I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with great food, friends, & loved ones.
I've been busy in the kitchen myself, as I really like to cook & help out with the big meal. In fact, I'm a lot like this guy when I'm in the kitchen:
blog & news
This year, as always, I have quite a bit to be thankful for. The list could go on & on. One of the things near the top of that list would be all of you folks who read this & communicate with me. Without all you this job as a rod maker simply wouldn't be as fun as it is. Thank you all. I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with great food, friends, & loved ones. I've been busy in the kitchen myself, as I really like to cook & help out with the big meal. In fact, I'm a lot like this guy when I'm in the kitchen: Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!
Well, I've been dragged into the late twentieth century now, as a friend recently joked, & I've posted a video on the website youtube. It's just a short gallery of a few of the rods I've been honored to make through the years. I hope to learn a little more about the video-making process so that I can share some more things like this with you & improve upon this & future videos. I hope that you enjoy it. I'm not one of those people that wants to hear non-stop Christmas music on the radio or put up decorations before Thanksgiving. If you are, than I say go ahead & enjoy yourself - I won't stop you from getting into the spirit before thanksgiving. I'm one of those guys you see in the store the week before Christmas.
But since some folks might be interested in some of the rods, bags, reels, books, & other things I have offered on this site, I must be prepared in order to serve you all. The USPS informs me that the last day to ship a package to an address inside the USA is December 21st in order for it to arrive by Christmas eve. So basically that means that if you see something I have available on this site, & you want in time for Christmas, I need to receive your payment by Saturday December 14th. This gives me time enough for your check to clear the bank. Plus, it allows me time during the busy Holiday season to both serve you & run around at the last minute like all my fellow procrastinators!!! In the spirit of the season (see, I am getting into it early) I've lowered the prices on some of the rods, reels & books I have listed on both the Available Rods page & the Available Accessories page. Plus I hope to have a few more fly wallets, leader wallets, & soft reel cases in stock through the Holidays. Most of these are single items, so if you see something you want, please contact me about it. I'll be discussing gift ideas for fly anglers more as we get into the Holidays, but for now I just wanted to be prepared & give you a heads up so that you can plan your gift giving in advance. Also, don't forget that I'm here to help in any way I can, so if you have questions about rods, tackle, or anything else for you or that special angler in your life, I'm more than happy to answer any questions you have & help guide you through the world of fly fishing tackle the best I can. Okay, now let's get ready for the turkey!!! A somewhat obscure rod maker from the earlier & middle part of the twentieth century, Morris Kushner was know around Michigan as a very skilled rod smith. Kushner came from an engineering background & used those skills in his rod designs. Working in relative isolation, he came up with many different rod configurations & designs. He also designed & invented many of the tools & machines to make bamboo rods. Ingenious in their design & function, Kushner's shop must have been a joy for any fellow rod maker to visit. His rods are very rarely seen today, mostly because his output was smaller (being a single craftsman) but also because anglers who own his rods love them. They are unique & wonderful fishing instruments that testify to his skill. Morris was also know for his generosity. In fact the famous author Robert Traver devoted an entire chapter in his book "Trout Magic" to Kushner & his rods. If you've not heard of Morris Kushner before, you will be fascinated by this man & the wonderful rods he mad. Below is a video in which Robert Traver discusses Kushner with some photos of the rod maker himself. Enjoy. How your fly rod looks is important, or is it? Yes, you want a rod that looks good, but it also has to function well, too. As in all other things, form must follow function & a fly rod is no different. Most of you would be disapointed - even feel cheated - if you picked up a beautiful fly rod that couldn't cast a line very well.
So obviously, a fly rod must do what it was meant to do. That's why you should try many different types of fly rods so you know what actions, weights, lengths, etc will work best for you. How does the rod function for you when you cast a line with it? This is "where the rubber meets the road" for a fly rod. The most beautiful rod in the world would be a waste of your time if it didn't enhance your fishing. So a rod's looks are secondary & not as important as how it functions, right? Maybe in a perfect world but in reality, no, not really. That's because we all judge a fly rod by that first impression of when we first see it - and that, friends, is based solely on looks. It's human nature, & as far as fly rods go, it's normal. The first time we see a good looking rod we make certain assumptions about it. If all that care, skill, & attention to detail went into making the rod look good, then it's a pretty good bet that the same level of craftsmanship went into every aspect of the rod - the taper, the making of the rod shafts, etc. This isn't always the case, but it usually is. As a custom rod maker it's my job to bring my client's vision of a fly rod to life. Through doing this I learn a lot about what looks good & what doesn't. It's in this collaborating with folks that I get to try out different things - stuff I never would have thought of on my own. Regardless of how a client wants their rod to look, it's my job to produce that the best way possible. If a client wanted, say, polka dots on their fly rod I'm not sure how I would do that, but you can bet I'd figure it out & put the best polka dots I could on their rod (please, nobody ask me to do that!!). So how a fly rod looks is important & it's not shallow to think so. No, looks alone won't save a bad fly rod but without it you probably won't feel like you got your money's worth when you bought it. I see no reason why we can't have our cake & eat it too - a fly rod that looks & functions good. Over on the "Available Rods" page, I've just listed a vintage Berkley glass rod that I recently restored. This rod had great action when I got it, but it needed some work. It was so smooth of a rod that I thought it deserved some TLC to bring it back to life & allow it to reach it's full potential. The ferrules were sloppy fitting, so I repaired them along with giving a couple small places on the cork grip some attention. But the majority of the work on this rod consisted of removing it's ugly beige paint job (what were they thinking?) & putting the proper sized line guides on it in the right locations so that this rod could cast a line way better than it ever has. The natural fiberglass color underneath that paint looked great & now that the guides are wrapped in orange silk thread with black tipping......well, this rod has just been bumped up to a higher class. The smooth moderate action of this rod is one I just love & one I think all of you glass aficionados will enjoy, too. This rod would be very much at home on any trout stream or even fishing for small bass, bluegill, etc. This rod comes complete with a custom made rod bag & PVC covered rod tube with padded zippered top & leather name tag. All this makes for a great outfit.
