Now we have video of Santa fly fishing!! Check out this video below to see that jolly old elf working the double handed rig with ease & grace!!
Nice catch, Santa!!
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I knew it!!! I once asked the big man, while sitting on his lap, if he fly fished. He told me he got out to the river as often as he could. He also seemed pretty knowledgeable about the sport, too hahaha!! Now we have video of Santa fly fishing!! Check out this video below to see that jolly old elf working the double handed rig with ease & grace!! I'm in no way affiliated with Indigo Guide Service. However I do encourage you to support local guides when you can - especially on a new river or stream. I also really enjoy seeing creative & witty videos like this from small fly fishing businesses.
Nice catch, Santa!! To those of you who celebrate it, I wish you all a happy Hanukkah!! May you all have peace & happiness this Holiday Season.
"The Lost World of Mr. Hardy" is a film about the Hardy's fly fishing company. It shows & tells the story of that great British firm from it's beginnings to the modern times. With interviews of past employees & vintage footage of the store, factory, & the tackle in use this film is an all inclusive look at what made Hardy Brothers what they are. Serious Hardy collectors & fans have already seen this movie, I'm sure - but if you're new to all this & want to learn more, watching this movie will not be time wasted. This film also investigates the world of craftsmen who made - & continue to make - fishing equipment in the old ways. We see the traditions & methods being carried on, even if on a much smaller scale than they once were. The story of Hardy's is a bitter sweet one. The company was the pinnacle of all things fly fishing. They made the quality items that they sold - from flies to rods to reels & everything in between, they were the people to see. Then the world changed. They were slow to recognize this change & it cost them a lot. Soon, Hardy's was loosing money & shrinking in size. The company had to reshaped. It's the same old story of skilled factory production all over the developed world - a story of what used to be. The Hardy company of today is not what it used to be. That's not to say that they're not still making great products - it's just different. Production in Asia has replaced local skilled workers who, day in & day out, made the high end tackle fly anglers loved. But when they were in their heyday.....oh, what a company!! Take a look back at this wonderful firm & see a glance of where they're going in the DVD of "The Lost World of Mr. Hardy". Here below is the movies trailer. The Video below, shot for the movie "The Lost World of Mr. Hardy", tells the story of how the company got involved with fiberglass. Hardy's was late to the game of fiberglass, being reluctant to move away from bamboo rods. As a result they had to scramble to get caught up with the new trend in fly fishing at that time. It wasn't an easy adjustment for them, but fortunately the company was able to catch up & began to succeed in the world of glass rods. I find this video particularly interesting as they mention John Tarantino. He's the guy who gets the credit for coming up with the first really good glass rod blanks. You know all those brown shafts of older rods (sometimes referred to as "tobacco" colored)? Those were developed by him & Hardy's went to him to build their first glass rods on. These Hardy "JET" rods were very nice for the time &, to their credit, Hardy's gave Tarantino full credit for the blank design & manufacture. One other interesting point in the video: around 2:21 Jim Hardy talks about how great a fly caster John Tarantino was. Jim was being humble & gracious with those comments. Not to take anything away from Tarantino's casting skills, but Jim Hardy was one of the greatest fly casters in the world - ever. Look up his tournament records sometime. Anyone who has an old Hardy JET rod will appreciate this video - & they have a nice, collectible rod. As Hardy continued on with fiberglass through the 1970's their rods became better & better. Here is an interesting look back at how they got started in fiberglass. I sometimes get asked by clients about having a reel seat put on their rod with a cork spacer, rather than wood. There are both advantages & draw backs to cork reel seat bodies, so I thought we'd discuss some of them. The purpose of putting cork in the reel seat, rather than having wood, is to reduce the weight of the rod. For this cork is great. It weighs next to nothing, really, when you think about the weight of the other hardware on the rod & the reel you'll mount. That's why you see most of the cork reel seats as the cap & ring style seats like this one: Sometimes, on really small ultra-lite fly rods (where every ounce of weight is very important) you'll have reel seats with only a couple of rings to hold the reel in place. Even in longer rods you will sometimes see cork reel seats. In those rods, you will occasionally find them in the screw-locking style, like in this older Shakespeare glass fly rod: As I said earlier, cork reel seats do have their draw backs. The biggest one is that eventually the cork will wear out, unlike a wood spacer that should last the life of the rod. What usually happens is that it starts to take more & more pressure to hold the reel on the rod. You'll start to see imprints in the cork of your reel foot. Then one day you won't be able to get the reel to stay on no matter how much pressure you apply.
