"The Art of the ROD........to Seduce and Fish."

My father took me fishing him when I was 8 and I caught my first fish on the Current River in Missouri. It was on a plastic worm and I was using an old rod and reel. My father always used a fly rod and was very good at catching fish on the Current River, a place I will always call home and the place I feel close to my father, even though he has since passed away. I visit the Current River a couple times a year and I can always feel his presence there with me. Dad always had time to take me fishing.........

When I started rod building, it wasn't long before I became bored. I knew there had to be more to rod building than turning down cork, placing guides Loomis IMX rod and adding a cheap Struble reel seat that did nothing to enhance the rod. So it wasn't long, and I was looking for ways to not only make a better rod functionally, to make a better rod aesthetically.

So I began to look at rod building as I would fly tying, as a form of expression or functional art. When someone ties a fly to go fishing, they attempt to make it attractive to not only the fish, but to them as well. Many times I have seen fishermen refuse to use a fly that was ugly and not appealing to them. I look at rod building much the same way and if people find my rods appealing, they will buy them and use them, which is the ultimate goal is to have someone using one of my fly rods to catch fish.

I look at rod building as a form of art and expression for me. So when I began to build a rod, I look at it from the aspect of the beginning (the blank) to the end, that being the completed rod from the tip top to the reel seat. I start with a blank and even use the color of the blank as my canvas. Having the canvas, I then began to add components to make not only a functional piece of art, but for some of my customers to actually use materials in the rod such as feathers and different material inlays that make the rod part of them.

For me, I've always been able to see color and texture and when it comes to feather inlays, I somehow can place them aesthetically on a rod that is either appealing to people or represents something touching to an individual customer. Coupled with this, I include exotic materials on the handle that in no way limit the function of the rod, but enhance its look and appeal. I do the same thing with the reel seat and try to make the rod flow from the rod tip down to the reel seat and back again. Texture and feel of the feathers and a handle of my rods are the most important things to me. That is the guiding force on how I do inlays and are what inspire me to place the materials on the rod in the way that I do.

As a finishing touch to my rods, I also do custom guide spacing and test cast each and every rod prior to wrapping the guides. What I am able to do it is at times take stiffer rods and slow them down a little bit for the customer or take an IM6 blank and speed it up a little by lengthening the handle or using extreme lite wire guides to enhance the softness of an IM6 rod.

Rod building is an art form for me and is an expression of myself at times or is my interpretation of an expression presented to me for a customer. I know the things that I do to a rod are not accepted by everyone and that's okay. I love to create..... I love to push the envelope..... I love to try new things..... and I LOVE TO FLY FISH!

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