SHOP NOTES

Visualize the Possiblities

2012-02-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

“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”

2012-01-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

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

The Timeless Nail Knot

2011-11-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

The nail knot has been around for centuries and many knots we use today were derivatives of this very proven method of connecting two lines together. Since 1938, with the invention of nylon fly fishing has changed dramatically in certain ways. Nylon caused a jump start of other later mediums such as Dracon, Spectra, and PVDF. The ironic thing about technology is that it does not always change the simple things that it supposedly enhances or try's to make better. Many times technology is humbled by its own simple archaic functionality. Plastic fly lines have changed over the years and even silk has evolved and blossomed. Many fly casters say that the quality of the tapers have changed for the better. Others say lines have only suffered with technology and all of its gimmicky growing pains. Knots really have not changed through all the technological breakthroughs. The knot is still the single most important part of fly fishing. Without knots you cannot fish, period. Without knots all the high modulus graphite rods and super nanoparticle slick fly lines are rendered useless.

After centuries we still rely on turl knots, surgeons loops, clinch knots, and yes even the nail knot. The nail knot gave birth to many of the knots we use today. Centuries ago they had different names for these knots, these names changed over time. My father takes great pride in his knot tying abilities. His knots are really a piece of art. He sailed all over the world and mended his own sails and lines. He was a celestial navigator and a knot sensation which elevated him to rock star status in my world. Looking at his Eye Splices and Chain Splices as a young boy made my improved clinch knots look like child's play. He told me the nail knot was very important to learn and it can potentially be a life saver on a boat.

The leader to fly line connection is incredibly important for the transfer of energy. I often hear anglers talking way too much about the characteristics of fly lines when they should be more concerned about their connection between leader and fly line. Typically they are the ones using loop connectors. I always use this analogy~ “Does an experienced electrician splice two wires together that are meant to carry two very different currents, its a recipe for a short or a fire.” Loops don't cause fires but they do cause shorts. The loop connection is nasty. The transfer of energy is sloppy and creates a “dead spot”. The amount of bulk is plain sad. I have recently seen manufactured leader and fly line loops that are an entire inch in length. That's a pretty big hinge! The nail knot has very little profile, less than a quarter of an inch in length and about 1/32 in thickness. So why all the loops these days? It takes no more than two minutes to learn to tie a nail knot and there are a multitude of tools to help you tie these knots. Take command of your knot tying abilities and your fishing experience will never suffer. In reference to loop connections one of my Scottish fishing guides in Ontario chuckled and said to me while fishing the Grand River “loops are what you use to hang yourself after a bad day of fishing”...I could not agree more.
~Clint Bova

Silk Line~Streamside

2011-11-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

The benefits of silk lines are vast when considering the overall performance of bamboo fly rods. They by far excel in accuracy, loading, and shooting of line. I have pretty much left the world of plastic lines altogether not because of traditional esoterics but because of silks overall performance. It just feels right. The marriage and cadence between fly rod and line is so noticeable that using anything else just does not make a lot of sense to me. The narrow diameter of the line, its overall density, and true to form tapers are much more specific to the very nature of the bamboo fly rod. That said silk lines are no more or less of a hassle to maintain than plastic lines. After about four or five hours of fishing all that is needed is two or three minutes to run a chamois swatch over the casting section of your line. Re-apply the mucilin with your fingers and buff the line lightly with some felt. I get felt at the craft store for about 20 cents a sheet and cut it up into small squares. I carry one or two in my vest along with a swatch of chamois in a small jewelers poly bag (above photo). Silk line if taken care of properly will last indefinitely.
~Clint Bova

Getting Your Feet Wet

2011-10-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

“sometimes I enjoy the company of a mayfly

when I start planing bamboo”

I recently had a client call me and ask me if he should “get his feet wet” and make his own split cane rod. There is a lot of interest here in the U.S. especially within the last twenty or so years in learning how to make split cane fly rods. The craft has become more accessible in regards to information, tools, and even raw materials. I always try to inspire people to take a class in rod “making”. By “making” I mean creating something from scratch like a rod blank. “Building” a rod refers to taking an amalgam of components including a rod blank and constructing a rod. There is a big difference. Learning how to “build” a rod is important to better familiarize oneself with the materials and the construction behind the craft. Learning how to “make” the rod itself and its given components is a whole other chapter that takes time, patience, passion, dedication, and yes money.

To be realistic initially one needs to invest several thousand dollars to get started in order to make bamboo rods. You need space, time, and the ability to soak in a lot of information. You need a set of planing forms, bamboo culms, decent block planes, a tempering oven of some kind if you chose, a binder, sharpening jigs, plane irons, a clean space to finish rods, files, sandpapers, a multitude of glues, a workbench, a heat gun, various rod components including everything from guides to ferrules, cork blanks or rings, nickel stock, a lathe to turn hardware, a roughing beveler if you chose to use one, a rod turner, jigs...did I mention the the part about the initial investment of several thousand dollars?

If this sounds all too overwhelming well it can be BUT if you slowly familiarize yourself with the craft over time and be patient you will make leaps and bounds. Finding good mentors is important, read a lot of credible books, be a sponge rather than a leaky faucet, eventually you will be well on your way to picking up a block plane. Be especially careful of internet forums, there are scads of self seeking biases, late night armchair hobbyists, and avatars posing as rod makers many of which will steer you in all directions known to man. Find one or two great mentors, you will learn much more and be less confused as you move through the learning curve of rod making. Also if you want to learn about new information in the rod making world, both historical and technical, get a subscription to The Planing Form created by Ron Barch. This printed journal has very good credible information and the publication has been around a long long time. Lastly take a rod making class from a good teacher! Be mindful that you should do your research and find an established rod maker who is a good teacher and has been doing it a long time. You may enjoy the process so much you will eventually want to take the big plunge, or you may find you just want to make one rod. Approach it with an open mind when you first start and it will be that much more enjoyable in the short or long term. I started getting into rod making in my late 20's and have been driven by an insatiable passion to make rods, and practice the crafts rituals religiously. I continue to be smitten by the craft of making rods to this day. I enjoy fly fishing that much more because I make cane rods. So yes! I encourage “getting your feet wet” when it comes to rod making, it will only make your fishing experience that much more rewarding, intriguing, and well rounded.
~Clint Bova

Vantage Point

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

“Under the Rainbows” Photo: Clint Bova

It is as hard to see one's self as to look

backwards without turning around.

~Henry David Thoreau

Driven by Process

2011-10-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

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 cane rods. 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 and echo around in my head at night like an endless ticker tape. The level of peer pressure I get to use more machinery is somewhat daunting but I suppose if it came to that I would probably stop selling rods altogether and just make rods for myself and friends. I will probably be eating my words when my orthopedic surgeon tells me my hands and arms are no longer operable. Oh well if the process brings me to my ultimate demise so be it. ~Clint Bova

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
~Friedrich Nietzsche

Leave The Craftsman Alone

2011-10-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

In regards to the Gibson Guitar shop raid incident:
When the Government starts harassing the small guild craftsmen and women over justifiable raw materials I draw the line. I normally do not bring up current events or political views in my “Shop Notes” section but I am outraged that this is remotely tolerable in the USA. “Job Creation” is not driven by harassing the very roots and soulful enterprises that bring meaning to the American spirit. This is simply unacceptable.
~Clint Bova

“Be a warhorse for work and enjoy even the struggle against possible defeat.” ~The Artist Robert Henri, “The Art Spirit”

*The raids forced Gibson to cease manufacturing operations and send workers home for the day while armed agents executed the search warrants. “Agents seized wood that was Forest Stewardship Council controlled,” Juszkiewicz said. “Gibson has a long history of supporting sustainable and responsible sources of wood and has worked diligently with entities such as the Rainforest Alliance and Greenpeace to secure FSC-certified supplies. The wood seized on August 24 satisfied FSC standards.” Juszkiewicz believes that the Justice Department is bullying Gibson without filing charges.
~Gibson Lifestyle

Bamboo “In the Strings”

2011-09-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

I recently had a client ask me if he could see what a rod section looks like after the splines have been wrapped in the binder. The splines are actually wrapped twice, once before heat treating, and then after the final planing during the process of gluing up all six sections. The photo above shows a swelled butt section of a 7'9" 5wt “in the strings” prior to initial heat treating. Special care is taken to tension the wraps around a swell and measure out the exact location of the swell and the grip.
~Clint Bova

The 7' 4wt. “Johnny Logan”

2011-09-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

A nice Brown caught on the 7'4wt. “Johnny Logan”

I have sold many of these rods to those who enjoy a light rod for small mountain streams and spring creeks. I have always called it a true 4wt. that is great for small delicate quiet presentations. The above photo is a fish that was taken on a #18 Para ant in small water in central PA. I have fished this taper for the last decade and especially enjoy it for fall midge fishing.
See details for this rod at www.cjbovarods.com or madriverrodco.com
~Clint Bova

The Mark of Detail

2011-09-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

Turning a tiered winding check for
a new “Trails End” 7' 4wt.

If you've ever seen a model 1873 Colt .45 Peacemaker from the barrel to the grip all of the elements of the hardware have a definitive cadence. The craftsmanship when it comes to the original intent of the firearm from function to form is unwavering. I often use the term “Mr. Potato Head” when I look at a fly rod, firearm, automobile, etc... that have both features and functions that are unintentional adaptations and lack harmony. Unlike the Colt .45 Peacemaker, the result is a product that has no sense of place or point of view.