There are a couple of fixes for that. If the indentations from the reel feet aren't too bad, you can take them out with a bit of steam. Try holding your cork reel seat over a steaming tea kettle or other source of steam for a few minutes. Do NOT touch any of the metal hardware with your bare hands, as it will be hot, too & you could get burnt (don't ask me how I know that a burn from steam is worse than any other type of burn). As you steam the seat, you should start to see the cork expand a little & the indentations from the reel disappear. If that doesn't work than you'll have to make a pad for your reel foot. A small strip of leather, about as wide as your reel foot, placed between the cork & the reel foot will help to hold your reel securely on the rod. One note about the cork quality in the reel seat: some folks think that if the cork has any voids in it whatsoever, or if anything but the most perfect cork is used in the seat, than the seat will have a shorter life span. This is NOT true. It's okay if your cork has some voids, or "bark marks" in it. Cork is a natural product & no two rings are exactly alike. What really determines the integrity of the cork spacer is how well it was glued together. Most cork rings used in rod making are 1/2" in thickness. More thinner rings glued together will make for a slightly stronger spacer, but that is a very small point. Another thing to know about cork reel seats is that, as a material, cork is more expensive than many of the hardwoods used in reel seats. That's right, you'll pay more for a cork reel seat than you will for a seat with a fancy figured wood. These days it seems, from my perspective anyway, that cork reel seats are less popular than they used to be. They used to be found on many different sizes & weights of rods. It seems now that hardwoods are much more popular in reel seats. This, I think, is because the woods last longer & will take more abuse than cork. Also I think it's because there are so many options of woods to choose form that the reel seat spacer has become another component that can really customize your fly rod for you. Okay, so you don't fish but you landed here on this page because you're looking for a gift for someone who does fish. Maybe you do fish & just need some ideas for a good gift for a fishing friend. Either way, it can be confusing trying to get a gift for somebody when you don't know what they need or want. Fear not - I'm here to help! Plus I don't offer most of the things we're going to discuss, so this isn't just a sales pitch. There are many things any angler would be happy to get as a gift. Fortunately for us (& the industry) there are many consumable goods that are used in fishing. These are things any angler is going to need to always buy. Here's a short list of some fishing consumables: -Tippet material: these come on spools about 2" in diameter. It's the stuff that goes on the very end of a fly fisher's leader. Look for it in sizes of 3X,4X,5X, & 6x for most normal fishing. -Leaders: these are usually called "knotless tapered" & come coiled up, either individually or in packs of three or so. Look for them in the same size as the tippet. Lengths of 7 1/2 ft or 9 ft will do for most fly fishing. -New fly line: I would only suggest this if you know what line they already use. There are too many options out there, so unless you know exactly the line they want or like, think this over carefully. -Fly floatant: this is used for making your dry flies float longer. It can come as a paste, a liquid, or a powder. The liquid form seems to be most popular these days. -Flies: any angler will be happy with a gift of flies - even if they tie their own. These can be bought individually or in sets. These sets are the way to go for a gift. They usually contain several different patterns for a given type of fishing (trout, bass, etc). -Wader patch kit: sooner or later every angler who wears waders will need this. They usually