time (wah-do-day),
Oh, is the right time (wah-do-day)
To be (wah-do-day)
With the one you love (wah-do-day)......"
-Credence Clearwater Revival ("The Night Time Is The Right Time")

In order to beat the summer heat some anglers come out at night. Trout are like people in the temperatures they like, in that they don't care for extremes. Too hot or too cold & trout will slow down into a hypnotic state until conditions improve or they die.

In the heat of summer many trout will be relatively inactive during the hottest hours of the day. If you're trying to catch them, you obviously stand a better chance if the trout are feeding. During the hottest times of the year trout tend to feed more in the wee hours of the morning, like say from 2 or 3 am & on until after sunrise until maybe 8 or 10 am in the morning, depending on conditions.

Another reason to consider fly fishing at night is because once a trout reaches a certain size, maybe 22" & up, they stop eating as many insects because bugs don't provide enough nourishment to keep them going. Instead, these big lunkers turn into predators & eat thinks like other fish, baby ducks, mice, & anything else of substantial size in the water. They are hunters & they do their best hunting at night. A really big hatch will still bring them out in the daylight - even if to eat the smaller fish who are distracted by the hatch. Usually though, these big monsters rule the night in the stream.

So if you want to have more action & improve your chances of catching the biggest trout in the stream, then night time is the right time in the hot summer for fly fishing. To that end, you might want to give it some thought before you march out into the dark oblivion, fly rod in hand.

-Know the stream you'll be fishing & know it well. This is not only to improve your odds of catching a fish, but for your safety. It's good to know where all the rocks, logs, & pot holes are when you're walking or wading in the dark.

-Take someone with you or tell someone where you'll be. You wouldn't be the first angler to get stuck in the stream at night. Mud & quicksand are real dangers to take seriously.

-Take a flashlight with you, but use it as little as possible. You'll see your surroundings better when your eyes get adjusted to the darkness. Constant use of a flashlight will not only spook the fish, it will never let your eyes fully adjust to the darkness.

-Make sure night fishing is legal where you're going. On many special regulation waters it isn't.

I can tell you from my own personal experience that the biggest tugs I've ever felt on my rod & line along a trout stream have happened at night in the pre-dawn hours, usually from 3 to 5 am. It was that thrill that kept me coming back at night, although it can wreck havoc with your schedule. I just hit the coffee pot a little harder than normal in the afternoons. You can be almost guaranteed to have the stream all to your self at those hours, too. Because of all these reasons fly fishing in the middle of the night can be fun, dangerous, & addictive.

Joe Brooks

7/8/2014

Many anglers who have been fishing for a while know the name Joe Brooks. However, many newer anglers - while they may have heard the name - aren't familiar with him.

Joe brooks was possible the most famous angler of the mid-twentieth century. Certainly his name was closely related to angling in general then. He was recognized as one of the best fishing writers of his time. He wrote ten books & many articles about fishing. His articles appeared in Field & Stream Magazine, The Saltwater Sportsman, Outdoor Life Magazine, among other publications. He was also the outdoor editor for The Baltimore Sun & later the fishing editor of Outdoor Life.

However, it was television that would truly make Joe one of the most famous anglers. The old TV show "ABC'S Wide World of Sports" featured a segment of host Curt Gowdy & Joe fly fishing in Patagonia. It was such a popular segment, that it led to a spin-off show called "The American Sportsman" featuring Joe as a regular on the show for 20 years.

This exposure on TV had many celebrities coming to Joe to show them how to fish. He taught many celebrities the sport & fished often with Bing Crosby, Ted Williams, & others.

Because he was so well known & his writings & articles reached such a wide audience, Joe Brooks may have helped more anglers than anybody else. He was highly respected for his knowledge & ability to show & teach others. In other words, he was a life long angler & fame found him. His books & articles are still very useful today & all of us can benefit from the volume of work he left us.