So if you're interested in a great, unique fiberglass fly rod with a new lease on life than please visit the Available page for more info & to see more photos of this rod. If you have any questions about this rod, or anything else you see there, please just email me. I've just received news that my friend Ed Nicholson, founder of Project Healing Waters, has been selected as the 2013 Purpose Prize winner. This prize is awarded to folks who make a second career in life that significantly contributes to the greater good of society. In other words, these are people of experience who are working to make the world a better place. Project Healing Waters certainly does that. Here is the press release announcing this: "LaPlata, MD--Capt. Edwin P. Nicholson, USN (ret.), Founder and President of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, has been selected as a 2013 Purpose Prize winner. He is one of seven winners chosen by Encore.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting people who translate decades of skill and experience into "second acts" that contribute to society's greater good. Nicholson, a resident of Port Tobacco, MD, mentors disabled veterans, healing the physical and emotional wounds of battle through the power of relationships and the great outdoors. A cancer survivor and war veteran himself, Nicholson was impressed by the fortitude of disabled veterans at the Walter Reed military hospital, where he was treated for prostate cancer in 2005. It spurred him to found Project Healing Waters, a program dedicated to helping disabled active duty military members and veterans recover from the trying aftermath of war through the sport of fly-fishing. Founded in 2005, Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. (PHWFF) is dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and disabled veterans through fly fishing and associated activities including education and outings. One-on-one connections have been key to Project Healing Waters' approach since the beginning. Nicholson knew there were fly-fishing groups and facilities all over the country. His innovation was to convince them to start, manage and lead fly-fishing instruction and outings with veterans through military and Veterans Administration (VA) facilities. The quiet bonds forged over fishing lines between veterans began to transform lives. Again and again Nicholson heard from family members who said their loved ones had returned from war withdrawn, angry, and difficult to be around. But after fly-fishing with Project Healing Waters, they've become happier, more open and engaged. Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, works closely with Veterans Administration staff to identify disabled service members and veterans who would most benefit from the program. Many are in wheelchairs or using prosthetics. A few are blind. Participants reflect the full spectrum of disabled veterans and include all ages, genders, ethnicities and disabilities. Nicholson says the impact "goes well beyond the mechanics of fly-fishing." Nicholson was raised in Wadsworth, OH and is a 1964 graduate of the University of North Carolina. He was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy (R) upon graduation, then transitioned to the regular Navy where he served for thirty years before retiring with the rank of Captain in 1994. Nicholson served as Indian Head Base Commander from 1989-1992. Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing is a registered 501(c)(3) non profit organization incorporated in the state of Maryland and headquartered in Charles County, MD. The Purpose Prize winners will be honored on December 5, 2013, at an awards ceremony in Sausalito, Ca. NBC's Jane Pauley will emcee the event for hundreds of Encore leaders and the Purpose Prize winners. Twenty-one judges - leaders in business, politics, journalism and the nonprofit sector - chose the seven winners from a pool of more than 1,000 nominees. Judges include Sherry Lansing, former CEO of Paramount; David Bornstein, author and New York Times columnist; Eric Liu, writer and founder of Citizen University; and Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, the John Templeton Foundation, and Symetra, The Purpose Prize is a program of Encore.org, which aims to engage millions of boomers in encore careers combining personal meaning, continued income and social impact in the second half of life. "While Purpose Prize winners are helping to solve a wide range of pressing social problems, they have one thing in common," said Marc Freedman, CEO and founder of Encore.org and author of The Big Shift (PublicAffairs Books). "They - and millions of others in encore careers - are turning personal passions and decades of experience into invaluable contributions across sectors, continents and generations, often through entrepreneurship." Congratulations Ed, you deserve the recognition!!!