come with a flexible sealant & a patch. This stuff can save the day, believe me. It's fairly inexpensive & very useful. There are other ideas for gifts, too that any angler would like. How about a fly box? I don't know any fly anglers who have too many of those!! There's a wide variety in all price ranges out there on the market. Maybe instead of a box you want to get them a nice leather fly wallet? I know a guy you can talk to about those. Another idea for a nice gift would be a wooden landing net. These are a little more money, but a nice net can be a work of art & craftsmanship. Maybe you've noticed that old, grungy vest they've been wearing has seen better days. You might even be afraid that it's forming into a new life-form while it sits there in the corner of the closet. Well, there are tons of vests out there on the market. Take a look around & you're sure to find one that would be a good replacement. If you want an alternative to a vest, you might want to consider a fishing bag. These are great for hot conditions, when a vest would suffocate. They're also a favorite of the traditionalist angler, having classic good looks from before the fishing vest was invented. They come in two sizes & have a lot of pockets to store stuff & places to hang clippers, etc. They're fully lined on the inside, too which makes them really easy to keep clean inside. Please see the Accessories page to learn more. There you'll find a lot of good gift ideas like wallets, bags, reel cases, rod tubes, etc. Okay, these are all great gifts for that special angler in your life, but if you really want to go bold & get them a gift they'll remember the rest of their lives - get them a new fly rod!!! But which rod to get??? Well, here you should do a little research. If you can, ask one of your special angler's fishing buddies (one that you trust to keep their trap shut about it). They can tell you a lot & help guide you. If you can't do that than try to sneak a peek at the rods they already have. Take note of the length & line weights (wt) of their fly rods. Armed with that info contact me, or another rod maker or local fly shop. We can help guide you to a good rod. Also have a budget in mind. Fly rod prices can vary greatly from one brand to another. What about a bamboo fly rod? Maybe you've heard your special angler going on about how they'd like to have one of those fancy bamboo rods someday? Here it's more important than ever that you contact a professional or friend for advice. Fortunately, I recently listed a bamboo fly rod over on the Available Rods page of this site that would be perfect for someone looking for their first bamboo fly rod. In fact, this rod would be good for anybody looking for a good all-around bamboo fly rod. This rod is 7'-6" long, 2 piece with a spare tip, made for a 4 or 5 weight fly line. That's a traditional rod size for general trout fishing in a majority of places. This rod is available at a really low price. It's an excellent value & nice chance to get a good bamboo fly rod cheaper than many high-end graphite rods. Please visit the Available Rods page for more photos & info, or contact me with any questions. I hope all this info helps those of you non-anglers out there who are confused about what to get that special angler in your life. With a budget in mind, a little time & thought I'm sure you'll get them a fishing gift they'll love. Of course you should always feel free to contact me if you need any help or advice - even if it's about something I don't offer. I'm always here to help when & if I can. Happy Holidays!!!
Every wonder, while you're looking through a catalog or website, why some fly rods cost so much more than others? Well, maybe it has to do with the quality of the rod? Maybe it's because the more expensive rod was made in the "developed" world, while the cheaper rod is an import from places with very cheap labor? Well, yes to all those questions, but there's more to it than that.
