SHOP NOTES | C.J. BOVA RODS

All of my rods hold a lifetime warranty for the original owner.  Please inquire for more information.

For those who have inquired about my custom extended dome cap and ring sets (Fred Divine inspired) The geometry for these little gems balance well with my 7'6", 7'9", and 8' 4 and 5 wts. Most of my cap and ring sets are slightly reminiscent of Divines “Classic Reel Seat”. The cap is slightly elongated, a pronounced taper, with an even more pronounced domed butt. The rings are chamfered and banded ( Knurled banding is also an option) and echo some of the trim detailing not only on the cap and rings but also adapting on the cork check and winding checks as well. Generally speaking Divines hardware is very elegant and simple. When I glance at the few Divine rods that I own I break into a Cheshire Cat grin, these old rods have always been inspirational for me. Thank you for all of the kind complements out of the Mohawk Valley once again ~Clint Bova

I get a lot of interest in spalted seats and I usually ask clients if they like a dark chocolate spalted seat or a lighter maple seat with distinct black figuring. The darker of the two is much harder to find.  Both look great with blued or bright nickel hardware. Above is a shot of the two maple blanks that look distinctly differ ent . Both have been stabilized so the color deepens slightly but not much. I carry spalted Tupelo, spalted Koa, and spalted Maple. Below are two finished seats, one is the lighter maple, the other is the darker shade of maple.                                       ~Clint Bova

 above: ring core removed and a nickel plug fitted with cork above: the finished blued ferrule plug for a  model 7'6" 4wt. “Shawnee Rose” All of my rods come with a ferrule plug that complements the hardware of it's given rod type. Every ferrule plug comes from the inner core of it's given nickel ring set or threaded barrel down locking hardware... “Waste not want not” ~Clint Joseph Bova

For many years I have been tying a Caddis pattern for spooky Browns in slow, shallow, and very clear water. I use this pattern when the odds are stacked up against me and the typical bushy Caddis patterns are not even an option. The biot winged Caddis that I tie is from a medium dusky warm gray to a dark gray color. I tie it with both a gray and green abdomen with an occasional pair of antenna. Typically I tie this pattern small from sizes #18-#22. Biots make for a great winging material they are waxy looking like the naturals, are translucent, and dye easily to the color that best suits your stream naturals. Caddisflies are actually very streamline when at rest. Their wing cases create a long delta pitch and their legs splay only a minimal amount on the surface film. Creating a Caddis pattern for slow, clear, and shallow water is a never ending creative visualization that always seems to have room for improvement. This is a very easy no frills guide pattern. Once you get the winging t...

Inspired by A.K. Best for nearly twenty years I now look back at all of my dying and bleaching notes in various drawers and files and I still am able to fuel my affinity for dying all of my own natural materials. For the last 15 or so years I have been dying and bleaching my own materials, quills, necks, deer hair, furs, dubbing silks, and biots. A.K. Best’s Book Dying and Bleaching Natural Fly-Tying Materials set my course on the right foot. My old place of residence looked more like a scene out of Silence of the Lambs than a bachelor pad. Industrial cafeteria equipment riddled my living room, hotplates, and 10 gallon buckets filled with bleach made for some interesting visits from the landlords as well. I honestly felt the need to get better results from the natural materials that I used to tie flies. I learned all of the mistakes from what was, and still is, currently out in the marketplace. One example was the poor quality of quills. Due to excessive bleaching pre-packaged quills...

7'6" 4wt. “Shawnee Rose” and a late afternoon fall Brown    The Sun will not rise or set without my notice and thanks.  Look at nature, work independently, and solve your own problems.  ~Winslow Homer  

Counting blessings is kind of like counting fish, quantity is never really a qualifier when it comes to meaning, expertise, and experience. I feel very lucky to have mingled and worked alongside with the few men and women that have led me down an adventurous and sometimes tumultuous path since I was very young. These were all people that exercised a keen form of restraint when it came to guiding and inspiring me. Using ones hands in a spirited way to make a living in this day and age is fairly daunting and even often forgotten when it comes to present day academia. To pass on craft knowledge it takes a light touch on a young persons heart, it takes accessibility of tools and mediums, and inevitably it takes time, patience, and courage. Using ones hands is a kind of flattery to the Gods, by this I mean we are all gifted with opposable thumbs, a sense of reason and causality, and the ability to creatively visualize something before it actually comes to fruition. If we choose to ex...

