I've just published this year's Holiday Gift Guide to help you find that perfect, unique gift for the special angler in your life. On the list of items you'll find a gift idea for every budget, including some of the most popular items I make & offer. 

​Everything from fine leather accessories like fly wallets to leather leader wallets......

........to these classic & unique canvas fishing bags........

.....even the popular Mini Pack.

These & more accessories are listed on the Holiday Gift Guide. 

If you're looking for a truly memorable gift for your special fly angler this year, you can't do better then a custom fly rod!! But how can I know what they would want their fly rod to be? To solve that issue for you, I offer gift certificates for custom made fly rods. You make a down payment on a rod (or pay in full if you prefer) & I'll send you a personalized gift certificate for a custom made fly rod that you can wrap up & give to your angler. Then after the Holidays, they contact me & your angler & I work out all the details of what they want their fly rod to be. This makes it so easy for you to get them a custom made fly rod!!

Maybe you don't fish but you're looking for a fly fishing gift for a loved one & you've stumbled upon my website? I understand how confusing & difficult it can be to get a good gift for a special angler - especially if you don't fish yourself. If you aren't sure about a fishing related gift idea, please feel free to ask me any questions you have - even if it's about something I don't offer. I'm here to help in any way that I can. I want to make your Holiday gift giving as easy as possible for you. I'll give you my honest opinions & advice where I can. 

I sincerely thank you for considering my products & services this Holiday season. Please contact me with any questions that you might have.

The leather fly wallets that I make in my shop are now available in two colors of leather. You can now choose between the mahogany or light brown colors!

Originally, these new style fly wallets were only available in the mahogany color. I decided to add the light brown leather to my offerings to give folks some variety & choice. I think the brown leather makes for a very nice fly wallet. Just like the mahogany wallets, the light brown ones are made from high grade vegetable tanned leather & will have that rich leather smell that is a pleasure to the olfactory senses. It also shows off the natural grain of the leather nicely as well. 

For more information about these leather fly wallets & to see more detailed photos of them, please visit the Leather Accessories page. If you have any questions, or to place an order, please contact me. I'll be happy to help in any way that I can. 

Just in time for your Holiday shopping, three more different leader wallets have been added to the available list. Each one is unique, like the one shown above which is made from a rich mahogany colored leather. 

There's also one new wallet made from a similar light brown leather. 

Another newly listed leader wallet is this textured brown one. It's a thicker & heavier leather, but it's soft & a bit flexible. Very nice!

You can see each of these new leader wallets, along with the others that are available, on the Leather Leader Wallets page. 

For those of you unfamiliar with these leader wallets that I make in my shop, they are designed to allow you to store all your leaders in a wallet that combines function & tradition. The covers of these wallets are made from quality leather available in many different colors & textures. The pages are made from a thin vinyl material that helps protect the leaders & wallet from mold & mildew. These pockets are designed to hold a leader rolled, or coiled, into a 4 inch diameter circle.

Each wallet contains 6 double-sided pages for a total of 12 pockets, plus 2 pockets located on the inside of both the front & back covers. This allows the wallets to hold up to 14 leaders; or 12 if you use the 2 inside cover pockets to store other things like tippets, line dressing, etc. 

Overall these wallets measure approximately 5” x 4 ¾” when closed. They should fit nicely into most vest or jacket pockets.

For more detailed info & photos of these leader wallets, please visit the Leather Accessories page. Should you have any questions about these wallets, or anything else, please feel free to contact me. 

"The Rodmaker" is a film, about 20 minutes long, about famed Michigan rod maker Morris Kushner. Kushner made innovative & unique bamboo rods of his own design. He was a very respected & interesting character to the folks who knew him. 

Scott Mann, a multimedia producer of InSight Productions, & John Roman, made the film back in the early 1980's (Kushner was Scott's Grandpa). Unseen for many years, Scott offered the movie for sale on DVD for a while. The DVD is no longer available, but Scott has graciously put the film online for all to see & enjoy. Not only that, but he has also posted the full interviews with rod maker Bob Summers & author John Voelker (Robert Traver) that he conducted for the movie - the unedited interviews which are fascinating to listen to. I'll post those here separately later on, too. 

The film is a fantastic look back at an often overlooked, but important rod maker - & as such, a look into fishing history. It's a fascinating & well told story. Thanks to Scott Mann for allowing us all to enjoy it, as I'm certain you will. Enjoy!

I will frequently get approached by folks who are 'reviewers' of fly fishing equipment. I think all rod makers & producers of fly fishing equipment do. Most of the time the approach follows a pattern: an individual contacts me, explaining how they review fly fishing gear, how many followers they have on social media, how everybody in the world reads & trusts their reviews, etc. They then ask for my highest grade of bamboo fly rod to be sent to them, gratis of course, in exchange for their telling everyone how much they enjoyed my rod. 

Now, I'm not opposed to this, but more often then not there is a problem. When I investigate & look into their reviews, I find they haven't actually reviewed anything - maybe one or to products at most. They don't have a large following & they haven't been at it for very long, so they don't have a reputation in the business yet. 

But when Bryan Pearson of Bang For Your Buck Outdoor Reviews approached me, it was different than any other reviewer in the past. Rather than just blatantly ask for a free high-end custom bamboo fly rod, Bryan introduced himself & showed me his work & background writing reviews of all types of outdoor gear. He then invited me to take part in his operations in anyway that I wanted - i.e. he wasn't just after a free rod & it would be on his dime!! 

Well that was certainly different for me! So I looked into his work & lo & behold, here was a reviewer who actually did have a large social media following. Here was a reviewer who was truly bringing a large number of different outdoor gear to people's attention in an honest & clear way. Imagine that, someone actually giving honest reviews of gear they think we should all be aware of!! I totally appreciated Bryan's honesty & professionalism. This was someone I could get on board with.

So if you're looking for different alternatives for your outdoor gear, or you want to discover some maker of a product that you might not of heard of before, check out Bang For Your Buck Outdoor Reviews. In addition to fly fishing gear, the reviews also cover camping equipment, travel advice, even artwork! Bryan pretty much covers it all. You'll even see some reviews of my stuff there as well. Be sure to follow him on facebook & be sure to check out his website, too. In these days where you're told to question every review you read, it's refreshing to see someone doing it right!!!  

If I were forced to fish with only one dry fly, I would choose the Adams. It looks like nothing in particular & kinda like everything all at the same time. There are times when you just can't be sure what the fish took it for - but that's what makes it so great, because it just works.

This pattern has been around for a long time. The video below does a very good job of explaining how this fly pattern came to be, what the original version probably looked like, & briefly discusses the many variations of the Adams that have appeared through the years. If you're into history, dry flies, &/or fly tying I think you'll enjoy this short, but informative video below.