​This gorgeous glass rod along with the hand stitched leather rod tube was a joy to make:

​I also spent some time restoring a vintage South Bend fly rod:

​I also had one of my best fishing seasons ever. So often we get caught up in our work & the other things of life that keep us from doing what we love. It’s such a blessing when we can get out onto the stream & enjoy the beauty there.

I've just listed another very special item over on the Hand Stitched Leather Accessories page. This leather fly book is much bigger than my traditional leather fly wallets & made completely by hand. ​A truly deluxe way to carry all your wets, nymphs, & streamers this hand made leather fly book is large enough to hold them all.

The heavier brown leather this book is made from, sometimes called a Cumberland hide, has a distinct pebble grain. It's typically used for items that will see heavy use outdoors - & so is perfect for this leather fly book. ​

​This book also has a snap button closure. The sides of the book have been burnished, dyed, waxed, & buffed for a beautiful finish.

To read more about this fine leather fly book, & to see even more photos of it, please visit the Hand Stitched Leather Accessories page of this website. If you have any questions about it - or anything else you see there - please contact me & I'll be happy to help you. 

I'm very proud of this leather fly book & I'm sure you'll be proud to own & use it to house all your wets, streamers, & nymph flies, too!!

For all of you who celebrate the Holiday, I wish you all a blessed & peaceful Christmas. 

I wanted to share with you my favorite Christmas carol:

​Also, the ferrules couldn’t be altered in any way. They were sized perfectly to fit together & so they had to remain “original’. Having dark gloss green male ferrules on this rod was no problem, as you’d never see the males when the rod was assembled for fishing.

The ferrules were covered & the rod sections strung up to hang for drying after painting. The paint was then applied to the blanks. For economical reasons I chose to spray the paint onto the blanks, but I could see where if I had many rods to paint, dipping them into the paint would be the way to go. For this one-off rod spraying the paint worked well. As this rod couldn’t be shiny, a matte finish paint was used. ​

​After a few coats of paint were applied & allowed to fully cure, a couple coats of a clear coat were put over the rod sections to protect the paint from the sun, salt & brackish water, & just the nicks & bangs any fly rod fished from a boat is sure to get. This clear coat was also a matte finish, to keep the rod from producing any glare in the sun.

The metal parts on this rod needed to be black. That’s because painting line guides doesn’t work. Friction from the line soon wears it away & the coating of paint interferes with the line passing through them. So we went with black line guides & a matte black metal reel seat to match. This contrast gave the rod a handsome look while also kept it from standing out from the environment where it would be fished.

​This rod was a lot of fun to make. I love tinkering with new ideas for a rod in the shop & the lessons from this rod were excellent for me. I’m now confident in how to produce wraps with a matte finish & even more awesome - I successfully changed the color of a graphite fly rod blank!! Being able to make a graphite fly rod in a custom color is a great skill to have for a rod maker.

Are you looking for a really special gift for a fly angler? Getting them a custom made fly rod - that would be a great gift, wouldn't it? But a custom fly rod is a pretty personal thing & you wouldn't know exactly what they'd want for a fly rod. Well, you can still get them a custom rod without having to worry about any of those particulars if you get them a gift certificate. 

Here's how it works: You & I discuss what grade of rod you'd like to give them & I might have a few simple questions for you to help me figure out what they need in a rod. Then after you've made the down payment, or paid in full, I'll mail you a special certificate that states a custom fly rod has been ordered in your recipient's name for you to give them on the special day.

The certificate is printed on nice, heavy weight photographic paper with a personalized hand written section inviting them to contact me. To make the presentation of the certificate really extra-special, the gift certificate comes rolled up, scroll style, in a hand-stitched leather tube much like a round document or print case. This is a really nice touch & will make giving the certificate to that special angler even more memorable!!

In this day & age most folks will never get to experience having something tailor made, by hand, just for them individually. Just as a high-end suit is made specifically for the wearer, a custom fly rod is made from scratch to your angler's specifications. ​You're not just giving them a custom fly rod, you're giving them the experience of interacting with the rod maker & designing the rod of their dreams.

