In the Moment

                                                                                                                   photo: Clint Joseph Bova

“Nothing great was ever achieved 

without enthusiasm.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Starting Young

I guess the notion of your 5th grader standing in front of a large running metal lathe is a bit horrific. It's especially spookey to visualize them actually using it on their own. Growing up in Hawaii and going to a school that was at the time somewhat experimental was a blessing. Punahou provided me the opportunity to use my hands in spirited ways at a very young age. We had a wood shop at our school that was a bit like a full blown machine shop, and at the time pretty high tech. Ironically the name of my shop teacher was Mr. Woodward, which is kind of like a home economics instructor named Mrs. Cook. Mr. Woodward was one of those quiet instructors that would scratch his beard a couple times, grimace at what you were working on, and walk away if he thought you were just “screwing around”. The incentive was simple, if you show him you are responsible you could upgrade in machinery. If he saw you do something absent-mindedly you lost the privilege of using a tool. So if you were respectful of the machines you could actually be using a milling machine or even using an arc welder as young as 10 or 11 years old. This was a badge of honor for me at the time. Both my brother and I excelled on lathes at a very young age. My brother Tony was actually a pretty remarkable craftsman and being two years older than I was made his skills seem all that much more advanced and honed, especially on a wood lathe.

I started using a metal lathe at age ten, it was a monster. It was during the summer in 1975 and I was handed a piece of aluminum rod stock and told “don't screw around”. I was in seventh heaven. The big old South Bend lathes chuck was bigger than my head, and I had to stand on a block of Koa wood just to see my turning stock. I started out making basic shapes that Mr. Woodward drew out for me. It eventually got more elaborate when he wanted me to make a working canon out of bar stock aluminum. A great first turning project for a ten year old that involves fire power! Needless to say I was hooked and my skills aquired are still used to this day. I learned a lot of things at Punahou which included catching 15 pound koi in our pond, drawing nude models as a minor, making bottle rockets, casting bronze, glass blowing, jumping out of a banyan tree with a rope around my waist thinking I could fly. My all time favorite activity... using a metal lathe. The banyan tree rope jumping actually worked, I still claim to be the first bungee jumper.

When using a lathe; wood, cork, and various nickel alloys are the primary mediums that one needs to master to create a truly custom fly rod from start to finish

In today's overly paranoid and liability ridden world developing such skills for youngsters is very difficult. I feel truly blessed that I had this opportunity at such a young age. I strongly feel that more kids need to be exposed to many different tools and mediums at a very young age. To this day I'm convinced that God gave us opposable thumbs primarily to be able to make and operate tools. When using these tools I feel as though I am simply exercising my beliefs and rituals on a deeper level. In the end it really does bring meaning and purpose to my existence and I know many other craftsman that feel same.

                                ~Clint

Custom Critical Hardware

From butt to tip everyone of my rods are totally custom. Nothing is pulled from a hardware drawer or added on from a vendors catalog as an afterthought or shortcut. Every reel seat, cap and ring set, winding check, cork check, threaded barrel, ferrule plug, and rod bag is created specifically for it's intended rod. All hardware is machined from the highest quality nickel rod stock.

All of our bluing is done using a labor intensive process called “slow rust bluing” which is how very old firearms are blued and restored. Nickel can be treated in a very similar fashion with the use of additional powdered additives. All of my bluing is done the same way fine firearm restoration finishes are created. The result is a dark charcoal black finish with a lot of depth. Look at “blued hardware” from other component companies or rod makers and what you will find is a very flat uniform finish with no depth. Again if you look at a fine custom firearm you will immediately notice the depth of the finish. Feel free to call me or have me send you samples of my complete line of rod tapers, and hardware types.

 If you are paying a premium for a bamboo fly rod it better be totally custom. This is critical if you truly want an “heirloom” quality hand split bamboo fly rod. If you have a dream rod in mind with custom hardware feel free to call me for more information and pricing.     
www.cjbovarods.com
~Clint Joseph Bova

Fishing In the Moment

I had a compelling conversation the other day with a friend of mine in regards to the current interest in fly fishing. Over the past three or four years many of the outdoor retailers have been hit pretty hard based on the economy, peoples time, and even technology. Understanding how technology has contributed to the lack of interest in the outdoors is easy to see.

We have all of the techy tools to supposedly help heighten our overall experience outdoors. There are GPS systems to help us find our genitals at any given time of the day, high tech clothing to keep us from our own repulsive God given smells, super nano hologram enhanced floating lines, and apps for tracking mayfly hatches along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. There are those video games that allow us to fish in a reclined position, waders or underwear optional. There are fly patterns that are so overdressed and covered in synthetic co-polymers that its hard to believe that there is a hazmat disposal unit that will clean it up if it happened to burst into flames. There is a fully casted social network on the internet filled with creepy guys in front of newfangled fly tying vises claiming they have the one and only “NASA approved true rotary vise”. 