Joe Brooks died in 1972 after a full life of fishing & enjoying the outdoors. Below is a short biographical video of him celebrating his induction into the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame.

Happy Independence Day America!!!

7/4/2014

“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty; it ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

-John Adams

Leather Reel Cases

7/3/2014

You can now get the soft sided reel cases I offer made from high grade leather. These cases are made in the same design as the other canvas cases & are made to the same high level of quality.

These cases are available in either brown or black soft leather & have the same wool / fur lining & strong zipper closures.

I'm very proud of these cases & I don't think you'll find any soft sided reel cases of higher quality anywhere on the market. These are all made in my shop, one at a time, to exacting standard. This is real leather, not some imitation material. Plus, these cases can also be made to custom fit your individual reel.

You don't have to pay over $100 to get a quality leather reel case for that special reel in your collection or to house any high-end reel. For more info about these cases, & all the other accessories I offer, please visit the "Accessories" page. If you have any questions, or want to place an order for one or more of these items, please contact me.

Starting Them Out With A Dry Fly?

7/1/2014

Many fly anglers consider dry fly fishing to be the ultimate experience one can have in the world of fly fishing. In general, dry fly fishing has a reputation for being difficult. In the literature of the sport it's often described (or implied) as the most elegant way to catch a trout. To the beginning fly angler, the dry fly can be intimidating. So most of us start out with wets, dries, or streamers when we're learning how to fly fish. I include myself in this, too. I'm still not as good with a dry fly as I ought to be.

There are some fishing instructors who feel that you should start the sport learning to use a dry fly. When you listen to their reasons for this it seems to make a lot of sense. They say that because you can see more of what's going on, the dry fly makes learning faster.

-you can see feeding fish rise to the surface, so no guessing where they are in the stream.

-you can see what they are eating on the surface.

-you can see how your fly drifts in the current.

-coming in from behind, you can get closer to the fish & it's easier to catch a trout 20 ft away than, say, 60 ft.

As they say, these benefits are visual. Using a dry makes the beginner VERY aware of the concept of current drag & how it affects the drift of their line. Learning how to deal with drag early on in your fishing will also help in your subsurface fishing, too.

When you think about it, there doesn't have to be a hatch going on to justify using a dry fly. Trout are always looking up - both for food & predators. I know a few really good anglers who do their searching & prospecting with a dry fly. In the summertime, after all the spring hatches are over, terrestrial imitations can be very effective - ants, hoppers, etc.

Of course matching the hatch is awesome fun. I suggest (if you haven't yet) to pick just one hatch to begin with & study it. This is a great intro to entomology for the beginner. We should all have at least one local hatch we we can match perfectly. Nothing will give an angler more pride.

But you don't always have to match the hatch to catch trout on dries. There are time-tested patterns that will work almost anywhere. You know the ones I mean - they look like nothing in particular & everything in general, all at the same time. The really good anglers I know seem to never be without an Adams, Light Cahill, Quill Gordon, & a bushier fly like a Royal Wulff. These patterns seem to work wherever you are & especially when nothing else seems to be doing the trick.

Each style of fishing, surface or subsurface, has it's own set of challenges & obstacles to overcome. Different skills are needed to find success with each. An experienced angler knows when to use dries or subsurface flies - & they use dries more than you might think. For the beginner, or any angler wanting to gain experience, the dry fly can be a great help as a visual aid & show you what's really happening in & on the water. For those of you who are introducing new anglers to the sport, you might want to consider starting your students with a dry fly.

the pliant rod:

New Reel Available & Other News...

More Wallets Coming Soon!!!

The Muddler Minnow

How To Blend Dubbing: One Method

Vintage Pflueger Sal-Trout Now Available

New Reel Available: Gyro By Jana No. 53

Nocturnal Fly Fishing

Joe Brooks

Happy Independence Day America!!!

Leather Reel Cases

Starting Them Out With A Dry Fly?

The Pliant Rod

leather accessories

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