When I was 26 years old I was called out of class at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena CA and driven out to San Bernardino to meet the engineers and designers at Saturn (prior to the brand launch in the marketplace) they were unveiling their vehicles for the first time in a large auditorium. I was 1 out of 8 other designers pulled from ACCD to critique the new Saturn vehicles. After a highly descriptive crit from a transportation designer sitting next to me it was now my turn and around 300 people including video cameras were focused on me. The car designers were sitting behind me, which made me a bit apprehensive. I simply stated that the 7 shiny prototypes that sat in front of me “had no sense of place, they were an amalgam of many vehicles which reminded me of a series of Mr. Potato Heads, they could be from anywhere, and from several different manufacturers”. At this point I felt a hand on my shoulder, it was one of the car designers leaning forward and he whispered that I was “very perceptive in my point of view”. I was then asked to leave. On my way out of the auditorium one of the Saturn designers came running out from behind me and shook my hand and told me that they had in fact had created a series of vehicles that were very much like a family of Mr. Potato heads.

Finished tiered winding check to complement the

“Trails End ” butt cap as well as cork check

Often I see bamboo fly rods that are an amalgam of factory made grips, spacers, nickel hardware, etc...I feel that if somebody is going to pay a lot of money for a fly rod they should not be getting a Saturn. Instead they should be getting the recognizable and intentional marks of its given craftsman. A definitive geometry should give the artifact a sense of place and reason to be.

Every piece of hardware has to sing in tandem with it’s given rod. It’s kind of like putting a pair of dragon fly wings on a mayfly, some things have to be created as a single thought in order to fly right.

~Clint Joseph Bova

Heritage & Hardware Evolved

2011-09-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

Above: Mad River Rod Co.“Little Mecoche” 6'9" 4wt.

Many of my flared reels seats echo some of the late great Fred Divine reel seats of yesteryear. My seats are one of a kind and are turned from larger stabilized blocks of spalted maple, burled Koa, and Circassian walnut.

Above: this particular seat that dates back to around 1917 is from Fred Divines “Special Dry Fly” model

My reel seats have varied profiles that complement the geometry of the cap and ring sets. Typically I use these seats on 7’3” models or smaller and are proportioned accordingly. These seats are a little more involved than what meets the eye. In order to get a reel foot secured properly with these seats I spent a lot of time over the years working with the interior design of the ring set. The correct chamfering and orientation of the ring set as well as the mortise depth and contour are important considerations to make the reel secure. I make the nickel caps either with a three tiered detail or a smooth dome profile either blued or chrome nickel finish. I typically ask a customer what kind of reel they intend on using prior to making the hardware to make sure it will accommodate the foot. Generally all my hardware accommodates Peerless, Hardy, Saracione, Orvis CFO, and Ted Godfrey Reels. If somebody has a reel make that has a heavier or lower profile foot I can easily accommodate their matching reel. I have gotten frequent inquiries about selling my seats and hardware separately to other dealers and rod makers but I no longer do this as of late 2008 with the exception of a few commissioned orders.

Seasonal Grace

2011-09-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

“The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard.”

~Luther Standing Bear

Sizing Up Your Wings

2011-09-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

Wings ~ Miroslav Holub (scientist & poet 1923-1998)

We have a map of the universe for microbes,

we have a map of a microbe for the universe.

We have a Grand Master of chess

made of electronic circuits.

But above all we have the ability to sort peas,

to cup water in our hands.

To seek the right screw

under the sofa for hours

This gives us wings.

Davie McPhail Hoppers: Part 3

2011-08-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

Personal criteria for my favorite grasshopper patterns:

1 ~Use of all natural materials

2 ~A pattern that can be tied in less than eight minutes
3 ~Least wind resistant geometry on a hook no larger than a #10
4 ~A pattern that casts well using tippet down to 6x
5 ~Create a geometry that can be fished wet or dry successfully
6 ~A wing that does not use turkey feathers or other primary feathers
7 ~A hybrid pattern an attractor/imitation
8 ~Legs wispy and very flexible as not to influence a take or hook set
9 ~Can be tied as small juvenile or adult (variables only in hook sizes)

Davie McPhail is an outstanding Scottish fly tyer. Davie grew up in the south west of Scotland and fished rivers such as the Stinchar, the Nith, Girvan, and the river Doon while growing up. After watching Davie tye flies over the years, both traditional and contemporary I quickly came to realize that he definitely has a particular point of view and unique methods that make him stand out in a crowd. I can honestly say he is one of my favorite tyers next to A.K. Best. Davie ties three grasshopper patterns that fulfill my criteria for great hopper patterns. The first pattern is called his “International Hopper” which is absolutely deadly. The second is the “Half Blood Prince” a black hairwing fly with red dyed pheasant tail legs. This fly I have used as a cricket pattern quite successfully with some slight adaptations. The third fly is called the “Jungle Bunny Hopper” that uses a Jungle Cock wing, knotted black dyed pheasant tail legs, and a black hackle collar. This is a gorgeous fly to say the least. Overall his patterns have both influenced me and inspired me to take a hard right turn and a closer look at tying successful small and large Grasshopper patterns.

Davie McPhail “International Hopper”

Davie McPhail “Half Blood Prince”

Davie McPhail “Jungle Bunny Hopper”

Tying Knotted Hopper Legs~Part 2

2011-08-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

I pre-package all of my double knotted hopper legs because I size

them for both adults and juveniles, each package contains

enough legs for two hoppers. (x4 legs per juvy hopper)

One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the grasshoppers geometry is its hind legs or “jumping legs”. These legs are often over dramatized or under dramatized in many patterns. Many of the pre-knotted legs we get from catalogs or fly shops are pre-knotted legs made from several hackle fibers of pheasant tail. Often these look like bottle brushes or the business end of a broom. If you look closely at a juvenile grasshoppers legs they are fairly slender and are most definitely tapered. By taking just two hackle fibers of a pheasant tail and tying a half hitch at the very end of the fibers and a second half hitch in the middle of the fibers you get two joint sections in a single leg. (as seen in the anatomical diagram below and the above photo)

Again you can see that the taper is very narrow at the last joint. So the pre-knotted pheasant tail legs sold commercially are far from accurate and also very wind resistant. These larger pre-knotted legs can potentially influence the trouts take and the hook set because they are fairly stiff throughout the length. The geometry of the hind legs in reality is much more refined. I use four to six legs on my patterns. In general I have found that using just two fibers of pheasant tail per leg is adequate for both adults and juveniles. You can adjust the two half hitch distances for larger adult legs as well.

Knotting your own hopper legs is easy and although more time consuming is a cheaper and more convincing solution for your favorite hopper patterns.

~Clint Bova

Your Inner Grasshopper: Part 1

2011-08-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

Illustration: Clint Bova

If we go back in time and think about when we were playing in our back yards and had our first encounter with a grasshopper it was a simpler place in time. It is so easy to forget about the simplicity of these insects when it comes to their basic anatomy. When you look at the multitude of fly patterns imitating or interpreting this insect it is vast and overwhelming to say the least.

As a fly tyer I have scratched everything I know when it comes to tying grasshopper patterns. I decided to start with simple observations this season and keep a journal as well as an open mind. So I went on a collection rampage of juvenile grasshoppers in the months of June, July, and August. I also decided to match the uniform scale of the insects and fish them earlier than normal during the season. What I have found is neither astonishing or abnormal. In the U.S. hopper patterns are tied on hooks typically ranging from #6-12. In many cases you may as well be throwing a grenade into your favorite pool or run. Many juvenile grasshoppers come out of cornfields and meadows and enter streams and rivers like they are storming Omaha Beach. Trout love these kindergarten sized morsels.

This begs the question; why are these patterns typically tied on large hooks and look like a Bratwurst?

Maybe as fisherman we are programmed to fish these insects at the point where they have reached full maturity because its the only way we have ever interpreted the pattern from others. After all we fish mayflies from sizes ranging from #10~#24 sometimes even smaller! Why not grasshoppers too? Reinterpreting the act of fishing the grasshopper pattern is of special interest to me so I have taken the time to research tyers in Europe, South Ameria, South Africa, and even the Middle East. I have collected specimens that are a fraction of the size of the adults and tied micro versions of them. I have presented my offerings to both Rainbows and Browns in the early season. I did this to satiate my own obsession with this terrestrial insect and hopefully derail common seasonal practices that have annoyed me season after season. There are thousands of hopper patterns emulating only the adult geometry with minimal focus on the “juvys”. Are the adult patterns the result of some kind of seasonal Pavlovian response? The creative spirit is ignited when the “what if?” transpires into “what is”.

~Clint Bova

Casting Discipline~Tactics In the Heat

2011-07-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

Creeping up on a pool of big Browns. Knowing that my first cast will be the most important cast of the day will prompt me to slow down, be observant, and crawl well behind the pool.

“Every shot counts” is the mantra that you will hear from not only hunters, but archers, and competition shooters. Your next cast can either make or break your day on the water especially when fishing over weary and skittish trout. My success on the water is only as good as my last cast. Prospecting using search patterns always requires a level of precision, focus, and attention to detail. Prospecting is no different than sight fishing when considering the quality cast and visualizing your potential targets. If your prospecting in clear low water you have to be mindful that your first cast could scare the entire pool of trout. Tactical methods are best used in either approach. Focus less on your equipment and more on your casting discipline even when the fishing is slow. Your rod will only serve you well if you pay less attention to it and more attention to the water in front of you. Slow down, be observant, focus on the water and not yourself. Make every cast count in the hot summer months. In small water be more diligent about actually getting out of the water and approaching potential targets from directly behind. Sloshing while casting downstream is totally unproductive not to mention disturbing to other fishermen. Recently a loud fisherman on his cel phone came sloshing downstream scaring the entire pool I was fishing and complained he had a frustrating day of fishing. He walked right under my rod tip...need I say more.
~Clint

A Country Pathway

2011-06-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

above: “Tecumseh” 7'6" 5wt. 2pc. with Early Morning Brown

I come upon it suddenly, alone-

A little pathway winding in the weeds

That fringe the roadside; and with dreams my own,

I wander as it leads.

Full wistfully along the slender way,

Through the summer tan of freckled shade and shine,

I take the path that leads me as it may-

Its every choice is mine.