For many September 26 marks the official end of the fishing season. I typically stop my trout fishing by mid-November and go through my ritual of cleaning all of my equipment, most importantly my rods. I pull my rods out one by one and wipe them down with a warm soapy mixture of water and Dove Soap. Wipe the rod dry and make sure the guides are clean. You can use a little bit of mineral spirits on a Q-Tip to get any additional residue off of the guides. Make sure you clean both the female and male parts of the ferrule. Again you can use a small amount of denatured alcohol or mineral spirits to clean them out using a Q-Tip. Many hang their rods in their given bags up in a cool dry closet, this is a good ritual. I just keep them in their given cases, take the cap off, and place them upright in my rod racks. I typically am very diligent about keeping a journal so I record the amount of use I put on any one particular rod, its kind of like keeping track of your mileage on your car. I do...

Photo: Clint Bova The fall brings typically low clear water, weary surface feeding trout, and lots of “boil rises”. My midge box is stocked with a favorite pattern that I have edited over the last ten years into a very no frills pupa design. After the chironomids larva stage the pupa develops a pronounced thorax and as it shucks in the surface film it begins to splay its legs and wings. A sparse horizontal hackle collar that appears translucent gives the impression of this shucking display. Using a dyed gray turkey T-base feather gives you an identifiable profile in the water but not as contrasty as a white post. White posts breaking the trouts cone of vision will scare a shallow spookey pool full of browns. Hence the name “Fall Ghost Pupa”. I have used D-rib and turkey biots for the body but have found that dyed quills add extra flotation for the TMC 2487 hook. The slightly canted wing post works great with the geometry of this hook and hangs it in the surface film imitating the natur...

  Sometimes I bring back a fox or two from the River to keep me company while I plane strips and let them flutter around me. Stenonema Vicarium are muscular enough that you can tie a strand of 8/0 silk to one of  their legs and fly them around the room like little kites They seem to like to land on my bamboo shavings and are curious and somewhat more athletic than other mayfly's. ~Clint Bova   A Mayfly's Life   by Mary Ann Hoberman ~ Named Children's Poet Laureate Think how fast a year flies by A month flies by A week flies by Think how fast a day flies by A Mayfly’s life lasts but a day A single day To live and die A single day How fast it goes The day The Mayfly Both of those. A Mayfly flies a single day The daylight dies and darkness grows A single day How fast it flies A Mayfly’s life How fast it goes.

 A logging road often becomes the one and only artery to a piece of water that you know more than likely will bring you the biggest dividends. The repeated likelihood of siltation at certain times of the year create a gnawing anxiousness that is magnified when you look down on both sides of your truck and cannot see the dirt or gravel. Nahalem County Oregon holds many secrets or at least did when I lived there. Black bears unfortunately haunted the same woods I lurked quietly around in looking for coastal cutthroats. Some evenings my legs could not move fast enough when a nearby tree started shaking which is always terrifying to me. It was on cool calm early evening that I was working my way back upstream in the Cascades. Earlier the same day I had seen a mountain goat dead on the side of the stream, maybe only a few days old. Hours later the carcass was gone when I came up on the same spot. I dismissed it for all of about ten seconds when across the river a medium sized Dougla...

After writing my entry called “Driven by Process” I received several e-mails in regards to “Production rods” and differences with hand planed rods. Another much discussed and heated topic among cane enthusiasts and makers. Quite simply a skilled craftsmen with a milling machine can put out a very fine rod that is very very accurate based on its given taper. A maker that uses simply a traditional block plane and a set of forms can also put out a very very accurate taper. Cosmetically speaking can you tell the difference? In many cases yes based on what is called “grain run-out”. Depending on the skill of the maker using the milling machine he is going to have a cutter running the length of the strip on the enamel side of the cane at some point. Some do not. Depending on their skill you may see grain run-out you may not. The question arises how deep is too deep when it comes to biting into the power fibers after the enamel is removed. Inevitably this will affect the performance of the...

  A nice Brown caught this season during  the Trico hatch August 2010 on the “Johnny Logan” 7' 4wt. I recently had an inquiry about this particular rod and I thought I would elaborate a little on it. I started developing this taper back in 2004 specifically for tight stream situations and tiny fly's. It has served me well over the years as a frequently used rod throughout the season. It also is one of my more popular selling rods. I also use it as a go-to rod for Trico hatches and midging. It has a very smooth “true” 4wt. action. It loads great for in close casts and out to the 40 foot mark. It is definitely a rod that I use for smaller drys for fussy Browns. The picture above is a Brown caught on a #22 Trico using the “Johnny Logan” at about 5:30 am in the morning. When the Trico hatch is on this rod pulls through for me every time. I have a few PA clients that love fishing this rod on the Letort and Penn's Creek for the same reasons I do. The rod casts like a gem and pu...

