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 ...

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/tsmithwick/IMG_0266%20copy_zpsigemica0.jpg First, I apologize for the lousy photos with reflections, bad lighting, etc. At one time, our TU chapter ran a fly of the month raffle as a fund raiser. Each month, we also saved one of the flies and made up shadow b...

This was posted at the classic fly rod forum, but for the benefit of those who might not have seen it, the "Trout Grass" video has been restored and is available to view online for Amazon Prime members. The film goes a long way to explain why many of us have such strong feelings about bamboo fly rod...

Hi Ray - It came from a place called Sideling Hill Hackle. It was the first time I saw them and I don't know anything about them, but they seemed to have some interesting stuff.
https://www.facebook.com/sidelinghillhackle/

Rob's excellent post got me thinking the same way Rick, only I don't need to raid the henhouse. Just before everything closed down in PA, I went to the Lancaster Fly Fishing show and saw this on one of the tables. It was fairly expensive for a hen skin, but I could not resist. All of the feathers ar...

Hi Ray - Nothing dumb about the taper question. There is no one answer to it, however. In the early days of cane rod making rods were almost all made in professional rod shops, and pretty much everything about the designs and process was considered a trade secret. That gradually changed over the las...

I prefer bamboo for wet fly fishing primarily for its ability to protect tippets both on the strike and when playing a fish. I prefer it for dry flies too, but more for the slower pace and accuracy you can develop. I am not opposed to graphite, but really only for heavier line weights and longer rod...

Now you guys have me thinking, which is usually a dangerous thing. Ray, how about adding a small slow speed, or variable speed electric motor to the setup? The motor has a cam shaped drum on its shaft, placed so that it just touches the line that hangs the fly into the tank. When the motor turns, it...

I like the approach. It also looks like it would make it much easier to tie the bugs on small size hooks. I suspect they might be very effective for use in spring creeks in the summer months.

Ummm - A word of caution from the rod makers shop. If you tie a tenkara line to the tip top, and then in the course of fighting a fish or trying to free a snagged fly, point the rod in the pulling direction, it might be possible to separate a ferrule. In that case, your tip section winds up in the m...