A chipmunk, or a sudden whirring quail,

Is startled by my step as on I fare-

A garter-snake across the dusty trail

Glances and-is not there.

Above the arching jimson-weeds flare twos

And twos of swallow-yellow butterflies.

~James Whitcomb Riley

Culm Selection

2011-06-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

Recently I had somebody ask me about how I go about selecting culms of bamboo for different rods. I suppose that it is not necessarily something elaborated on frequently unless you were to read up on it in the few good books written on the construction of cane rods. So I will try to put in some very simple digestible terms. That said I get all of my Tonkin cane from Charles H. Demarest Inc. whom I have had the honor of meeting in upstate NY years ago. Probably the nicest people on the planet. I occasionally get a few culms here and there from various other dealers mostly because I like to see how they are graded. I have found over the years that the Tonkin cane I get from Demarest Inc. is most consistent in quality. I typically go through a bale and pull out cane that is most suitable to make rods for my clients. All of the culms that I use have been stored 3-4 years prior to splitting. I help the check along the length of the selected culms when I receive them because if I don't they will crack and pop in sometimes an undesirable fashion to put it simply. Large checks that are not running the full length of the culm can prompt other smaller checks that can often make the splitting process more difficult. Bamboo checks naturally and if I don't finish a check it will likely set off my “glass break” alarm system. This typically will happen in the dead of night with a loud distinctive pop unfortunately.

Culms are selected for a particular rod based on the nodal geometry and diameters. I do not simply cut culms in half and use the top portion for tips and bottom section for the butt. Instead, because I do a spiral nodal stagger on all of my rods, I find the most node free zone in the bottom portion of the culm for the butt section and the most node free zone in the upper portion of the culm for the tips. This means that I can cut the culm from the right or left of center anywhere from 2-18 inches depending again on the positions of the nodes and the length of the desired rod. Many rod makers make this decision based on their own methodologies and sets of criteria. Many rod makers use more than one culm to make a single rod. I always make predetermined measurements from a culm in order to get the least nodes in any one rod section short or long, 2 piece or 3 piece. I have put this in very rudimentary terms again based on my own methods for supporting the spiral node stagger. In simple terms the spiral node stagger allows the rod maker to position every node in a rod section so that it never has an opposing node directly across from it. The rod maker uses up a lot of cane by using the spiral node stagger so again measuring twice is always a good idea before splitting. With longer two piece rods the maker has to take special care in measuring as well. With three piece rods its less of a problem.

When I get orders I stick an index type card into the check of the culm with the intended owners name on it and label what date stock it was from. This lets me know when the culm was delivered to me prior to splitting it to make into a rod. Again I wait for 3-4 years before splitting cane. I also mark the card with the intended length of the rod after making the correct measurements. Selecting culms takes a bit of creative visualization and measuring but I find I actually conserve and waste less cane by going through these familiar rituals.
~Clint

When Life Gives You Lemons....

2011-06-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

The “Shawnee Rose”, a #18 dry fly, and a nice brown in the rain.

A couple of Blue Wing Olives I decided to take with me and dry off.

In the midst of all this spring torrent the BWO still comes to the rescue.

Hopefully everyone can salvage their spring quick.

~Clint

Ferrule Plug Patterns

2011-05-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

Ferrule plugs come standard on all of my rods and I offer three basic patterns. Ferrule plugs keep dirt, dust, and moisture from getting into your female ferrule. Plugs come in handy when packing rods into remote areas especially if you are camping. Campsites increase the opportunity for dirt to work it's way into just about everything and the last thing you want is dirt jammed into your ferrule. I turn these plugs with extremely small cutting tools under a magnifier.

Flor grade cork and nickel are turned in tandem resulting in a smooth even profile~ Figure 1 profile as seen in above illustrations

All ferrule plugs are solid milled nickel, either polished bright chrome, or blued. The cork stopper provides an easy fit without wearing the interior of the ferrule.

~Clint Joseph Bova

The Mecoche

2011-05-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

written from the banks of the Mac-o-chee Brook, 1850

(click on image to make bigger)

Some call it Mac-o-chee, some call it Mac-o-cheek. The Shawnee who lived along this little stream were the Mecoche tribe which translates to Smiling Valley. The Mecoche tribal Chief was Moluntha who was captured and murdered later after he defeated 182 Kentuckians at the Battle of Blue Licks in 1782. My ancestors intermarried with this tribe (French & Indian) so the Mecoche people hold a special place in my heart. Most of my ancestors are buried in present day West Liberty and Bellefontaine Cemeteries.

~Clint Bova

Custom Orders

2011-04-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

Lately I have had many inquiries for custom orders. I have taken many custom orders over the years and will continue to do so. My listed rods on my site are the majority of rods that I sell both in 2 and 3 piece models. If you wish to inquire about other weights, lengths, hollow-built, alternate hardware, and finishes please call me directly. Based on the nature of materials in the bamboo rod making world anything is possible. I always hope to come up with creative solutions to bring a fellow fly fishers visualization of his or her dream rod to life.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of one's dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

~Henry David Thoreau

The Calm Before the Rise

2011-03-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Nice Mad River Brown and my “Little Mecoche” 6'9" 4wt.

Eventually we all find our favorite river and come back to it season after season to reacquaint ourselves with ourselves and hopefully catch some fish. We hear our own breath and heart beat after a long winter in an environment that is always conducive to clarity and focus. We also hope that we can let go of our expectations, frustrations, and distractions the moment we hit the water. I recently fished when I was very ill and it reminded me of an important lesson that I learned nearly thirty years ago from a very wise man.

Robert Gilmore was not only a great teacher but a great artist. His still life paintings would stop you in your tracks and leave you weak in the knees. I can still smell the distinct odor of his favorite pipe tobacco (Amphora). He was a short stocky man with a twinkle in his eye and a gruff but good natured personality. Gilmore studied with the late Walter Murch a student of the Art Students League of New York. Murch was a well known illustrator for publications such as Scientific American for many years as well as a successful teacher (Pratt Institute NYC) and a popular showing artist of his day. I left everything that was familiar and comfortable to study under Robert Gilmore. His mentorship was one of the greatest experiences of my life. As I remember the first time I set up an easel in his studio in Spokane Washington I spilled a whole quart of gesso down my pants. I found myself intimidated, embarrassed, and a bit physically uncomfortable. Gesso tends to dry quickly like most acrylics. My underwear at the time was properly primed for some serious oil painting.

One winter night months later I was alone in the studio painting and that familiar smell of Amphora tobacco seemed to get stronger by the minute. I was very sick and had a fever but was motivated to get deep into a painting. Gilmore turned the corner out of the darkness, looked at my painting, and smoked his pipe for a few minutes. He squinted and stared at my canvas for a few minutes that uncomfortably felt like hours. He said nothing to me.

He finally pulled his pipe from his mouth and said “are you sick?” I replied “very much so” he then said “I can tell because you are outside of yourself”. He stuck the pipe back in his mouth and left the studio.

The “fever painting” I was working on eventually ended up in a show at the Cheney Cowles Museum. I later understood what he meant by “outside of yourself”. When we are under duress and discomfort our defenses, and predispositions tend to come down and we think less and let our instincts take over. Our bodies are stressed so our minds become calm and focused, our defenses and bad habits crumble. Eventually Gilmore was convinced that I painted best when I was sick, wounded, or bleeding out of some extremity. I suppose the damaged and dark loner that quintessentially represents the craftsman state of existential angst holds some merit when it comes to a passionate and enlightened brush stroke or wood shaving.

Staring at a blank canvas can be as intimidating and vast as stepping into a new river with no rise forms. This logic I put to practice to this day. If you stare at a twelve foot bamboo culm, in its natural form, and imagine it as a finished fly rod its enough to give anybody the shakes. But if we empty ourselves and approach an activity or situation with a lack of self-focus we can “be outside of ourselves” and actually become part of the action in a genuine and unfettered natural way. I suppose I learned this precept through sheer physical discomfort early on from past health problems. By simply letting yourself be as you are and taking your guard down, you eventually develop genuine energy between your environment and your engagement with it. If we can visualize our hands completing an activity before we’ve started, we can find genuine confidence in actually achieving it. Similarly if we can creatively visualize the calm before the rise form, we can see the trout eventually on our hook.
~Clint Joseph Bova

Lenticels~Doping the Scope

2011-03-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

I recently had a customer comment on the great quality of my grips so I though I would comment a little on the topic. Cork is a beautiful thing in its most natural form and is warm to the touch. Typically I look at them very carefully. I do not use fillers in my grips simply because I do not have to.

If you have ever seen cork grips that look like they should be hanging off of a fishing net in the middle of the Atlantic look a little closer at many of the rods sold at retail today. Many grips with fillers look like the grip has been extruded out of a sausage maker.

The above photo shows what a premium grip looks like after

going through the extra step of locating the lenticels, numbering the

measured rings, and placing them in sequence. Thus avoiding them

during the final turning process.

I start out by using the best cork I can get and then take it one step further. I measure all the clusters of lenticels in the rings to miss the final surface diameters of the intended grip profile. By doing this I avoid the interruption of lenticels on most of the surface area. Filler free is my motto... always.

~Clint Bova

Ginger On the Fly

2011-03-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

The picture was taken for a cover of LIFE back
in 1942 by photographer Bob Landry

“The most important thing in anyone's life is to be giving something.

The quality I can give is fun, joy and happiness. This is my gift."
~ Ginger Rogers

CB's Black Fly Pattern

2011-02-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

Above: this quilled parachute pattern that I tie

is simple and very effective (photos by Clint Bova)

During the summer months our terrestrial fly boxes are stocked with hopper patterns, ants, beetles, spiders, and crane flies. A much overlooked morsel in the trouts diet are black Flies and they can be found throughout the United States and around the world. After fishing over the years in Canada I quickly came to realize how much I hated these things. They can literally bite through layers of clothing and leave you cussing for hours on end. If you cant beat em, put em on the end of your line.