I often get asked what is your favorite part of making bamboo fly rods? I typically respond by saying “fishing them”. My follow up response is simply “handling the cane”. There are many ways to experience the process of making a fly rod I choose to experience it without the use of tapering bevelers, gang saws, and a crew of craftsmen. The final result is typically a great rod of some kind either way. I just choose to experience the process in a more intimate way when it involves splitting, straightening, and planing. I have used all of the above mentioned equipment at one time or another but I feel when I do I have missed out on the real joy of making a cane rod. I always have accepted the merits of using more machinery but I don’t experience the same level of intimacy with the cane when I do. Experiencing every inch of a spline and its given nodes track around in my head at night like an endless ticker tape. After all we are not fighting cane monsters we are simply manipulating a raw ...

There's a dreamy river flowing Down the street from my house I walk down there after work But I paddle my way home There's a dreamy river flowing On every street corner in the world And if that young moon is in the sky She'll wink at you and let you pass by There's a dreamy river flowing From my refrigerator into my mouth It only costs a few dollars To keep those shelves stocked There's a dreamy river flowing From my mouth into my gut There's a dreamy river flowing From my wank into the street There's a dreamy river flowing In my mind as I lay to sleep There's a dreamy river flowing From a town I've never been to Across this great country And also from overseas Sometimes from people's kitchens Transversing time and space I float down this river Every night and day There's a dreamy river flowing From the hops and the malts and sugar I call it my brother, I call it my wife ...

There are often moments within a fishing season where time is better spent walking with a youngster down to your favorite piece of water. Simplicity is always better, just handing him or her a few fly’s will make their day that much more memorable. Find a knot that they are comfortable with and find a fish that they can remember for years to come. Sounds a bit sentimental but honestly it really does make a difference especially if the youngster has no father to speak of. His father may have been shipped off to Afghanistan and has nobody to drive him to a stream let alone have someone to go fishing with. It is a simple act of kindness that goes a very long way. It may be your next door neighbors kid, it may be a single mothers child, or it may even be your own son or daughter. Sharing your time is a God given gift and fishing’s “fine simplicity” accounts for many priceless moments of discovery. Take a little one to the river its never too late in the season.   Fishing is much...

19" Mad River Brown August 2010 Caught on a #22 Black Quill Trico  Spinner Above rod: My Tecumseh 7'6" 5wt. The dog days of summer can prove to be frustrating and tedious to say the least especially if your efforts are put to the test with the dry fly. Early bird catches the trout, long leaders with 6x and 7x tippet, and size 20 and smaller Trico patterns will prove to pay big dividends. The saying “adversity introduces a man to himself” is the moment to moment mantra especially if you happen to see a surface pecking 20 inch brown. Chunky Browns sipping Tricos in 10 inches of clear water in a slow and spooky pool is what gets my heart pumping. This is usually during daybreak so the shadows and contrast are a bit deceiving adding to the level of difficulty. Taking a downstream position with a trico spinner at this time of year early in the morning proves successful, but drop a #16 something or another can clear out an entire pool. Hoppers are a crap shoot because you onl...

Tripoli otherwise known as rottenstone I have found is my tried and true method of polishing bamboo fly rods. A mixture of boiled linseed oil and tripoli seems to always bring a smile to my face when I first mix it up. It is a bit archaic I suppose but I'm funny that way especially when it comes to finishes. I connect the smell of linseed and tripoli to a sense of completion and when the new owner pulls the rod out of the case he or she can actually smell the level of detail as well. Many rods are finished with satin type varnishes (silica imbued matting agents) but the act of polishing a rod using traditional methods gives me a deeper layered finish. I find that I can spot the silica finishes and they look somewhat artificial even though they are a time saver for many rod makers. Then again I mix my own spar concoction so my process already is a bit more labor intensive. There are many ways to skin a cat but the tripoli treatment just rings true for me. ~Clint Bova

I have spent my life up till now earning a modest wage using my hands. I don't care if you make yo-yo's, knives, smoking pipes, illustrations, or furniture. If it comes from your bench, drawing board, or cave and it is handled by your hands from natural materials of earth origin and you transform the raw into something “usable” or “artful” it is one of a kind . This has been a topic of heated discussion since Robert Henri wrote “The Art Spirit”. He took a lot of heat in the 1920's and his students questioned and pondered many of his excerpts. Wabi-Sabi refers to natures fingerprint on natural earth born materials. The persona of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asperity , simplicity, modesty, intimacy, genuineness, and the suggestion of natural processes . Craftsman have made peace with their chosen medium's natural state. My motto has always been~“we cannot control Mother Nature but we can complement her best intentions”. That's complement spelled with an “e...