After you've surprised them with the certificate, the lucky angler can contact me & the two of us will work together to design the rod exactly how they want it, with all the personalized customization just for them. We communicate & interact as much, or as little, as they wish. If they aren't sure what they want or need their rod to be I can offer many suggestions, showing them photos & offering advice. They (& you) are kept updated as the rod is being made with frequent progress reports complete with photos of their rod as it comes to life. You'll always know where it is in the process. Most rods (unless very unusual) will be completed in 4 to 6 months, maybe less, so they'll be able to fish with their new rod next season!

The joy of giving a gift certificate for a custom fly rod is threefold: first when the certificate is presented to them, then the anticipation builds as we design the rod & it's being made, & then a lifetime of the fun & pleasure of fishing their very special fly rod. Having a rod custom made is an awesome & memorable experience for any angler - one that will only serve to make the rod of their dreams even more special. 

The normal policies apply here, where the second half would be due only after the rod is completed, giving you at least a few more months to pay the rest of the rod price. Naturally, I would mail you hard copy receipts for any payments you made for your records. Of course, if you know what they're going to want their fly rod to be, that's fine, too. I'll mail you the special certificate so you can present them with it while they wait for their rod of a lifetime to be made!! A custom fly rod is sure to put a smile on any angler's face!! Please contact me to discuss a special fly rod for a very special angler.

You'll find this newly listed fly rod over on the Available Rods page of this site. This one is a 6'-4", 2 pc/ 2 tip made for a 4 or 5 wt line. It has a moderate/fast action &, of all the rods I make, this is one of my personal favorites. ​You will have no problem casting accurately with this rod. It will reach out to distances farther than 40 feet with ease. This rod is listed as #5 on the bamboo tapers list. What I find most interesting about this rod taper is that it's easy to speed up or slow down a cast just by adjusting your timing, which this rod will allow you to do.

At 6'-4" long, this rod was made on an experimental taper I worked on in my shop years ago. I wanted to see if I could make a shorter rod that felt very light in the hand, yet had plenty of power & would cast a line with accuracy. I'm pleased to say this was a success & this rod has all those qualities. Since that time anglers who have fished with the previous rods made on this taper love them. It has a smooth action & the rod is easy to control. This could easily become your favorite fly rod!

​
This rod features:
-Cap & ring style reel seat with Nickle-Silver hardware & a beautiful wood spacer made of madrone. 
-Cigar shaped cork grip.
-Nickle-Silver 'strap & ring' style hook keeper.
-Chromed stainless steel stripping guide, line guides, & tip tops.
-Nickle-Silver ferrules.
-Chestnut brown silk thread guide wraps tipped in dark brown.
-Custom made tan cotton flannel rod bag with brown accent stitches.
-Custom made & fit brown canvas covered PVC rod tube with zippered closure, padded ends, & leather name tag describing the rod inside.

The 'cap & ring' style reel seat on this rod is particularly nice. ​The wood is awesome. Pacific madrone is a beautiful wood with rich, deep grain. The Nickle-Silver hardware features a wedding band slide ring & fine knurling.

This rod is going to be right at home on most trout streams. It will cast dry flies, wets & nymphs very well. Small streamers are also a possibility on this rod, too. Because it can cast good distances it can be used on larger streams, but it's also great on smaller waters in tight quarters where you want to avoid trees & brush. Some anglers will prefer it as a 4 wt while other will like this rod with a 5 wt line, depending on the fishing situation & the angler's tastes. This is a pretty versatile rod.  ​

This rod is being offered at a discounted price, making it a great buy for a hand made custom bamboo fly rod. For more information, & to see more photos of this rod, please visit the Available Rods page. If you have any questions about this rod - or anything else you see on this website, for that matter - please feel free to contact me. I'm always happy to help anytime.

I thought you might enjoy seeing this older film of Joan Wulff & her husband Lee fishing for Atlantic salmon. Both of them were very famous anglers. Joan is perhaps one of the best fly casters & instructors we've ever had. She is also a master angler - her husban Lee wasn't too bad either.

Step back in time for a few minutes & enjoy some beautiful scenes of two very good anglers bringing to hand the might Atlantic salmon.

