Fly Rod Design

My approach to building trout rods has been deeply influenced by my early years working for Thomas and Thomas and the Leonard Rod Company. Tom Dorsey and Tom Maxwell were significant mentors and I spent the first ten years of my rodbuilding career working under their watchful eyes. Not surprisingly, this influence has stayed with me over the years, even as I set out on my own and started to develop my own designs, tapers, and preferences. Of course, the bamboo rodbuilding world is a small one and was even more so in those early years, and I was fortunate to swap information and learn from a number of other masters, including Sam Carlson, etc. etc.

Over the years I have had the good fortune to handle thousands of different rods and have drawn inspiration from a number of designs. While I admire rods from a wide variety of makers whose styles vary considerably, my own design preferences remain deeply influenced by the east coast tradition of rodbuilding and by the Catskill School in particular. In general, I favor hexagonal, solid-built rods with progressive tapers that produce faster actions. My own models tend to be variations or evolutions of those that I have liked best, many of which have their origin in Payne and Leonard tapers from various eras. My favorite (and most popular) designs have tended to be those with fast actions and fine tips, which has become something of a hallmark of my rods over the years.

When evaluating a new design, I do so with three criteria in mind: (1) it must perform well as a casting tool in whatever specific fishing condition you plan to use it, (2) it must be able to do so over time without failure, and (3) it must be enjoyable and easy to cast for an extended period of time. The logic underpinning these three criteria is, I think, fairly self evident. What counts as “perform well” in the first criterion is where much of the magic happens and I use specific benchmarks depending on the model and the context in which it will be used.

Lastly, while not a formal design criteria, I also care about how a rod looks. Tom Maxwell was the most eloquent builder I have ever known when it comes to the topic of aesthetics (befitting his background as a philosophy professor) but my own feeling is more humble by far. If it has your name on it, it should be the very best you can do in every respect.

Current Catalog

I offer trout models in two and three piece configuration. All rods are six strip, solid-built rods that employ tapers of my own design. They are built using three-up node pattern construction in order to systematically distribute the nodes throughout the rod, and all nodes are carefully hand-pressed to ensure that power fibers are maximized along the exterior of the rod. I also heat treat my rods to give them enhanced strength and durability, using a modification of a process I learned early in my career.

The models listed here are part of my standard catalog and the actions are those that I feel perform especially well. That said, I can, and often do, make variations of these rods in order to suit the specific needs of customers. You will occasionally see this in some of my past rods which may be marked with specific designations: FF for “full flexing”, M for “medium”, DF for “dry fly”, and XDF for “Extra Fast Dry Fly”.

All models are available in either Hunt Pattern or Spring Creek style, the former with a darker medium flamed color and the latter the more traditional blonde cane. I typically wrap the Hunts in a “may rose” color and the Spring Creeks in either “may rose” or an olive green depending on the owner’s preference.

I offer grips in a number of common configurations from various profile cigar styles to Wells or western-style profiles on my larger rods. Grips are fashioned from ultra-select cork. I use only a tiny percentage of the very best cork I can get my hands on.

All of my hardware is produced here in my shop (the only thing I don’t make on them are the guides, though I have contemplated it). I take great pains and great pride in making ferrules. Doing so allows me to get a level of precision that I just haven’t found anywhere else. I typically make trout rods with either swiss-style ferrules or “pot-belly” step ferrules, which have become quite popular over the years.

I offer a number of options for reel seat designs, from the choice of wood spacer to the design of the reel seat hardware itself. Cap and ring hardware is the standard on my rods but I can also do uplocking and downlocking screwlock hardware if a customer prefers. Again, all reel seat hardware is custom made here in our shop.

Lastly, I also have available a few different “extras” that many customers enjoy, ranging from the use of pre-embargo bamboo to antique all-metal reel seats, just to name a few. Please contact me if you have questions about these options or would like to learn more.

Line Recommendations

For each model below I have provided some line recommendations. As always, I advise using this as a starting point and to test some lines with your rod to find those which work best for you. While models are designed to load certain line weights there is a dizzying array of lines on the markets these days so it pays to do a little testing in order to really dial things in. Also, please keep in mind that if you have acquired a rod of mine on the secondary market, I may have tweaked the taper slightly at the request of the original owner, all the more reason to use the line recommendations below as a starting point for finding just the right match.

Two-Piece Models

I greatly enjoy casting two-piece rods, as the lone ferrule gives them the smoothest action outside of a one-piece model. I developed many of my favorite two-piece tapers working with Tom Maxwell and a number of the two-piece rods from the Maxwell-era at Leonard are early versions of what you’ll find here.

5' 2/2 #3

Taper: Progressive, Full-flexing

Action: Medium-Slow

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Recommended Lines:

Rio Lightline #3

6'6" 2/2 #3

Taper: Progressive, Full-flexing

Action: Medium

Recommended Lines:

Rio Lightline #3

6'6" 2/2 #4

Taper: Progressive, Mid-Flexing

Action: Medium

Recommended Lines:

Rio Lightline #4

7' 2/2 #4

Taper: Progressive, Mid-Flexing

Action: Medium

Recommended Lines:

Rio Lightline #4

7'6" 2/2 #4

Taper: Progressive, Mid-Flexing

Action: Medium

Recommended Lines:

Rio Lightline #4

7'6" 2/2 #5

Taper: Progressive, Mid-Flexing

Action: Medium

Recommended Lines:

Rio Lightline #5

Three-Piece Models

Three piece models remain arguably the most popular configuration, given their convenience. While the common belief is that you lose some performance by introducing an additional ferrule, I’ve found that to be vastly overstated. When accommodated for in the taper design the additional ferrule will not adversely impact the rod action. Many of my most consistently popular models over the years have been three piece rods and below you’ll find those that are part of my standard offerings.