I have developed a pattern that I use when these water born nasties hatch during the summer. The Black Fly is from the Order of Diptera and hatch from running water. It is there that the larvae attaches to submerged rocks using silk holdfasts and threads to move or hold themselves to a structure. Eventually they pupate under water and emerge in a bubble of oxygen as an air born adult. Its surprising that many fly fisherman do not know that these are water born insects. They are kind of like the neglected middle child of the aquatic insect world. Trout eat them like I eat M&M's at the movies. I carry my Black Fly imitation in my vest in three different sizes.

“CB's Black Fly”

Hook: TMC 531 sizes 14-18

Thread: Black or brown

Body: Black dubbing, peacock herl, and a black quill

Wing: One pair of light dun hen tips from a pullet neck

Wing Post: Turkey t-base or turkey flat feather white or gray

Hackle: Black

Step 1) Attach one black quill and two segments of peacock herl to a #14, #16, or #18 hook. I use the TMC 531 it has a black finish, wide gape, and 2x short. A similar truncated hook works fine. Build a up a dubbed body that has the geometry of an egg in shape.

Step 2) Carefully wrap the peacock herl in a tight spiral to cover the entire abdomen and tie off. Now wrap the black quill in a loose spiral so the herl squirts through the quill. This imitates well the fuzzy abdomen on the black fly and the herl is somewhat iridescent. Now tie in a wing post using a turkey flat give a two hook eye distance between the abdomen and the wing post, this will allow space to tie in the hen wings and dub the thorax.

Step 3) Take a light dun pullet neck and match up two wings that extend beyond the hook by one hook eye distance. Secure the wings like you were tying up a pair of dun wings. Now pull them back and secure them with a couple turns of thread to create a delta wing profile. Now dub a black thorax just behind the wing post.

Step 4) Tie in black hackle as you normally would tie in a parachute pattern making sure not to interrupt the wing configuration. The hackle will lay slightly on the front portion of the wings.
Put a little head cement on the wing post to secure the hackle and just behind the hook eye.

This is a pattern that has served me well over the years that takes about 5-10 minutes to tie using traditional materials at a very minimal cost. Best of all they float and look like the natural.

~Clint Joseph Bova

Reel Seats~From The Woods

2011-02-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

Its always interesting cutting into spalted Maple or Koa. Its like unearthing hundreds of unique patterns each with its own fingerprint. The above wood is my newest acquisition ready to be sent off to the stabilizer. Half of all of these blanks are already spoken for which speaks volumes about the scarcity of prime spalted curly Koa and Maple. The combination is hard to come by but makes for drop dead gorgeous spacers. Blanks are cut large to accommodate both conventional and flared spacers.

“The things I make may be for others,

but how I make them is for me”

~Tony Konovaloff

Tube Revival

2011-01-25T12:35:00.000-08:00

All of my rod tubes are turn of the century antique styled cases and are commonly 1.625" and 2.0" in diameter. The top and bottom caps are solid milled brass with beautiful tooling. The rod cases comfortably fit two and three piece rods with two tips and have a leather insert in the caps. I also make custom pvc carriers for indestructible travel via air, mule, camel, or Sherpa. A heavy walled tube is always appreciated when there are baggage handlers involved.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ~Henry David Thoreau

Early Riser

2011-01-04T06:51:00.000-08:00

Early morning Fall Brown caught on a Trico spinner

and a 7'6" “Shawnee Rose” 5wt.

Cultivate the habit of early rising. It is unwise to keep the head long on a level with the feet.

~Henry David Thoreau

2010-12-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

All of my rods hold a lifetime warranty for the original owner.

Please inquire for more information.

Figuring Variability (fly rod wood spacers)

2010-11-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

I get a lot of requests for light, medium, or dark figured spacers. The three spacers above show this variability even after being stabilized. All three of these spacers came from the same piece of lumber that I brought back from Hawaii three years ago while visiting my family. By cutting the wood while paying attention to the cross-grain you can get this variability from a single piece of Koa especially if it is slightly spalted. Figuring refers to the appearance of wood, as seen on a longitudinal surfaces. The side-grain of "figured wood" is not plain but has a curly sheen.

The figuring on a particular piece of wood may be due to the cut, or to innate properties of the wood. Some tropical hardwoods, like Rosewood, maple, and Koa can have quite spectacular figuring. Colloquially speaking "figure" is often referred to as "grain."

Nomenclature describing figuring include bear scratches, bird's eye, blister, burl, curl, dimple, fiddleback, flame, ghosting, quilted, and spalting. Many people from different regions around the world describe it differently. Curly wood is believed to be caused by wind swept conditions in its given area. The striking wave-like patterns are highly sought after by woodworkers. Curl is also commonly referred to as fiddleback for its traditional use in making musical instruments especially stringed instruments.
~Clint Bova

Divine Inspiration

2010-11-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

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

Shades of Spalting

2010-11-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

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 different. 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

Custom Ferrule Plugs

2010-11-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

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

“Prime Cut” Reel Seats

2010-11-30T07:04:00.000-08:00

Finding the best raw materials is always a major concern for me. I gave up on most “manufactured” hardware years ago just because it was not appealing to me on many different levels. The hardware in general simply was not exactly what I wanted in most cases. So to make my process and craft more meaningful and exact I decided to take matters in my own hands, literally. When you are ready to cut a beautiful piece of wood you always have to visualize where everything should be prior to the cuts. You can take off, but you cannot put back on!

One aspect of making fine split bamboo rods involves the selection of raw materials that transform themselves into not just a great rod but a stunning rod. When everything comes together there is a special cadence, from proportion, weight, fulcrum, taper, and all the details that follow. I make no excuses for anything that does not look right, ever. When it comes to yet another detail about wood selection for reel seats I get pretty particular.

(Above: Larger 6.0"L x 2.0"W x 2.0" blocks of spalted maple ready for cutting and turning for flared reel seats and standard spacers)

I use “Prime Cut” wood selection, which means I take a larger 1.50" to 2.0" thick section (typically from a 6.0"L x 2.0"W x 2.0"W) of a larger stabilized block and cut into the selected grain that I see the best contrast and variables when it comes to figuring. When I do this I get waste, but the waste then goes to a custom knife maker, my waste cuts are perfect sizes for knife handles and are ready to profile since they are already stabilized. I take larger cuts from the blocks because it gives me more options on the lathe based on where I want a flare and other orientations such as the mortise and cork check locations. Again I work with the figuring, the size of the wood does not dictate or pose limitations to what I can and cannot do.

(Above: Large 24.0"L x 9.0"W x 3.0"H rare spalted curly Koa from The Big Island of Hawaii)

I just recently brought back some very rare spalted curly Koa from Hawaii. It will make about 15-20 seats that are one of a kind. Looking carefully up and down a blank and deciding where the best figuring is going to be is very important because you want the most striking figuring you can get in a very small footprint. Reel seats are not large so it takes some pondering and alone time with the wood before I feel confident I can get the best looking seat. I often look at the grain on both ends and visualize the end grain hitting the circumferences of the profile. It's time consuming but well worth it, the reel seat is the one part of the rod that gets the most human contact other than the grip. Watch anyone that picks up a fly rod you will see that their eyes almost always go to the seats and hardware first and then travel up the rod, much the same way we look at a person at first glance.

~Clint Bova

#9343 7'9" 4wt 3pc.

2010-11-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

There has been a noticeable enthusiasm for my #9343 7'9" 4wt 3pc. tapers. This is a wonderful crisp dry fly and nymphing rod that roll casts great and can handle many different fishing situations from small to medium water. Comes with a down locking seat with a domed cap, and distinctive swelled butt. Wraps are either black with intermediates or clear with fine black tipping.

“The length of this rod is perfect for new river prospecting on spring creeks and freestoners around the U.S.”

~Sam Carlson / Charleston WV

I have been getting inquiries in regards to this desired length over the past two or so years and it has become increasingly popular size for travel as well as my 5wt. model the #9343. As people describe it...“its shorter that an 8' rod but a bit more flexible river wise than a 7'6"... its a great throughout the season go anywhere rod”

~Clint Joseph Bova

Biot Caddis

2010-11-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

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 technique dialed in you can crank out dozens of these very quickly.

~Using a TMC 531 hook, #18-#22, dub a carrot shaped

abdomen using gray or green. The TMC 531 is a

great hook with a shorter shank but proportionally

larger gape that hook sets well with the slashing

rises that these flies most often induce.

Note: the TMC 531 is a difficult hook to find

here in the USA so call around to your local

fly shops to locate a box or two.

~Use Coq de Leon feathers for the underwing material.

These are very stiff fibers that help with flotation.

I get my feathers from the Leon District of Spain

in light pardo, medium pardo, and dark pardo.

~Using biots from left and right wings of a turkey feather

place both biots together between your index finger and

thumb so the convex sides face out and away from each other.

Using fine tipped scissors snip a delta wing profile. Make

sure the spline of the biot is oriented on the top portion of the

wing the thinner translucent edge is on the bottom.

Tye these in like you are tying in a turkey

flat parachute post. Lean the pair of biots in towards you

and as you wrap twist it away from you with a few secure

wraps. I put a drop of head cement on these at this point

because they tend to be a bit slippery.

Tie in a hackle collar using a light,

medium, or a dark dun feather. You can snip away

the bottom portion of the collar flush with the

abdomen or leave it as is.

This is a very simple, productive small fly that pays dividends in quiet spookey water.
(photos: Clint Bova)

~Clint Bova

A Better Biot

2010-11-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

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 cracked constantly due to over-bleaching and the colors were not to my liking. I am not a production fly tyer but just another obsessive compulsive vice rat. I simply want my color close to what the naturals color represents.

above: The Biot on the left was dyed to “med-dun” by myself,

the one deemed “med-dun” on right by supplier.