​Being a custom rod maker has a unique set of challenges. In making a custom bamboo fly rod for an angler, you need to first know what type of rod will best serve them in terms of action, feel, length, line weight, etc for their particular situation. As a result, you need to know all about how rod tapers work (the actual dimensions of the rod’s shafts, or the thicknesses of the rod up & down its length). Through the years there have been many different rod tapers tried & made - some good, some not so good, & a few dozen great ones.
                                                                                         
It’s only practical to take the old tried & true rod tapers which have stood the test of time & use them in making your own rods today. You can adjust them as needed in small amounts here & there to get precisely the rod you’re after, but mostly you'll stick to the taper as it stands. This is like a chef making only small adjustments to a well known recipe. The more experience you have in making rods the more you’ll understand different rod tapers; what the numbers on the paper mean in a real life fly bamboo fly rod.
  
When my friend, James, brought me an idea of making him a bamboo fly rod for a 4 or 5 wt line I didn’t think too much about it. He mentioned the length of 10 ft to 11 ft & I still didn’t bat an eye, though I should have. Then he told me that what he wanted was a bamboo ‘switch’ rod. Sure, no problem, right? Well, hold on a second….. In my personal experience I’ve made bamboo rods mostly for trout (the vast majority of them), for bass, & some ultra-light fly rods. I’ve made a few all-out salmon rods, too but you can count all of those I’ve made on one hand. As I began to consider this rod, I realized there were some design hurdles ahead for me.
 
For the uninitiated, a ‘switch’ rod is one that is intended to bridge the gap between a large salmon, or Spey, rod & a regular fly rod. They can be cast either one handed, the typical way a fly rod is cast or with both hands as a salmon rod would be. Furthermore, a switch rod needs to cast a line as far as possible with the least amount of effort from the angler. Switch rods tend to made in lengths of 10 ft to 12 ft & have a front & rear grip on them, just lie a salmon rod. A good switch rod will perform like a single-handed rod when fishing in the typical fashion with one hand, while it will also feel like a short Spey rod when casting with two hands. You see, a switch rod isn’t just a small Spey rod.
 
Because this rod was going to be 10’-6” long & made for a 5 weight line, this presented a challenge. Bamboo is a heavier material than graphite or fiberglass. If we compared two identical rods with the same outside diameter of their rod shafts - one bamboo & the other graphite - the bamboo rod would be much heavier. Typically that extra weight is a benefit for bamboo as you can feel the rod load & unload during casting & if it’s designed properly it will be a smooth casting rod. However, the longer we make the rod the more bamboo there will be. That means that a longer bamboo rod (on average) will be heavier than a shorter one. When we start getting into lengths of over 9 ft it becomes more difficult to design a rod taper that will feel natural with a 4 or 5 wt line. The rod will be too heavy in overall weight for those fly lines. That’s why you don’t see many 9 ft bamboo fly rods made for 3 or 4 wt lines. In trying to create a 10’-6” rod for a 5 wt line I realized I would be in a bit of uncharted territory, at least for me. 
 
Another way to see this problem would be take this example: let’s say I wanted a ridiculous bamboo fly rod that was 14 ft long & made for a 3 weight line. If I made the tip of this rod the normal diameter for a 3 wt line & made the butt of the rod for a 3 wt line as well, I don’t have much variation in the the rod’s diameter down it’s length. I’ve got all this distance to cover, but I can’t vary the diameter too much or it won’t be a 3 wt anymore. What kind of action would that rod have? It would be awful, not to mention that it’s bound to have a bunch of weak spots along the length of it. Because I wanted this rod to cast a 5 wt line one handed like a normal 5 wt should, I knew I had some thinking to do.
 
I came up with a bunch of different taper designs along the way. I decided on a 3 piece rod configuration, as this would make it much easier for me to figure out the rod taper, how each section would work together, & those sections wouldn’t be too long for transporting the rod. I eventually settled on a rod design that would have a stiffer tip & put the bulk of the flex into the mid section. I made the butt section a bit beefier than a normal 5 wt, but got around the problem of extra weight by hollowing it out (removing material from the apex of each individual strip before the strips were glued together to form the butt section’s rod shaft). This hollowing of the butt section helped to reduce the overall weight of the rod as well.

