SHOP NOTES | C.J. BOVA RODS

Sometimes when it’s cool and breezy in the early spring, nothing is seemingly coming out of the water. If you really want to catch a nice trout on a dry fly you have to pull something out of your vest that is part of the buffet line menu for the surface feeders .   Most often trout throughout the day are still pecking at the surface in the not so hatchy moments. Prior to the Hendrickson hatches it can be discouraging but with a little patience and a keen eye you can feel like your beating the winter blues. Little black midges are quite common during these times of year. Not only are they nearly impossible to see in flight but they are nearly indistinguishable when they are emerging and floating in the surface film. As we all know black midges are hard to fish especially when they are size 22’s and smaller. During certain parts of the day it’s very hard to even see a midge cluster because of reflections and shadows on the water. The trick is to create something that is very small like t...

"My wife wonders why all women do not seek anglers for husbands. She has come in contact with many in her life with me and she claims that they all have a sweetness in their nature which others lack." ~ Ray Bergman

“Somebody just in back of  you while   you are fishing  is as bad as someone looking over your shoulder  while you write a letter  to your girl” ~Ernest Hemingway

Through the dog days of summer in many parts of America a strange mylar-like terrestrial shows upon many trout streams. The Trout seem to just sit quietly in the shade of an overhanging tree or shrub and wait for these crunchy morsels to drop from the heavens above. The stout Japanese beetle plops down every few minutes soon after an often violent slurp turns a quiet pool into a variable tsunami. Most beetle patterns today are tied with a myriad of synthetics including mylars, foam bodies, and various rubber legs of all shapes and sizes. If your a tyer that likes to use natural materials like myself, that tends to shy away from synthetics, a simple selection of quills and peacock herl will be great mediums to achieve this pattern. It’s a very convincing imitation that is easy and as familiar as tying your favorite Catskill dry fly with very similar materials. 1) Build up a black dubbed body with a slight egg shape profile on a #16 or #18 straight eye dry fly hook. Tie in two peacock h...

I was very inspired at around age 29 by a man who I thought really had a honest and contemporary perspective on fly tying. He used a lot of traditional materials but used them in a way that was innovative and thoughtful. Not only did he resurface some of the forgotten materials but he taught how to use them in a highly functional way. A.K. Best has since then been very inspirational when it comes to my own personal tying experience. The use of quills is something that now riddles my patterns as well as the use of hen hackle wings, and silk dubbing. I still dye my own rooster and pullet capes myself as well as strip and bleach my own quills. His hands on approach allows me to get exactly what I want when it comes to color, proportion, and profile. Back when e-mail was not as accessible I wrote back and forth to him quite a bit and he sent me some feathers in the mail. He introduced me to Coq de Leon feathers and their many uses especially when it came to tailing. I did not like artifi...