Notice the white streak down the middle of the one on

the right where the dye did not take.

Biots are typically dyed as a whole feather by the suppliers and the dye never really soaks into the inside portion of the turkey or goose feather. What you end up with is a biot that has coloration on both outer edges but fades into an anemic color towards the center of the biot (see above photo). Eventually back in 1995 out of frustration I broke down and started dying my own biots among other materials. I tye lots of flies with both biot bodies and wings, it is a great medium that has a waxy sheen much like the naturals (Caddis, and Mayfly patterns).

above: These biots I dyed to a warm medium dun color that I most

often use for Hendrickson patterns and Sedge patterns. This is accomplished by first

dying grey, then over dying with Rit Tan.

Dying Biots: I have managed to create recipees for smaller and more color fast batches of biots using a large tea infuser and some simple paired down techniques.

1~ I remove all of the longest biots from two matching undyed turkey feathers. The left feather biots go in one bag, the right go in another, this way if I am tying biot wings I have a left and right orientation. Biots have the same geometry as an airplane wing. If you turn one side of an airplane wing in the opposite direction than the other the damn thing is not going to fly right nor look symmetrical.

2~ Using a large tea infuser ball (above) I separate the compartments using a paper towel and place the undyed biots, right and left, in their own compartments.

3~ Find a 5 cup Pyrex measuring cup fill it with 4 cups of water and put it into the microwave for about 30 seconds. Make sure the temperature does not exceed 150 degrees. Remove the now heated water from the microwave.

4~ Mix in one tablespoon of distilled white vinegar and one tablespoon of your desired liquid Rit color. I mix all of my Rit Dyes to get my desired color palettes. I mix a concentrate of powder Pearl Gray #39 because Rit does not manufacture this dye in liquid form, they never have.

5~ Mix the contents thoroughly and place your infuser filled with the biots into the mixture and agitate it for several minutes. (above photo)

6~ After several minutes immerse the infuser in cold water (below), this acts as a stop bath for the dyed biots.

7~ Repeat this process with different colors, over dye as needed to get the desired results for very subtle coloration. I typically never dye with “out of the tube color” it defeats the purpose of dying. If your going to spend the time dying materials, and tying flies to your liking then you better like the colors and not just settle for someone else’s defaulted color palettes.

This is a quick and easy way to dye limited quantities of biots with great results. Again I am not a production tyer so I have managed to pair down time and cost expenditure greatly. Its simple and somewhat relaxing to do in my down time during the winter months.
~Clint Joseph Bova

Fall Colours

2010-10-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

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

The Craft Spirit

2010-10-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

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 experience these traits and put them in action, we need surround ourselves with others that inspire us on a deeper level so we can further ignite an insatiable desire to use our hands in a spirited way. The very act of doing and making is exponentially becoming an extinct ritual, ethos, and requisite in our educational institutions.

The art of doing and making be it a yo-yo, guitar, a braided leader, a landscape painting, a leather bag, a gunstock, or even a bamboo fly rod can be done with such tenacity and drive that irregardless of what it is, it delivers a powerful message. Defining characteristics between art and craft is much like comparing the intellects of dolphins to primates, it’s a slippery slope. A much debated topic among gunsmiths, painters, potters, leathersmiths, graphic designers, bow and arrow makers, blacksmiths, and yes even bamboo rod makers. The divisions between “art” and “craft” occurred after the Renaissance Period and well into the 19th century. Unfortunately they are most embraced currently in western culture.

“Art” from the Renaissance to modern day has been described as a free and unadulterated activity, and unique with no restraint which grants it with an obscure soul. “Craft” has been evaluated as a very physical realm, functional, traditional, repetitive, and a much more constrained activity.

This description has granted “craft” a lower status not only from the 1400’s to the 1600’s but to present day in western culture. Yet in Asian culture exists the notion that the “crafts” actually keep the culture, spiritual and otherwise, in tact thus making craft a constant priority and of utmost importance. Crafts are treated more as ritual that exercise our sense of meaning, existence, and spirituality. I repeatedly understood this craft spirit growing up in Hawaii in a primarily Asian world. I was exposed to the meaning of the Shoji screen, the landscape paintings licked with the sumi-e brush, and even the often violent but lesson filled Japanese story telling. Distinctions between “art” and “craft” and even the chosen mediums were much more abstract in my upbringing.

Using our hands in a spirited way ultimately should be a non judgmental or highly categorized activity. Today we are surrounded by outstanding craftsmen and women thoughtfully and tenaciously moving forward with great momentum in pursuit of their given calling. Tomorrow we can only hope they inspire others to grow the craft forward. I have earned a wage for most of my life using my hands and will continue to do so. The most meaningful way I can live my life is to be a “spirited craftsman”, call it what you will, I am driven by the insatiable need to make something from nothing and then do it again and again. A simple mantra, for a passionate existence. It is meant to be a giving existence. I can only hope to help pass it on to the next generation and then some.

~Clint Bova

Bamboo Winter Stasis

2010-10-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

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 this primarily because I track and rotate my tips from one season to the next rather than throughout any one particular season. This allows me to keep track easier and its one less tip to clean in an entire quiver at the end of a season. A journal is also a great way to keep track of what rod needs some extra TLC, cleaning, or repairs. I recently received a rod from a past client that needed some refinishing work after a decade of hard use. He sent the rod back to me in the spring because he simply forgot about the task from the previous fall. He wanted to get his rod back for the Hendrickson Hatch in PA about a week later, needless to say he was able to use the rod at the tail end of the hatch. Its a lot easier to send the rod in the fall for a winter “face lift” if needed. Again a journal can prove to be helpful in many ways from season to season.
~Clint Joseph Bova

Fall Ghost Pupa

2010-09-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

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 natural very well.

The natural breaking the surface film (Photo: NGIS)

Hook: TMC 2487 #16-20

Body: Dyed Black Quill

Thorax: Dyed Black Silk

Wing Post: Turkey T-Base Dyed Gray

Hackle: Light Dun

Photos: Clint Bova

A Mayfly's Life

2010-09-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

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.

Nahalem Local Color

2010-09-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

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 Douglas fir started shaking like a molested houseplant. My boots were moving before my upper half was...cartoon-like. The clattering of my boots were noisy and awkward because I had just screwed in new sheet metal screws into the heels, and because the front screws had been worn down almost completely I was losing grip as I lunged from boulder to boulder. I did not dare look back until I was fifty or so yards away, when I eventually looked back there was a very emaciated mangy looking black bear probably about 400 or so pounds standing in the middle of the river. Many people do not realize these animals are not so cuddly looking when they happen upon them. They often smell really foul. I felt like a kind of human glazed doughnut that day in the eyes and nose of that bear. I was covered in fish slime after being out there for over eleven hours and smelled pretty rank with sweat. I’m sure he was a bit preoccupied with the goat but I was so scared I lost a box of flies that must have worked its way out of my vest. I have scared up coons, turkeys, pigs, and even hunters, but the sight of that tree shaking made the hair on the backof my head stand up.

Nahalem County locals are used to seeing elk and bears lurking about in the streets and trash bins. Sometimes when I woke up early in my little studio on the top floor of the Manzanita News Coffee House I would see elk towering over vehicles and hear the clacking of their hoofs down near the carport. These animals really were part of the local charm. I was walking to the video store one evening and took a quick detour down a side street because an elk was standing in the middle of the alley. The sheer mass of these animals are an intimidating sight. Armed only with a tattered copy of The Dirty Dozen video did not make me exactly a hostile looking contender. In my little world these animals were the neighborhood bully’s. I suppose this is Mother Natures way telling me “it’s your turn fish boy” after seemingly molesting countless cutthroat, and returning them to the river. Although molesting is a bit heavy handed, I like to think of it as an elaborate game of “tag... your it”. I miss my old neighbors dearly as well as my routine Cutthroat fishing.
~Clint

Mechanized Versus Manual

2010-09-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

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 taper based on the depth of the cut into the power fibers. If you look at the quintessential “production rods” of past eras using a Montague rod as an example you will see “grain run-out” on many of these rods. You will see what I call a lack of nodal contrast because the cutters feather the nodes out very wide into the top layer of the power fibers. In other words the cutters are set a wee bit too deep. Can you spot such a rod out in a line up of rod blanks? Yes, easily after a simple inspection. Does this affect the action of the rod? It would be very hard to make a sweeping generalization on this one. This is where the debate escalates. This again all depends on the skill of the craftsman and his level of skill using his chosen power tools.

I make rods in a more traditional manner so prior to tapering I address and dress nodes one by one. I do not “level a node” using a cutter I use a bastard file and press the nodes. Prior to final planing I remove the enamel side till the fibers “ghost” then make the final passes with my plane to achieve the final taper dimension on the two opposing surfaces of the strips. If the enamel is not removed prior to the final passes the tendency is “an over-built” final dimension. This methodology was practiced religiously by makers such as Vince Marinaro. Again there's many ways to skin a cat when it comes to the final planing process. Many makers have their own proven practices. Many work very well. Getting back to the original question what are the differences in “production (milled) rods” and hand planed rods? There are noticeably differences cosmetically and to some degree quality depending on the skill of the craftsman using either a milling machine or block plane.
Be observant, open minded, and cast a lot of different rods constructed using different processes and you can decipher some of the fine nuances within this fascinating craft.
~Clint Bova

“Johnny Logan” 7' 4wt. 2pc.

2010-09-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

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 puts the fly exactly where you want it... in front of big fussy Brown Trout very delicately.

Early morning Trico entanglements with a lot of

slurping noises in the background. Picture taken

same morning as above photo.

Driven by Process

2010-08-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

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 medium to create a very useful artifact. The level of peer pressure I get to use more machinery is somewhat daunting but I suppose if it came to that I would probably stop selling rods altogether and just make rods for myself and friends. I will probably be eating my words when my orthopedic surgeon tells me my hands and arms are no longer operable. Oh well if the process brings me to my ultimate demise so be it. The words of Friedrich Nietzsche echo in my head often.

