Custom Rod Builders Guild - Member Spotlight

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Fuzz

- Fuzz Morgan -

With 33 years of rod building under his belt, Fuzz Morgan has witnessed countless changes in the design, construction, and artistic quality of custom rods. Primarily a bass fisherman, his rods reflect the influence of the diverse rod builders he has met and befriended through the Guild. He credits his progress on getting to know a variety of builders, exchanging ideas, and learning something new from everyone. "Just ask and you'll get some answers." Over the years, discussions on blanks, guides and their placement, handle design, and decorative trimming have helped Fuzz create rods that are not only highly technical in their design – they are real eye catchers!

As a grandfather, Fuzz understands the importance of passing on his information gleaned over time. At Conclaves and regional meetings, you will find him demonstrating personal techniques and readily explaining new ideas and established concepts. His presentations at Nashville, Shelbyville, and Atlanta have helped both newbies and the accomplished better their craft.

His reserved demeanor belies his excitement in discussing fishing rods. Strike up a conversation and you will soon find yourself immersed in a discussion detailing the merits of a Lamiglas blank, inside tips on mounting texalium tubing, or his dream of the perfect 7 ½' flipping stick. "Want a sensitive rod? Just pair a no-stretch braided line with a rod built using a well-designed blank, the new guide concept, and a woven graphite handle."

You will quickly be able to identify his current rods by his feather designs of bait. He builds these images freehand – no patterns, no stencils, no layout. What you will find is very realistic depictions of jigs, worms, hardbait, spoons, and flies. Fuzz gets his design ideas from real life, magazine articles, and product catalogs. "A tubing handle is great place to inlay images. It's a great way to differentiate your rod from a factory rod. People want to pick up a rod with an interesting design – especially feathers." No doubt about it… Fuzz builds a rod that is highly functional and fun to look at!

Bottom line – Fuzz builds rods because "it just feels good to catch a bass on a rod you built yourself."