Three of the biggest reasons why some rods cost a lot more than others are: labor, quality of the components & blanks, & research & development. Those cheaper imported rods are made by factories where they don't care about advancing the sport - they are simply trying to get the cost down as low as possible to get a bigger share of the market. Their research & development department consists of someone copying someone else's rods. Their labor costs are also much less & can be so low that their workers make less in a day than an American making minimum wage will earn in an hour - after taxes!! If we only knew the actual cost to make these cheaper imports we'd all flip our wigs. As the product moves from country to country & through different distributors, the price goes up by many percentage points. These are the biggest expenses for the importers & yet their rods are still so much cheaper than anything we in the "developed" world could make. Steve Parton was a British fly fishing expert who made & sold his own rods. He also worked for the Shakespeare company in England as a consultant & was a respected author (he wrote a nice book called "Boatfishing For Trout"). He also ran a fly shop called Spartan Fishing Tackle. Sadly, Steve is longer with us, but he has left his words behind to guide us. He wrote an interesting article about the mark-ups in imported rods & how many of us are buying counterfeit rods or even rods we think are made here but actually aren't. While the article is written from a British perspective, I think those of us across the pond will find it insightful as well. In the article he points out the following: "You can cut the cost of blanks in two ways - if you buy a lot or make a lot the same then there are some production economies and the more you buy the cheaper they will get. The other way of cutting the costs is to proceed to the Far East where the poor sods work for a lot less and when I tell you that I can buy perfectly adequate 10' AFTM 7/8, 2 and 3 piece fully finished flyrods for just less than £5:00p each from China you will understand just how deadly is cheap labour competition these days. Take a 1,000 set and the blanks I can buy for less than £2:50p - and if I specify the finishes in a corrupt forger's manner and spend an extra £1:00p per unit I will willingly bet you couldn't tell the things from most American or European Manufacturing Sources - which is why most of what you think is American or European Made isn't at all." And when talking about the price you pay for the imported rods he says: "Most of the cost you have paid has been about levels of distribution / importation / marketing / transportation. Very little has been about Manufacturing/ Research / Expert Input. Frankly there are very few actual fly fishermen involved in manufacturing, development and design these days. Most manufacturers routinely buy the best rods they can find by recommendation and it doesn't exactly take them a hell of a long time to drop a couple of different mandrels down the insides which coupled with using a micrometer on the outsides teaches them precisely what somebody else did - I'd guess at less than half an hour with a specialist. And it takes very much less of a specialist to copy the hang on componentry precisely. This is why you can wander into a (say) Korean Rod Maker with whatever you want copied and have an actual sample in your hands within a day!" Many of my clients insist on their graphite rod blanks being made here in America, while others don't care where the blank came from. For a custom rod maker like me, we have to first concern ourselves with serving our clients with the best service & quality we can. Personally, where & when I can support American jobs, I will -every time. I fear a world someday where the development of fly rods will become stagnate because all the manufacturers who put money into r&d have gone out of business. That would be a tragedy. If the only companies left making fly rods are copy-cats, it won't be long before you won't be able to buy a new rod of quality. I certainly don't mean to preach here, but it would be great if we could all consider our purchases a little. I know, we don't all have the luxury or ability to buy high-end American made fly rods. That's okay. There are plenty of other ways to support domestic manufacturers a little at a time when we can. The best thing, no matter which rod you buy, is to not just look at price alone. Just try to consider the quality & the price together &, if you can, "vote with your dollars" as they say. To read the rest of Mr. Parton's article (which I believe you will find very interesting), click HERE. To help you celebrate the Holidays (& to clear out some older inventory), each rod on the Available Rods page has been reduced in price!!! This is a nice chance to get a rod at a very low price. Right now there is a nice mortised bamboo rod listed. This is a rare rod, in that it was done up as a Prudential Series rod, with only one tip section instead of the standard two tips, & the price is set below a normal Prudential rod!! If you've ever wondered about mortised rods, but weren't ready to make the leap, this is a perfect opportunity to get one at a great price. You're not going to find a rod like this for a price anywhere near this!! If it were not for a few scratches on the end cap of the vintage Berkley glass rod listed, it would be in mint condition. Seriously, that's all that's wrong with it - a few scratches to the paint on the end cap. I've made a custom fit rod bag & rod tube for this rod & those are included in the price. It's unusual to find an older Berkley glass rod in such good condition & this one is probably the nicest one I've ever seen. If that weren't enough, I'll be adding another bamboo rod to the list in the next few days. This one will be special & one I think any angler would love to own. So please check back here soon, or contact me, if you're interested in getting a rod for the Holidays.