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
~Friedrich Nietzsche

Dreamy River

2010-08-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

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
I call it my true friend

Let me float upon you dreamy river
And drown all these sorrows
That call to me from pasts I've severed

~Spencer Breau

The Fine Simplicity

2010-08-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

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 more than fish. It is the great occasion when

we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers.
~Herbert Hoover

August Trico Tedium

2010-08-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

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 only have one chance and the big ones are easily spooked in slow shallow meandering runs.

Green Quilled Trico Spinner #22, dun wings,

crisscross dun hackle around thorax, coq de leon tail,

great for visibility in the wee hours

I avoid using white hen wings on my Trico spinner patterns because the flash of white will spook the trout if a false cast happens to break his cone of vision. So I opt for medium dun pullet wings. I also use a parachute pattern for Trico spinners again using a medium dun hackle and a dun turkey flat post for the above reasons. I also like using black or green dyed quill patterns (AK Best Inspired) these seem to give ample flotation for visibility as well as a couple of turns of hackle around the thorax crisscross like the technique Vince Marinaro uses on his Thorax Duns. These simple variations of the Trico can prove deadly especially in low light conditions. Tying these patterns test my patience as much as presenting them but the principle part of catching fish in faith is patience.

“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.”

~A. Glasgow

The Bing Factor ~ Name That Rod

2010-08-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

One day long ago a beauty of a piano tumbled off the roof of DeSmet Hall at Gonzaga University. Some people say it was Bing, some people say it wasn't Bing. Who knows the real story? Needless to say he got kicked out of the dormitory. Bad Bing!, “but he was such a sweet boy” said Sister Mary McBride. Having Graduated from Gonzaga University myself in Spokane Washington I heard a lot of lore about “der Bingle”. Bing Crosby was an avid fly fisherman and hunter, the photo above shows him holding a two piece bamboo fly rod. To this day I still have not found a soul who can tell me the make of bamboo fly rod that he is holding.

For the person who can name the make and model of this rod I will send a fine bottle Talisker Scotch 10 Year (750 ML) from the Skye Country. This single malt is full flavored and wonderfully peaty with brisk scents of your favorite spring creek in every sip. Pair with smoked salmon or poached specks.

I would also like to come clean with Gonzaga U. and confess that I was the one that broke two large campus windows with overly compacted snowballs winter of 1984, one in the cafeteria, and one in the girls dormitory across from the baseball field. I would also like to extend an apology to the cafeteria host who chased me across the baseball diamond in his patent leather shoes in the thick of winter darkness trying to identify me. Father Siconolfi ~I have already confessed my sins...I swear.

Clint Joseph Bova a.k.a. “The Southpaw Bandit”

The Tripoli Treatment

2010-08-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

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

Death of the One of a Kind Artifact

2010-08-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

“The Blacksmith” by Jefferson David Chalfant

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”. Ultimately it is this “natural state” that brings a certain genuineness and value to the artifact. The craftsman takes a difficult journey with not a lot of pay days or pay raises. This journey does not prove to be glamorous or even profitable much of the time. It is quite simply a path one takes because they feel a primal need... in the words of Robert Henri “the need to do and make”

The general lack of awareness in America that results from too much digital information obliterating our neocortex is killing Japettos Workshop. The tolerance for “natural processes” in America's marketplace or process in general is foundering like a newly constructed ship with no keel sliding out of drydock. The inevitable has already happened before our eyes. Everybody needs to back away from their Amazon accounts and their overnight shipping expectations and see where this is all leading. If you want the loving fingerprint of a craftsperson on your chosen artifact then pour yourself a glass of Scotch, sit down in an uncomfortable chair, pick up a pen with your comatose bluetooth mouse contorted fingers and write a note on real rag linen paper. Go out of your way to scrounge up some stamps you need to actually lick. Fold the note avoiding a paper cut so you do not bleed out and ruin your melamine end table with arterial spray. Drive your ass down to the post office, smile at the postmaster and hand him your letter. You now have become part of the “natural process”

~Clint Bova

A Rod Makers Confession~Deemed Undateable

2010-07-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

Above: Four year-old Ian Cartwright watches as master wood carver, Reg Hunter carves the company's trademark mouse on the leg of a table in the Thompson's Furniture Workshop in Kilburn, near Coxwold in Yorkshire. Photographer:Chris Ware

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 living room is not really a conventional decor motif. It does not shout stability and basic social norms, actually this visualization falls just short of the beginning few minutes of Silence of the Lambs. Dates went flying out the door, and cab drivers may as well have regularly showed up at my house shortly after dinner, because they did. I pretty much slept on top of my equipment, and unfortunately it took a toll on my health and possibilities of having a relationship of any kind. I should have issued organic vapor respirators at the door but I knew that pancake makeup, lipstick, and perfume would somehow end up infiltrating my rod finishing tubes. I finally decided that my home was deemed a date free zone, and it remained that way for quite some time. I soon mastered the fine art of dissuasion “lets go to your place, mine is being fumigated” or “my sister with terets is staying for the weekend and the expletives are flying”

Years passed and I fell into a troll-like existence, I was passionate but becoming a little insane. I had a reputation at the local coffee shop for showing up a little dazed and confused, and murmuring things under my breath about new two part emollients and stabilizing agents. My card playing friends nicknamed me “Chemical Joey” (my middle name is Joseph). The day of the 911 tragedy I was going to leave to Camden Maine for a new chapter of my life. My move came to a huge screeching halt the day of this disaster. It was definitely a stop sign. I got a phone call from a pretty young lady a few days later that I had dated for a short period time who lived in Manhattan. We talked briefly and caught up for a few minutes. Soon thereafter I hurt my shoulder very badly in an accident.

I awoke in the hospital throwing up into a plastic tray and there was the girl from Manhattan sitting there right next to me! I was confused and a bit surprised. Once again I was not exactly casting a great light for a next date as I was repeatedly dry heaving into a pink tray. The combination of percocet and her face was a bit surreal.

Jenny was a graduate from Pratt Institute in Queens where she studied industrial design and it was there where she eventually got her masters degree. She was very use to the studio environment lifestyle and shop-like mentality. My apartment and lifestyle was more of a curious draw than a turnoff for her. It echoed familiar sounds and smells of her days at Pratt. We both loved the habits and ritual of doing and making.

After being married for a while Jenny and I still laugh about my old place, and honestly nothing really has changed at all. She practices her craft along side of me and we engage in conversations about conducive workspaces and how to fuse the living environment into a creative work space. Now having a baby boy just recently I have the insatiable urge to get him his own rolling tool cart and a work bench and tell him;

“don’t ever worry about what other people think, stay passionate and creative, in the end you will find your Jenny. ~Clint Joseph Bova

Mad River Rod Co. {Spalted Spacers}

2010-06-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

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 have stopped it from rotting and made it indelible.

~Clint

The Art of Rod Crossman

2010-05-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

“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 has designed Trout, Turkey, Upland bird, and Duck stamps for several states with his design skills.

“Checking the Fly”

“Rod has a keen affinity for moments of what he calls wonder and awe. The magical state of being that leaves us vulnerable to the idea there is something more important in universe than ourselves”

“Mintage” Black Beauty

2010-05-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

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. Ed, his father, and grandfather all seemed to have been Heddon enthusiasts which I thought was especially heartwarming. He had a few other Heddon rods that he showed me one of which I offered my services to revive a bit. The 9' Heddon #17 was his personal rod that he currently fishes with.

Ed loves these rods and it shows when you talk with him, a little glint in his eye beams when he recalls different fishing experiences with his father and grandfather. Meeting fishermen like Ed really brings genuine meaning to the bamboo legacy. This is especially true when considering the memories that revolve, and still evolve from rods from one generation to the next.

The slogan:"Made by Heddon and Well Made" lives on...

~Clint Bova

Tying Small

2010-05-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

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 for me. Most of my successful spring fly's this year consisted of mayfly patterns tied on #16 hooks down to #20's. The fished seemed fussier and my standard size Hendrickson patterns unfortunately did not get wet this year. I guess sometimes good things happen when you present small packages.

~Clint Bova

Tiny Tools

2010-04-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Every so often I come across tools that just seem to make life all that much more easier. Short of purchasing dental tools at a premium price, Pro'sKit (www.proskit.com) makes a selection of small tools that work excellent for fixing old reels, cleaning and restoring old hardware, taking grime out of pawl springs, sweeping or picking grime out of spools, and generally great for getting in tight spaces. I use some of these tools to clean my string binder as well as cleaning grime out of guide feet when overhauling and refinishing rods.

Having little tools such as these in the face of all the adversities rod making dishes up is priceless, and for 10 bucks you can't beat it!

~Clint Bova

Midging Amongst Mayflies

2010-04-22T15:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the big Grandaddies get particular in the feeding lane. I caught this Brown in about 12" of clear water on the Mad River earlier this week. This picture shows a #18 dry Midge pattern in this Browns jaw. He was refusing “the naturals”, Hendricksons, in the feeding lane. I watched him for a few minutes from downstream. I kept seeing a big orange flash, sucking in the invisible something, while larger mayflies just floated right over him. I resisted the urge to float a dun near his head so I grabbed my old faithful little down wing Caddis pattern, aka my “Little DWC”. Tied small doubles as an effective midge pattern as well. Whomp! It's always nice to open a season up with a fish like this. The Rod in the picture on top: 7'3" 4wt. “Moluntha”

“Little DWC” (Down Wing Caddis) doubles as an

old standby midge pattern this particular one tied on a #20 hook

not a “pretty fly” but very effective for fussy Browns

Hook: TMC 101 #18-#24

Thread: Pearsall's silk winding thread~Gray

Hackle: Light or dark dun

Body: Dubbed with medium dun, dyed silk from a raw hank

Wing: Canadian goose breast feather

Happy spring fishing to everyone...

expect the unexpected with no expectations

~Clint bova

Fly Rod Hardware Finishes

2010-03-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

Both chrome nickel hardware and blued nickel hardware hardware can keep its integrity and finish indefinitely. Nickel for fly rod hardware is either machined from 18% nickel or 12% nickel. Nickel is highly corrosion resistant and certain grades when polished have a more bronzy luster to a more highly chrome luster. Nickel silver is named for its silvery appearance, but contains no elemental silver unless plated. Other common names for this alloy are German silver, paktong, new silver and alpacca (or alpaca). A form of German silver was invented in Birmingham, England in 1832.