Our time is split between our devices and our actual living experiences. If the devices were developed to expand and deepen the outdoor experience then there would be exponentially more interest in spending time in the woods. This is not the case. Simple observation cannot prove me wrong. I can’t tell you how many people I have seen on rivers lately spending time screwing around with their phones and not fishing! Two years ago I heard a guy screaming on his phone in a run above me for 45 minutes. He came sloshing down stream, passed right in front of me, scowled, and said “are you getting cel reception here at all?”.

Last season a canoe on a local stream passed in front of me. There was a little boy in the front of the canoe frustrated and holding a Sponge Bob spin casting rod. His father was busy texting and seemingly having his own conversation in his own little world called “else where”. It brought tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat. As they meandered further downstream I heard an audible grind, they hit a gravel bar and the expletives started flying. Apparently the father dropped his phone inside the wet canoe. The little boy started to cry. So did I.
~Clint Joseph Bova

Visualize the Possiblities

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; 

that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
~Henry David Thoreau, Life In the Woods

“Shy Dad-Dee”

The Crane fly (order Diptera) is often an overlooked pattern that proves to be an important part of a trouts diet from mid-summer through the fall. Unlike many terrestrial patterns the Crane fly really begs to be tied with a very gossamer and sparse geometry. It is not a “beasty” like a hopper or cricket pattern. Instead upon close inspection you will see that is is very wispy and quite delicate. It is a common misconception that the bulbous end on the abdomen is an egg sack found on the female Crane fly. In fact this is the males genitalia. The female has a more pointed geometry at the end of the abdomen.

Over the last ten years I have distilled my Crane fly patterns down to some simple and natural materials that have made it a favorite in my fly box especially when fishing over finicky and skittish Browns.

The use of knotted pheasant tail, dyed turkey biots, and hen tips make for a very lightweight fly that can easily be casted with a 2wt. line using 6x tippet if need be. This is not a bulky pattern which was my major incentive for the use and combination of the following materials. This fly has also worked well when hoppers are just too conspicuous. This Crane fly imitation makes for a great search pattern during the months of August through October when rises become exponentially more sporadic on many spring creeks.

~Photos: Clint Bova all rights reserved® Copyright 2012

“Shy Dad-Dee”

Hook: TMC 5212  #10 or #12
Thread: 8/0 Tan
Wings: Dyed Hen tips (I use Veniards dyes, but you can also use Rit Tan)
Body: Tan Biots tied over beaver belly or Rainy's Float Foam
Thorax: Silk dyed to golden tan (silk will be easier to control to get good leg positioning)
Legs: Knotted Pheasant Tail
Hackle: Cream Variant or Badger

Fig.1

Tie in dyed tan turkey biot over beaver belly                      
dubbing or Rainy's Float Foam. You can
dub a male or female abdomen geometry.
Tie in knotted pheasant tail (3 pairs) just
above the mid point of the hook shank
making sure that you get good leg separations.

Fig.2
Dub the silk dyed to a golden tan. I use silk
because it lays down extremely tight and I
can control my leg positions so that they splay
perfectly even after getting soaked. The splayed
legs act as outriggers and help the fly sit perfectly
in the surface film like the natural.

Fig.3
Tie in Hen tips dyed tan, I use Veniards dyes but
Rit will work just fine. Make sure you tie them in
with a delta wing configuration. You can vary the
degree of the “V” the wing should end a hook gap
beyond the bend of the hook.

Fig.4
Hackle collar is either Badger or a cream variant.
Other colors I use for entire fly is a rust or mahogany
color or a creamy yellow like the color ways of a PMD.


~Photos: Clint Bova all rights reserved® Copyright 2012

Nickel Silver 101

Above: nickel blanks for butt caps, ring sets, ferrule plugs, winding checks, cork checks, and threaded barrel inserts

I recently had a past client ask me how difficult it is to turn and tool Nickel Silver so I thought I would comment a bit on the topic. Nickel Silver known as German Silver or Alpacca has a typical formulation of 60% copper, 20% nickel, and 20% zinc.

 Above: Pawnee hair comb hand stamped

The Plains Indians started using Nickel in the 1850's in sheet form to make many different things. They cut, stamped, and cold hammered jewelry, weapon and saddle adornments, and armbands. Even today the Pawnee and Kiowa use it as a medium for many crafts. The fishing industry has used Nickel stock primarily for its machinability, corrosion resistance, and its chrome like appearance when polished. For these reasons it is the alloy of choice for most premium fly rods although machined bar stock aluminum and stamped anodized aluminum are also quite common. The beauty of Nickel and its various types is that it has a high tolerance to fluxuating temperatures, it is very strong, and very easy to buff out scratches. Nickel alloy has several consistencies. There is Alloy 400 which is an all around multipurpose stock that provides excellent corrosion resistance, good weldability and formability, and high strength. There are ultra corrosion-resistant formulations such as Alloy 625, 200/201. Alloy HX is one of the strongest and is ultra tolerant to high temperature. Depending on what kind of Nickel alloy is used it will cast a cold to warm gold sheen when polished. Nickel blues relatively well and can be sprayed with a very durable protectant that will make it scratch and weather resistant. Nickel machines well and is somewhat forgiving when comparing it to other alloys and steel.
                        ~Clint Joseph Bova