Also, please don't forget about all the sales on this website. Right now all accessories are 15% off regular price. All the books are on sale, too - buy one, get one at half price!! Every available reel has been reduced in price & each one comes with a free custom-made case!!! I've also got a bunch of other accessories I've got to get rid of. These were items that didn't fit in with the rest of my catalog, so I'm getting rid of them........reel cases for $10, fly wallets for $20, there's also a couple of fishing bags listed at a huge discount......all this can be seen on the Holiday Super Specials page. So there you have it: now's your chance to get a deal on a couple of fly fishing books; a fly wallet, fishing bag, rod tube, or other accessory; a nice vintage fly reel in a free case; or a nice fly rod (with more rods on the way). These are all great gifts for the special angler in your life - or for yourself, too. If you need any help or advice picking out a gift, please know that I'm happy to assist you. All you have to do is contact me if you see anything you're interested in or if you have any questions at all. Happy Holidays everybody!!! Some times folks will ask me what is the best way to get started in rod making. These are usually people who have been considering making a rod for a while & have looked into enough to know that it can be confusing at first.
The first thing I would recommend is that you start out simply. Don't try to make your first rod be anything too complicated. I also always suggest that your first efforts should NOT be something so complex as making your own bamboo rod from scratch. It takes a long time to acquire the tools & skills & knowledge to split, plane, & glue a bamboo rod from scratch. Besides, if you still want to make a bamboo rod after your first few synthetic rods, you'll have more knowledge about how they're made by then. So I suggest your first rod be a graphite or fiberglass rod. That said, you have two ways to go: you can buy one of the many rod kits sold from many retailers, or you can refurbish an old rod. Starting with a kit rod is the easiest way to go. Most of them include all of the stuff you're going to need to make the rod from guides, thread, the handle, & even the finish to coat the wraps. Most of these kits also include instructions that will help guide you through the process. Everything you need is right there in the box. I must make one note about these kits: many times the components included in them aren't the best in quality. Often they include cheaper rubber winding checks, lesser quality lines guides, & pre-formed cork grips from lower grade cork. Just be sure to learn what components are included before you buy the kit. Refurbishing an old rod takes a little more thought & work. You have to decide the guides you'll need (& their sizes), the color & type of thread you want, & assess any other repairs the rod needs. So while you might think that refurbishing an older rod could be the cheaper way to go, you might end up spending even more money in the end by the time you add up the cost of buying all those components individually & any tools you need. This can be a great way to get started, but just be sure you know what you're getting into before you begin. The biggest challenge facing anyone who is making a rod for the first time is probably going to be wrapping the rod. Here you're going to need to take your time to make sure that you do a good job. I always suggest that you practice - A LOT - on a wooden dowel rod before you start wrapping the rod (& yes, you might have to buy an extra spool of thread). When you're comfortable making wraps on the dowel, then go ahead & wrap the rod. I show you a good way to get started with wraps over on the Tackle Tips page. That dowel rod with all your practice wraps is also a great place to practice coating the wraps in finish. Mix up a batch of finish & practice coating the wraps on the dowel rod before you try it on the rod. This way you can get a feel for how the finish will spread over the thread. Do you sense a theme here? Practice, practice, practice!!! In addition, it won't hurt you to read a couple of books about rod building before you even start putting the rod together. After you've read these books, you'll see that the directions that came with your kit are pretty easy to follow. A couple of good books on the subject include: -"Handcrafting A Graphite Fly Rod" by L.A. Garcia -"The Custom Graphite Fly Rod" by Skip Morris Of course it helps to know a full time rod maker if you run into any problems & need some suggestions. If you don't know a rod maker, contact me with your questions & you will!! I'm always here to help if I can. As you finish up the work on your first rod, you'll know for certain if you want to continue on with more rods, or if you never want to make another one. Rod making isn't for everybody & that's okay. An oldie, but a goody: below is a very short video from the 1920's. It shows a man fly fishing a stream in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Our friends up in Alberta sure are lucky to have such a nice park & to live in a beautiful place!! I have always wanted to visit Banff, though I'm afraid that if I ever went there I might not come back, as I wouldn't want to leave all that natural beauty. I really enjoyed this video. I hope you do, too. It's 64 seconds well spent. Enjoy!! |
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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