Nickel Silver was (and still is) widely used for the commercial production of industrial components, marine grade hardware, housewares, flatware and cutlery, and as the metal substrate for silver-plated goods, hence the term EPNS = Electro-Plated Nickel Silver.
Nickel Silver was formerly widely used in costume jewelry and as the substrate for silver and gold plated jewelry. Due to the high propensity of nickel to induce dermatology problems and allergy, recent legislation in the EU has restricted the use of nickel in jewelry (probably due to the copper formulation).

There are many different formulations of alloys which fall within the general term of "Nickel Silver". All contain copper, nickel and zinc, while some formulations may additionally include antimony, tin, lead or cadmium. A representative formulation (Alloy No.752 Nickel pretty common) is 65% copper, 18% nickel, 17% zinc. If all this is kind of boring it’s probably due to the fact that I spend a lot of time looking for the perfect numerical alloy of Nickel to machine my hardware from. It does make a difference in regards to how well it machines, cleans up, blues, etc.

When blued certain nickel alloys react differently. Some bronze a bit more than others, some take on a gun metal cool blue, others mottle and look a little like a custom blued turn of the century firearm. All bluing will eventually wear and scratch if not protected. Some clients like the look of bronzy blued hardware others like it jet black. I prefer a more typical custom gunsmith finish. Never rest the butt of your rod on asphalt or concrete it will scuff and scratch. If you put a fine shotgun or firearm on such a surface expect the same outcome. Common sense is the mantra. If you bang your rod into a rock it’s guaranteed it’s going to scratch. Normal wear of bluing is not a bad thing I love to see rods with a weathered worn blued appearance because I know immediately they have been used for what they were intended for, fishing. I personally own rods that I would never refinish for that very reason. All of my rods have a thin layer of a “foundry protectant” that coat all my blued hardware. It is very durable and lasts for a very long time.
~Clint Bova

Bench Dog #2

2010-03-28T05:39:00.000-07:00

A customer of mine asked me recently what I enjoyed most about making rods, and my canned response is “fishing them”. I usually follow up that response by saying that the actual handling of the cane in the early stages would have to be my favorite part. Manipulating the cane is more physical, and the raw medium is really being altered in a somewhat complimentary way. Meaning the best attributes of the bamboo in the manifestation of a fly rod come to life the more you handle it.

I purchase cases of Co-Flex tape, it allows my fingers to grip the cane

while in the forms and keeps moisture out of the cane while I handle it.

The resilliency and strength of the cane is felt directly in the hands and you gain a new respect level for the medium every time you start planing. There is no room for error because you can take off material but you cannot put it back on. So there needs to be total focus on your part. Its this focus that is somewhat relaxing and I may go as far as saying that it takes you away from the rest of the world without getting too metaphysical about it. There are parts of the rod making process that are more mechanical than others. There are parts of the process that also become less stressful the more and more you do it. Eventually your hands just kind of take over and there is a cadence between your brain and your body language.

There is something about the smell of bamboo shavings right out of the block plane that simply makes me think of good things in life.

~Clint Bova

Bench Dog

2010-03-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

Above: My finishing room a.k.a “clean room”

has everything I need at my fingertips

When considering the process of turnkeying a bamboo rod from start to finish there are literally hundreds of steps involved. From handling the cane, to turning of the hardware, to final dipping or spraying there is a multitude of specialized tools as well as common shop tools being used. Parts of these processes are highly coveted among rod makers like myself, but my basic setup (as seen in the above photo of my finishing room) is fairly commonplace. You'll find various rooms full of metal lathes, planing forms, various block planes, binders, cane oven, bevelers, bandsaws, and drawers full of hardware, blanks, and turning stock. The list goes on and on. Honestly I don't purchase equipment anymore. I make all of my equipment short of reels, and waders. I suppose if I was proficient at sewing and gluing Gore-Tex I'd try my hand at making a pair of waders.

Growing up my father had a work bench and it was my favorite place to hang out and watch him work. When he was away at work I'd rummage through his various power tools and hand tools only later to be caught red handed after forgetting to put his router or circular saw away. Then I'd get the smack down! He taught me to put away his tools at an early age, as well as how to properly care for them and respect them. He taught me to be organized and that whatever project you were working on would directly reflect your level of discipline when it came to every aspect of your shop. Being a veteran sailor, and having sailed all over the world, he kept everything very shipshape and I took on those characteristics as a young adult. If you were to see my fathers shop and my shop there probably very similar to this day. Although our tools now are different in many respects.

My father is a Bench Dog and so am I. This is where we find ourselves in our element, and are most happy. If you cannot find my father my mother will say “he's in the barn”, but not necessarily in the dog house.

~Clint Joseph Bova

Low-Anchored Cloud

2010-03-08T01:43:00.000-08:00

Low-anchored cloud,

Newfoundland air,

Fountain-head and source of rivers,

Dew-cloth, dream-drapery,

And napkin spread by fays;

Drifting meadow of the air,

Where bloom the daisied banks and violets,

And in whose fenny labyrinth

The bittern booms and heron wades;

Spirit of lakes and seas and rivers,

Bear only perfumes and the scent

Of healing herbs to just men's fields

~Henry David Thoreau

Spirited Hands - By Clint Bova

2010-03-01T21:31:00.000-08:00

At the fingertips of everyone on our planet lies the ability to look something up, find hopefully reliable information, even overnight drugs to our households. If we back away from the blue iridescent rectangular watering hole we realize that we are relying on somebody elses notion of what an interface is suppose to look like, what somebody else's concept of a product is suppose to do for us, and that we fit somewhere into this role playing world very well. We are handed things daily to react to but they are other peoples ideas not our own when we play the spectator in the technology world. Sure we can play along in this vast schoolyard, but the confines beyond the playground fences is where our fathers and ancestors played. Ironically these are the rich experiences we yearn for in our market driven world of not only our computers but televisions. We are simply handed tools or artifacts, and play along with these experiential visualizations passively.

It would be a grand experiment to take everyones passive technology away one day and see our true spirit of resourfulness kick back in. After all, inventiveness and change kicks in out of frustration and need, sometimes out of desperation and near death. Using our heads and hands in a spirited way is a kind of flattery of the gods. They graced us with proportion, reason, a sense of urgency, and most important a need to survive.

If I think of the most resourceful fishing tool I’ve ever laid eyes on it would be something called the “Hawaiian Eye”. It was a shiny black Cowrie shell fashioned with a bone hook attached to it. It was quite simply one of the first artificial lures developed by humans. Primarily used to catch octopus it evolved into a more familiar gap and shank geometry over hundreds if not thousands of years. Like the Apollo 13 mission I often wonder if these resourceful indigineous peoples had brainstorming sessions to develop these gerry-rigged survival contraptions with easled dry erase boards, infinite amounts of coffee, cigarettes, and dozens of Sharpies. I suppose hunger is a driving force for the evolution of fishing tools. Fishing is considered a pastime in the world today, not counting the commercial fisheries, so because the imminent danger of starvation no longer lingers in front of us what evolution takes place is on a different less threatening level. What then is the evolution of the fishing experience. Is it to make sport fishing easier with technology, does that bring new or deeper meaning to it? Does technology outwit fish, surely. Does it make us feel smarter, of course it does. Does it give us a false sense of accomplishment?, most definitely. If we can hit a deer with our car moving 75mph, why shoot it? The same holds for trout fishing, if you have a Clorox bottle and a little privacy you can pretty much wipe out a quarter mile section of river. Simply eliminate the need to purchase a 40k Bass boat that goes 55mph with another 30k in fish finding technology including rods and reels. Is this really taking the quality of the fishing experience to a more meaningful level? The products allow fisherman to make the choice of how they want to experience fishing passively or actively, they make the choice. Passive fishing refers to the old guy in the lawn chair sitting by the freeway staring at a bobber for hours. Active fishing refers to the finding of fish and the process, whatever it may be, in which we pursue our quarry. If you are not in pursuit then you are just sitting and waiting for a fish to happen to come buy and swallow your offering. Ultimately both passive and active fishing brings enjoyment of somekind or else people simply would have stopped doing it a long time ago.

Every fisherman reads magazines and sees advertisements of new products that look like they work well, they purchase them only to find out that maybe some of them do work but might feel season after season that they simply change substrates, carbon fiber, silicone overmolding, or color. Some of them turn away from the slick photoshoped ads and decide with a gutteral unidentifiable need that maybe they want to biuld a bass skiff, a rod, a lure or fly and embarque on a more explorative experience with this sport. The sometimes weathered or unweathered fisher person suddenly asks himself or herself the question, “what if?”. It is then that the hands of the fisher person are awakened to re-discover and prompt a creative visualization, to take a raw something, and make it into something useful that brings pleasure to them ultimately. We learn to make the experience more meaningful by using our hands in a spirited artful way. It is then purely our own unique idea of how we wish to experience the act of fishing.

“art is, after all, only a trace-it is like a footprint which shows that one has walked bravely and in great happiness.” (Robert Henri)

We then question whether a feathered hook, rod, or reel can be considered art or craft, I suppose that’s for each of us to decide.