I suppose I can identify with den building critters because of their insatiable urge to sleep, eat, build, and socialize within the confines of a studio-type environment. Years ago as a young rod maker I slept in an apartment filled with all kinds of strange contraptions, odors, and sounds. My friends and family understood that I probably would never change and that a conventional household was very far off if not completely out of the picture. Blowing circuits, and waking up neighbors in the middle of the night was a given. The chirping and whining of boring bars and router bits was getting me in trouble. Odors of oven baked bamboo and varnish made for a suspicious existence in a small tenant house. Needless to say I did not get married until I was 42. Dating was hit and miss to say the least, actually more misses than hits. I was deemed undateable by most of my friends. Having two lathes, a cane oven that looks like an ICBM, and rolling tool carts in the middle of your livi...

Spalted maple is maple wood with dark veins caused by a pattern of rot or bacteria in the wood. Once stabilized, this wood is very striking as it often looks like a pen and ink drawing through the wood. Good spalted maple is hard to find with intricate veins. I frequently walk through the woods with my wife and am distracted by fallen maple timber that is either in it’s spalted prime to be cut and stabilized or past it’s prime and decomposing. Turning spalted wood also is quite challenging because you are looking for the best figuring in a very small surface area (being the seat itself), I usually explain that it is a bit like unearthing a fossil. Sometimes the planets are aligned and something magnificent shows up that has the perfect hue, symmetry, and figuring for the intended rod. Stabilizing is a must if you are to work with spalted maple. There is a kind of poetry involved when crafting spalted wood because one has actually rescued the wood and put it into stasis, you literally h...

“Trico Take” Rod Crossman was raised in Upstate New York and now lives in Indiana. “He makes his living creating paintings, as a professor, an artist in residence at Indiana Wesleyan University. Other vocations have included life-guarding, sacking groceries, factory work, and graphic design” “Careful” Rod has two boys who share a common interest with him, an affinity for moving water. This thankfully brings them all together on occasion to go fly fishing. Rod has a keen eye for capturing wonderful moments when it comes to lighting, spacial relationships, and natures most awesome raw medium, water. “Hemingway's Meadow” Rod’s artwork has been published in some of the best sporting magazines, books and journals. His paintings have been shown world wide, including the Smithsonian, Chicago Art Institute, Woodson Art Museum, Ward Museum, and the High Museum. Rod ...

The rarity of finding old rods in truly “mint” condition these days is infrequent to say the least. Rods of this nature always stop me in my tracks. I was contacted by Ed Kitchen who literally lives about five minutes from me claiming that he had in his possession what I call a “mintage” Heddon Black Beauty. This is what I refer to as a rod that is not only very old but has remained untouched, unfished, and has literally been in cryostasis for many many years. Apparently this rod was Ed's Grandfather's and was handled with such infrequency that the grip had no soiling whatsoever.  I soon was invited over to his house and he unveiled the rod. All of the labels were in incredible condition. The rod bag looked like it had just been sewn. The finish on the rod was immaculate. The guides looked as though they were freshly coated from the previous week. The black Pyaralin reel seat glistened. Probably the most well preserved Heddon let alone fly rod of this age I have ever seen. E...

Occasionally the Spring brings little if any rainfall during some of the first Mayfly hatches. This can make for some interesting fishing conditions especially when deja vu whispers and I have visions of the previous fall with typically low and clear water conditions. Ultimately early spring fishing can pay big dividends with Hendrickson hatches sporadically popping up. Timing and temperature is everything but with low and clear water conditions another frustrating factor can turn a potentially awesome day into a wash. Tying small can save the day in many conditions, this year was no exception. I was able to catch some great mayfly hatches in Western PA and some of my home waters this year. I have a stash of special dry fly boxes I put together over the winter that are my everyday patterns that I tie smaller than normal. By smaller than normal I mean I go down one or two hook sizes. This year I was armed with a box of Hendrickson patterns tied in the small that really pulled through ...