If you have any questions about anything fly fishing related this Holiday Season, please feel free to contact me at any time.
No matter how you celebrate this special time of year, I hope you all have a wonderful & joyous Holiday Season!!
blog & news
If you need ideas on what to get that special fly angler in your life, or if you need ideas for your own gift list this season, I can help. I've put together an easy Holiday Gift Guide to show you some of the really nice things you can get or give as gifts this year. There are a variety of fly fishing goodies to choose from, too. From small stocking stuffers that cost very little, to bigger & more personalized gifts like the chance to have your special angler get a custom rod made to their specifications. There's a little something there for everyone & every budget. As we go through the Holiday season, I'll feature some of those gift ideas right here in later postings. Maybe you're not a fly angler, & yet you have one in your life that you want to get a gift for? Maybe you've seen something in a magazine, catalog, or somewhere else online that you might want to get them but you just aren't sure about? Well, if you need help in that department, let me know & I'll do my best to guide you along & offer advice. Even if it's something I don't offer, I'll be more than happy to help guide you to make a decision. 'Tis the season & I'm here to help in any way that I can.
If you have any questions about anything fly fishing related this Holiday Season, please feel free to contact me at any time. No matter how you celebrate this special time of year, I hope you all have a wonderful & joyous Holiday Season!! I want to wish all of you a happy & healthy Thanksgiving!!
I'm so very grateful to all of you who have chosen me for your fly fishing needs. I thank you all so very much. Happy Thanksgiving!! You have so many options & choices when designing a custom fly rod, & the reel seat is a great place to give the rod a unique touch. One good way to do that is by the wood you choose to have in the reel seat. Today let's look at one type of wood you might like: This gorgeous wood is called Bocote. It comes from Mexico & South America. As you can see it has a beautiful grain to it, almost zebra-like stripes in it. Bocote also has 'eyes' or circular grain patterns in it as well. The stripes stand out because of their darker color. It is a very striking wood in appearance. Besides reel seat spacers, bocote is used for everything from knife handles to furniture to guitars. It is a very versatile wood indeed! Currently, Bocote is not on any endangered lists & is mostly available. There have been some harvest practices put in place to ensure it's availability in the future as a sustainable wood, so every once in a while you might have to wait to get some. Of course, this also makes it a little more expensive, too but I think the cost is well worth it for such a gorgeous wood. Bocote is just one type of wood you could have in the reel seat of your custom fly rod. As I said, you have many, many choices. Please, contact me to discuss what you'd like in your custom fly rod.
For those of you who fish with bamboo fly rods, you know how important the Nickle-Silver ferrules on a rod are. If you've been fishing those rods for some time, you've probably had a set of ferrules come apart from the rod. It usually happens after a day's fishing, when you're taking the rod apart. It's obvious what has happened: the glue holding the ferrules onto the rod has let go. It can be frustrating, disappointing, & shocking all at the same time. With today's modern adhesives, this problem doesn't occur as often as it once did - but it still happens, even with the best glues. Why? Well, the answer is basic physics. The act of flexing a fly rod is shear force by definition. Without getting too technical, no glue can withstand that constant flexing forever. Your only alternative is to use an adhesive that would make it impossible to ever remove the metal ferrules from the bamboo underneath. That would be fine, if you could guarantee that the ferrules would never be damaged, worn out, or ever need to be replaced for any reason. There is a way to prevent the ferrules from separating away from the bamboo, should the glue bond fail. The answer is to secure the ferrules onto the rod by driving a pin through the rod & ferrule. This pin is used in addition to the normal adhesive used. After the ferrules have been mounted onto the rod with the glue, as normal, a very small hole is drilled through both: Next, a small piece of Nickle-Silver wire, slightly larger than the hole, is driven through the hole to secure the ferrule. After the pin is driven into place, it's nipped off close the the side of the ferrule. Then the little nubbin of the pin that's left is filed down flat to the ferrule. If done right, you'll have a hard time seeing where the pin is located in the ferrule. Can you see the pin in the photo below? Fellow rod maker Jeff Wagner has the right idea when he says that there are three types of rod makers: "those that have had ferrule adhesive failures, those that lie about it, and those that have never had a problem...yet" I have to agree with him totally on that.