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Project Healing Waters, or are looking for ways that you can help them out, I encourage you to visit their website. These folks are doing noble work thorough fly fishing & I'm proud to have been involved with them since early on. It's been amazing watching them grow & see all the good people they've helped & continue to help each & every day. They are an example of all that is good in fly fishing. Please, if you can, support this upstanding organization. A while back, I showed you some pictures from the inside of a booklet that Scientific Anglers used to put inside their fly line boxes some thirty years ago. This booklet was filled with useful info about fly lines, casting, & yes, advertising for SA fly lines. I think it came in every box of line back then.
When I happened to stumble upon this little gem (copyrighted in 1982, which is probably when I got the fly line) I was taken back to a simpler time in fly fishing. Back then the companies in the industry didn't need to scream to get the buyer's attention like they do today. No flashy colors on the boxes. No big bold letters to grab your eye. Not even a fly fishing celebrity's picture or endorsement. Sheesh!! How'd they ever sell anything back then?!!? So I thought I'd share a few more pages from the inside of this trip down memory lane. For those of you who weren't fishing back then (or weren't even born yet), this is how things used to look in the fly fishing world. Mortised bamboo fly rods are those that feature a swell in the butt section that is accomplished by splicing wood into the rod between the strips of bamboo. The splicing begins just before the grip and continues through the rod to form an all wood & bamboo grip & reel seat. These are both historic & artistic rods, as it was not uncommon to see high-end rods of this design in the late 1800's. Through the years I've tried a number of different woods for the splice strips in rods & have learned some things along the way.
Some anglers are concerned that the wood might interrupt the rod's action. That is, the added strips might stiffen the butt section too much. Well, harder woods like ebony, oak, maple, & others will stiffen the butt section more than soft woods. Those woods are also more difficult to work with than the softer woods. All that being said, the wood should not have a damaging effect on the rod's action - assuming that the rod is properly designed. I find woods with some flex to them are the best for most rods. Cedar was traditionally the most often wood used, though I suspect that was due more to it's availability & color contrast with the bamboo rather than how it functioned in the rod. I really like using poplar wood or bamboo strips that have been flamed either darker or lighter than the bamboo used in the rod. The poplar is soft & flexible in addition to really giving the rod's appearance some "pop". Poplar tends to get a bad reputation in wood working, being used as the secondary wood in drawers & other furniture parts. But some craftsmen recognized it's beauty & used it as a prominent wood in details on very expensive pieces of furniture. The bamboo's color can be manipulated to contrast with the cane in the rod & it will flex at the same rate as the rod. Both are easy to work with, too. Just about any bamboo rod can be mortised, but keep in mind that a short rod with a stiff (or hard) wood will make for a stiffer rod. Longer rods are less effected by the extra wood in the grip & reel seat areas. In my experience, the best mortised rods are those that avoid extremes in design. Other than that, the sky's the limit on what is possible which is why these rods are some of the most attractive fly rods you'll find. "Rod Crafting" by Jeff Hatton (published by Frank Amato Publications) is a book unlike any other. If you are interested in the history of fly fishing you need to get this book. Through photos & research, Hatton documents fly rods from as far back as the 1800's up through the middle of the twentieth century. Each rod is photographed in detail & a description & historical explanation is given for each rod. At 320 pages in length, there are many rods shown & described in the book. Every time I pick it up an hour or two goes by before I've realized it!!
This book is also a great reference for anyone interested in having a fly rod made for them. Not sure what rod components are traditionally acceptable on your rod? Looking through this book, you can see what all the classic rod makers & companies used to do. Maybe you need some inspiration in designing your rod. Well, with this book you can look to the past for a new idea. I like to use this book as a reference myself when thinking about what types of hardware look good on certain rods, what color schemes of wraps go well together, etc. In addition to all the photos, the brief historical information is very useful as well. Hatton has laid the book out in chronological order, so you can literally see how the fly rod developed. It couldn't have been an easy undertaking to write this book & we are all better for the great work Jeff has done here. If you're unfamiliar with this book, or weren't sure about getting a copy, do so. If you enjoy fly rods, you'll love this book. |
The Pliant RodNews from the shop of Chris Lantzy, Custom Rod Maker along with industry news, profiles of interesting characters, reviews, history, & whatever else strikes our fancy. Your comments & feedback are welcome. Please email me your thoughts. Celebrating two decades of making custom fly rods!!
leather accessoriesCases, bags, wallets, & other fine leather angling accessories.
See more photos from the rod shop & stream sides!
SEE MORE ROD PHOTOS!!!Please visit my Flickr pages to see even more rod photos including those available for sale, different rod features, & more. I'll be continuing to add photos there, so check it often.
Watch Some Videos!!Take a look into the rod shop & see some rods in living color motion pictures!! Check out my youtube videos.
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