That story brought on a smile. I started building rods from blanks sometime in the 1970's. At the time, I could buy a 6 foot 4 weight Fenwick fiberglass blank for about $10.00. I built a few of them, usually keeping them for a while, then passing them along to a kid or a friend getting started. I st...

Thanks for posting that Ray, it is extremely interesting. Rod makers do concern themselves with getting the rod to track in a straight line, routinely testing for any tendency to kick in a particular direction. Some do oscillation tests, etc and mount the line guides accordingly. A few have played w...

Hi Ray - I built 15 spiral rods, always from tapers I had built before, and in a few cases, as matched sets with straight rods from the same cane, same glue, heat treated side by side, etc. In every case, the spiral rod would outcast the straight rod, no matter who was casting them. That was much to...

spiral1.JPG spiral2.JPG I guess it's no surprise that I fish bamboo for trout. Here's something a bit different, however. Both of these rods are spiral twist rods I built about 25 years ago. Spiral rods were invented and marketed by Fred Divine in the early 1900's, and a few have been built over th...

Hi Tom - I love the simple, clean look you always seem to achieve. A couple nights ago, I watched your Catskill dry fly video again for probably the forth time. It reminded me this time of a quote I heard a long time back. The great pianist Arthur Rubinstein was talking about the music of Mozart. He...

Hi All - I am just passing this along regarding a new source of rod blanks that appear to be very high quality at reasonable pricing. Look up the website for Northfork composites. An experienced friend recently put me on to them, telling me that they are well made and highly regarded. Last month, th...

Hi Ron - I have some Chinese silk that's packaged like the Italian stuff, however it is smaller diameter. It looks more like Persalls Naples. Long story how I got it, but it is packed in cellophane in various colors. If you want a look at it, PM me your email and I will send a photo. All the writing...

I have an older Sage 12 1/2 foot 6 weight that I like to use in bigger, rougher water. It was designed before all the Scandia, Skagit, and etc lines became available, and It fishes well with a DT 6 using the classic British spey casts. What I like is the extended line control, which allows me to cov...

I moved to central PA 12 years ago Rick, and seldom see any of the guys from Southern NJ. You are right, though, considering the trout desert we lived in, we had a bunch of talented people. A gentleman by the name of Bill Fink helped me get started as a cane rod builder over 35 years ago. I met him ...