I use the best adhesive on the market for ferrules. Through the years I've had a total of three rods have their ferrules separate from the bamboo & each time it was frustrating & embarrassing to me. No matter that it has been an extremely rare occurrence, from now on each & every one of my rods will be made with glued & pinned ferrules. I'm doing this to ensure that there won't be any problems in the future & so you can be sure that you won't have that problem when fishing one of my rods. If the glue on a pinned ferrule should fail, you'll probably notice it anyway because the ferrules will start to click, or make a small noise, as you flex the rod. This doesn't mean that you should ignore that forever. You'll eventually want to get the ferrules re-glued onto the rod. The pin, though, will save you from the trouble of the ferrules coming off the bamboo. Some rod makers will tell you silly reasons why they don't pin. I used to be one of them, but after looking & thinking over the situation I've come to realize that it adds security to the ferrules & quality overall to the rod. What decent rod maker wouldn't want that. In the end I decided that the extra time & effort of pinning all my ferrules was worth it. Sure, it wasn't a problem before this, but if it prevents just one ferrule adhesive failure on any of my rods, then it's worth it. I want you to fish my rods with confidence!! If you enjoy your rights & freedoms here in the USA, don't thank a politician - thank a veteran!!
For all of you who served, thank you!! For most of us, we're in that dull time of between seasons. You know, it's too cold & slow to go after trout in the usual way, but it's not quite steelhead time yet either. Not to worry, you can still enjoy some decent fly fishing in many places right now. How, you might ask? Well, don't forget the warm water species of fish like bass, bluegill, crappie, etc. This can be a great time of year to go after them. At this time of year, those warm water fish are busy getting fat for the winter. They're eating, & so now's a good time to catch them. Find yourself a good pond. They're surprisingly all around you in neighborhood parks, or on private land (just be sure to ask for the land owner's permission first) & give it a go. Mostly right now you'll find the fish cruising around not far off the edges of ponds. The smaller fish come in to feed on the leaves & dead plants that have collected there, then the bigger fish come in to feed on them. This can lead to some very fun action. If you don't have access to a pond or small lake, then find a good stretch of bass water on a river or stream. Often times this will be in some of the same locations where you were catching trout earlier in the year. Look for deeper water that has structure around it, like reed beds, or especially rocks. A rocky bottom mixed with some larger boulders & some under water ledges is perfect for bass. Of course, with the colder weather having been around for a while, the fishing will be a little slower. It's not going to be the rapid fire action you could get from these fish at the beginning of summer, but they'll still give you a heck of a fight. This time of year doesn't have to be fish-less for you. If the trout won't cooperate, don't neglect their warm-water brothers & sisters. I don't know about you, but I'm never ready to give up the season before salmon & steelhead get going. With these fish, you don't have to!! Give it a try.
I am extremely proud of the leather fly wallets & leader wallets that I make in my shop. I think they're of the best quality you can get on the market today & are offered at a price that makes them the best value out there. I also like to add variety to your choices in wallets, so I make them out of many different types & colors of leathers. I'm always on the lookout for new & interesting leathers to make these wallets from. Through the years I've seen & worked with many different types of leathers & I can tell you that each one is unique in different ways. That's because leather is a natural material. You must remember that an animal was once wearing your wallet. As such, the leather will show signs of the life that the animal led. Different leathers have different grains, textures, thicknesses, & varying degrees of hardness & softness. In just the same way that no two bamboo fly rods will ever be exactly the same, likewise leather wallets will always be unique in at least some small way to each other. A lot of how the leather looks & feels is the result of the tanning process. Tanning is the treating of animal skins & hides to make them into actual leathers, which also makes them more durable & last much longer. There are many different ways to do this & leather tanning is it's own skill & trade. Without quality tanning & skilled tanners, leather workers wouldn't be able to do a thing. It's during the leather tanning process that the leather gets it's color & texture. Regardless of how skilled the tanner is, there will still be natural marks & grains in the final product. Marks where the animal scratched itself or stretched it's skin often (like at the belly) will be in the finished leather. These show up as minor imperfections in the grain of the leather & are what gives each piece of leather it's character. They are a good thing. Small spots like these below are what show that the leather is a natural product & not made in a lab or factory: Seeing these small imperfections in a wallet shows character & that it's a natural product. I say celebrate these little marks!!
Every now & then I have a client who asks me to make them a wallet from a perfect, flawless piece of leather - one with no marks at all. If that's what you're after then I recommend some synthetic, imitation leathers. These are made with synthetic materials in a factory &, like all mass-produced materials, will be perfectly uniform in their appearance & texture. Leather fly & leader wallets will patina over time & will show evidence of how it's owner uses it. Looking at old wallets, you can learn a little about the person who used them, as they take on unique wear marks. This is just another way that natural leather shows it's individual beauty & charm........& why I love working with it to make these wallets for you!! |
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.
Categories
All
Archives
April 2024
|