SHOP NOTES | C.J. BOVA RODS

“He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.” ~St. Francis of Assisi  

  Mad River Brown 28" Caught on my 7' 4wt. “Johnny Logan” As the New Year approaches I get more inquiries about wait times for my cane rods. As of October 2020 new orders will not be taken until January 8th of 2021. I hope that everyone has had a great year for fishing. It was truly spectacular even under the current circumstances of Covid-19. I will say that from an environmental standpoint local biologists and the ODNR have found that watersheds have gotten a bit of a break as well as fish populations. We can only hope for the best for 2021 and If you have any questions regarding a current or future order please do not hesitate to call me. I am still tying my custom trout flies and there is as always a 2 week lead time for those.  Cheers ~ Clint

If you are like me quills are a mainstay for various fly patterns such as mayfly dries, midges, and terrestrial patterns. The problem people have with using them typically stems from soak time. Wetting them takes more than wetting them between a damp paper towel. You really need to submerge them for around 20-30 minutes before use. A simple and effective way to do this is to get some test tubes fill them with water and stick a half dozen quills in them butt first. I have been doing this for about 20 years. I took some scrap Koa wood that I typically use for reel seat spacers for my cane rods and with a forstner bit bore a series of holes the same diameter as the glass tubes. In about 5 minutes you have a nifty little quill soaking rack. If you strip and dye your own quills like I do this rack is really handy. When drying a fresh batch of dyed quills I insert about 20 quills at a time in each tube and they dry in tidy little bushels. Pre-soaking quills for fly bodies is an important c...

   Photos: Clint Bova The adult stage of the Cranefly has long been overlooked by the fly fishing world. A pretty bold statement but very true. Crack open any fly fishing catalogue and you will be hard pressed to find an adult stage imitation. As for the larval and nymph stage the range of flys are far more significant. Around the world the Cranefly has a variety of eclectic names and is a significant part of a trouts diet in certain times of the spring and summer. Trout typically “smack” craneflys on the surface for a lack of a better word. It is a hardy morsel of protein and like ants trout will move out of their comfort zone for this insect readily. If you were to connect lines directly from the tips of all six legs splayed it would form a perfect eclipse. That being said the legs are a very important aspect when considering the geometry of your pattern. Craneflys stuck in the surface film splay much like a spider would. The following photos are a result of about a 15 ...

 A client of mine asked me to tie up a dozen Grass Wasps for him before traveling to the Albany River in Ontario. He wanted to fish the wasps near steep fast stream banks and in some broken water so wanted extra flotation and profile. Using soft hackle in tandem with a conventional criss-cross hackle collar will add great buoyancy to this fly when fishing faster water. The added barbell eyes create a distinct profile from below. Using underwing material such as Aero Wing Dry Fly will also help keep the fly in the surface film at the proper angle.  Barbell eyes created with 20lb singed mono with 2-3 coats of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails (Extreme) Black Out. Abdomens created with thread teardrop profile then 2-3 coats of  Sally Hansen Hard as Nails (Extreme) Black Out. Unlike most UV Resins available you cannot beat nitrocellulose (cellulose nitrate). Nitrocellulose is a highly combustible material that is also used in making dynamite. It would take a trout a mo...

   The Gossamer Comparadun photos Clint Bova Shown above #18-22 Comparaduns using TMC 531 hooks The basic design of the Comparadun is very simple. The difficulty people have tying it stems from proportion and the bulk of materials added to the hook. This is a thorax fly by this I mean it is meant to sit very low in the water not on its tippy toes. Its thorax needs to be in the surface film for it to imitate the natural insect. Using a treated dubbing such as Beaver Belly will ensure proper floatation for a longer period of time. Using coastal deer hair meant for comparadun flies is always preferable as well. The flies shown above are #18's on TMC 531 wide gape hooks. The typical comparadun uses only deer hair for its wing profile but I include a couple of turns of medium or light dun hackle to imitate the splaying legs in the surface film which the insect is prone to simply because it is desperately trying to escape from the water. The result of this simple combination...