​With my brand new rod taper I made up some rod sections on the planing forms in the shop & glued them together. After mounting up some test ferrules & taping some line guides on, I was ready to see my creation come to life. This was getting exciting! After going through some vigorous lawn casting tests with the rod, I could see right away that I had a problem. The tip & butt sections were fine, but the rod was flexing way too much in the middle. It had no backbone & felt weak. I’m not the best caster in the world (not even close) but a mediocre fly caster like me should be able to get the line out further than I could with this rod. Okay, back to the drawing board - at least for the mid section.
 
I couldn’t figure it out. Every combination of diameters I came up with for the mid just wouldn’t work. When I got to the point where I was considering changing ferrule sizes, I threw my hands up in the air! My design problems were now creating problems of their own & I was going in circles. I knew I had to be making this harder than it really was, but how? That’s when I had my best idea for this rod up to that point: I took the time to watch people casting switch rods. Pros, beginners, & every skill level in between - I watch videos of folks casting switch rods for quite a while (isn’t the internet great?). Never mind that they were all fishing with graphite switch rods, I wanted to see how these rods flexed, how they moved through the casting stroke, & how the fly line reacted. I slowed the videos down, paused them at key spots in a cast & studied how the rods were flexed & bent.
 
This was time well spent. I then knew what I had to do to fix the middle section of this fly rod. I beefed the taper of the mid section up in the appropriate spots on paper & made a new section in the rod shop. After mounting the test ferrules & line guides again onto the new section I took the rod out for another test drive. This time it worked as I had envisioned. All three rod sections worked in concert to cast the line with little effort.

​A brief description of this rod’s taper: The tip section was stiffer (or faster) & didn’t flex too much. The bulk of the flexing was in the middle section. This was to give the rod power when James needed to get the line out some distances, yet maintain finesse when say, tossing dry flies in smaller places. The butt section was made a bit beefier for those times when he might tie into a monster that was too much for just the middle section. Because the tip was a bit stiffer, it had less to do with the action of the rod, so (in theory) James could use a bunch of different lines on this rod. He might be happy with a regular 5 or 6 weight line, or he could use a Scandinavian head on smaller fish & streams, or he might rig it up with a skagit set up with a good front anchor for some bigger rivers. This seemed like it could be a pretty versatile rod that might be fished in a bunch of different places…….like a switch rod should be.
 
Now, I know the rod won’t be all things everywhere - no rod is perfect for all fishing - but I wasn’t worried too much about that. James is a very skilled & knowledgeable angler & an experienced fly rod caster. He’d have no problems making any adjustments he needed & he’d know exactly which line he wanted to use & where to use the different lines. Honestly, had it been someone without the experience that James has, I would have probably insisted that they go with a graphite switch rod just because there were times when I felt I was in over my head designing this rod taper.
 
I finished out the rod with the cosmetics that James wanted, which were gorgeous: black line guides, blued Nickel-Silver ferrules, red silk thread wraps tipped in black, a red agate stripping guide, & gorgeous Amboyna burl wood in the reel seat. This was truly a special rod.

​In the end I had a blast creating & making this rod. Yes, it was frustrating & a real challenge at times. There were moments of doubt where I wasn’t sure I could do it. That said, I loved every moment of it. It really got me thinking & out of my comfort zone. After 14+ years of making fly rods for others everyday, I realized I had become too complacent with rod tapers. In the past I had a tendency to ignore some of the lesser know rod tapers that were for longer rods - mostly because they are heavier rods made for heavier fly lines & not good for most trout fishing on small to medium sized streams. Now, after this project, I’m taking another look at these longer rods. Could they be made lighter, for thinner fly lines? Could I make a 9 ft, or longer, bamboo fly rod for say, a 3 or 4 wt line that was light in the hand & well balanced? A rod like that would be great for tossing dry flies up stream on small trout waters. I have so many possibilities running through my mind. It feels great!!!

​I want to sincerely thank Mr. James Wong for bringing this rod project to me. I’m honored that he chose & trusted me to make his fly rod. I thank him, also, for his very kind patience with me as I made this rod. I can only hope that he’ll have as much fun fishing with this rod as I did making it. Thank you, James!!