~Clint Bova

Details #12: Reel Seat Assembly Tip

2010-02-25T09:03:00.000-08:00

Shown: leveled guide spline face up in v-blocks with one

height gauge on the spacer the other on the guide spline

I recently had a conversation with a Ontario bamboo rod maker about the number of both bamboo and graphite rods out in the marketplace that have misaligned reel seats. By this I mean the reel seats on the rods are not aligned true with the guides on the guide given spline. The result is a reel that hangs askew or at an angle relative to the guides. This is due to the fact that either the manufactures or rod makers are not truing up the seats to the spacer dead on or using a jig of some kind to measure proper alignment prior to the assembly. For several years now I've used this little trick I developed using two v-blocks and two hieght gauges and have shared it with some some of my fellow rod makers.

To get the alignment dead on you need to locate the intended spline for the guides and level it using two v-blocks. Level the spline guide side up by placing the rod in the v-grove block and pushing a hieght gauge down onto the spline to level it within the angle block. Using another hieght gauge adjust it so that it meets the mortices or cross diameter points on the spacer moving it from one side to the other until you have both sides of the diameter or mortise cuts level to one another. Now mark it with a scribing knife on the bottom of the spacer and also scribe a line on the bottom cut of the butt section so both scribe marks meet as a single line during glue up and pinning. Again the the scribe marks are aligned during glue up and you have a dead on leveled spacer. This works for all types of reels seats. These are the details a rodmaker should be paying attention to during the assembly process. Eyeballing is not a good habit because your eyes need to focus on two different planes at once, the guide spline which is flat, and the seat which is round. Unless God gave you protractors burned into your retinas the possibility of dead on alignment is minimal when not using a jig of some kind.

~Clint Joseph Bova

The Outskirts

2010-02-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

Painting: “Queens Glamour” by Saul Sanchez

During the coarse of a cold winter day while working my mind wanders towards more important things, like finding another stream in the spring with some wild Browns or Brookies. I scurry off into another room while mid-sentence with a strip of cane and snatch a book off my shelf. I turn to a page with a map of North Eastern Maine and start following my previous chicken scratches then veer off of a more recent Sharpie dot from two years before. Hmm... I wonder if there is a gas main road there that will take me upstream. A plan is hatching before my eyes. Before I persuade myself that the price of gas is too high, and doubt the weather conditions, I quickly close the book. I wander off to squint for another few hours at tiny strips of cane and consider going fishing in the middle of February. My insatiable thirst for wild trout is hitting me during the coldest season.

I've been told I could shoot wabbits and goats and pigeons and mongooses and dirty skunks and ducks. Could you tell me what season it weawwy is?

~Elmer Fudd

It is hard for me to stop thinking about my quarry even while working. It's the old “what if” that rattles around in my head when it comes to my fascination for wild trout. Like Elmer Fudd and that pesky wabbit I try to carefully plan my attack often failing in the end when the fish are following an altogether different stream of consciousness. Which usually means while driving my truck along a road less traveled I took a wrong turn in Albuquerque. Ultimately the wild fish follow old Mother Natures skirt wake, the outskirts if you will. Those places are hard to get to without a stubborn will, determination, and a little dumb luck. If I fall into a couple wabbit holes that's the breaks.

I'm a wed-hot sportsman after

wild game. Heh-heh-heh-heh.

~Elmer Fudd

~Clint Bova

What's My Line?

2010-02-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

I heavily endorse the following lines for my rods: Phoenix silk lines, Terenzio silk lines, Cortland Classic Syllk DT, Cortland Classic 444 DT, and SA XPS DT Lines. These are fairly well tested, well liked, and used commonly for bamboo rods currently. As far as silk lines go they are very expensive but they exemplify some of the best attributes and properties that complement a classic bamboo rods action.

Above from left to right: SA XPS DT, Terenzio Silk Lines, Cortland Peach 444 DT, Phoenix Parallel Lines, Phoenix Silk Lines, and Cortland 444 Classic Sylk Lines

If you are worried that the maintenance of silk lines is too much to deal with, don't, they last a very long time. After using silk lines wipe them down with a small square of chamois or soft t-shirt cloth (carry a 4"x4" square in your vest), and apply mucilin. If I fish it for five hours or more, I simply wipe it down for two minutes, apply mucilin and start fishing again, no big deal. I treat my “plastic lines” exactly the same way so the ritual is no different when it comes to cleaning and conditioning on or off the river. Don't feel like you have to baby silk lines, they are meant to fish hard and long.

Bamboo Dialog

2010-01-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

The New Year always brings me to a new visualization or the need for a fresh start of some kind. A personal ritual is always a new shipment of cane to start it off on the right foot. It's kind of like bringing in new visitors for an extended 3-5 year stay. After a new shipment of cane arrives checking occurs and the sounds of popping resonate throughout the house for weeks if not months.

Like new visitors culms acclimate to their new environment at their own pace. The security alarm is set off by a single culm checking in the middle of the night. This goes on until ADT either fines me or I insulate the culms, usually the latter. Checking is a natural progression that a culm of bamboo goes through as it dries and adjusts to its given environment. The only time a fly rod will ever make an audible noise is before its split in the form of a culm. I always like to think of it as a time the bamboo speaks its mind before a maker binds and glues it into submission.

I often imagine that the popping sounds translate into a kind of secret bamboo dialog amongst the resting culms. They chit chat in this secret morse code and have a lot of questions in regards to the sharpness of the makers planes, is it painful to be split?, and what's it like to grow up and be a fly rod? This all starts to sound a bit Jeppetto-esque but spending countless hours handling bamboo your imagination wanders into some strange places. In the wee hours of a dark and cold January evening I think of the Disney classic Pinocchio while hand planing strips;

“Little puppet made of pine, awake. The gift of life is thine.”

~The Blue Fairy

“Little fly rod made of cane, awake. Before I go insane.”

~Clint

Paintings by Don Hall

2010-01-18T08:08:00.000-08:00

“Seneca Creek”
Don Hall started painting at 33 and was inspired by the Hudson River School of painting. He concentrates primarily on landscape painting in oils. Don has a keen eye for natural light that in turn influences his paintbrush in extraordinary ways. He travels extensively throughout the United States and paints almost exclusively en plein air capturing rural points of view in an impressionist manner.

“Along Leading Creek”

I recently viewed a handful of his paintings and was mesmerized by their somewhat folklike point of view but could still recognize some very academic influences. Don wonderfully captures a sense of place and time with the use of a very vivid color palette. His paintings are definitely a testament to the rural beauty I've experienced in West Virginia trout fishing. Visit www.donhallart.com

“Looking For Trout”

The Flared Wood Spacer

2010-01-16T11:37:00.000-08:00

Mad River Rod Co. Spacer for the “Trails End” a 7' 4wt.

I consistently get questions in regards to my flared wood spacers and matching hardware and repeatedly get asked if I will make custom spacers and hardware for rod makers and hobbyists. Last year I stopped selling hardware and only sell rods, with my own hardware on them. Reason being my hardware is balanced and scaled proportionally for different sized rods, the bores are all custom, along with matching ringsets, etc. The nickel buts have a pronounced domed profile and fit like a fine machined part into the eliptical recess. All of these parts are made one at a time and are not popped out of a CNC machine like many manufacturers do. The double slide bands interiors are bored using a chamfering jig that allows them to seat themselves securely to the reel foot. So to make a long story short there is much more to these pieces of hardware than meets the eye. The wood spacer is not turned from a standard pen blank or from a supplier, these spacers are from very expensive select pieces of hardwood and spalted maple and sent to a stabilizer. They are turned from 2.0” x 6.0” blocks that are cut down to get the best figuring lined up with the geometry of the spacer. If I was to sell these pieces individually, the customer would then need to make the diameters, bores, chamfering, mortises, ect. of of all matching hardware and components correctly or the reel would not seat itself correctly along with a multitude of other obvious fitting problems. So it’s a bit of a headache to sell these pieces individually and spend half of the day on the phone explaining to a customer how to use a boring bar on a lathe correctly. It’s simply not economical or practical for me as a craftsman.

Mad River Rod Co. hardware detail for the “Trapper”

Recently a component manufacturer tried to emulate some of my hardware patterns. They have an uplocking slide band (not a double slide band set) with a flared spacer. It falls short in proportion, depth, and contouring, and of course with an up-locking seat you run into the age old problem of having to much spacer protruding behind your reel so you are constantly untangling line hanging up on your butt section. Further the manufacturer uses a flat nickel butt insert that does not contour as a dome shape to compliment the spacer profile. The stereotypical stabilized pen blank looking spacer is something I've always steered away from as well (see below some very unique figuring). The other down fall of the purchased component is the defaulted proportion, there are dozens of rod lengths and weights and to expect one or two sized seats within a series to cover such a range is unrealistic. I feel pretty strong about everything singing on the same song sheet when it comes to rod componentry. The proportion of the components should match it's given rod down to .125" in length. The variables are simply too limited I feel with the selections from manufacturers. I suppose this is why I make all my reel seat components, I'm just picky that way.

Mad River Rod Co. various spalted maple spacers

I guess what I’m really trying to say here is that there is no easy way to make a really beautiful component that works pefectly for everyone’s bamboo blank. Every piece of hardware has to sing in tandem with it’s given rod. It’s kind of like putting a pair of dragon fly wings on a mayfly, some things have to be created as a single thought in order to fly right.

~Clint Joseph Bova

Under Every Rainbow...

2009-12-25T17:06:00.000-08:00

Under every Rainbow lies an infant fly fisherman.

My new baby boy, Joseph Charles Bova weighed in this month at 5lbs. 14oz. and measured 18" long. A modest sized Rainbow trout.

Sounds from his room are not the shrill sounds of Disney characters or The Wiggles DVD's. Instead sounds and running loops of A.K. Best tying quilled dry fly's and Doug Swisher doing mid-air curve casts across Montana rivers. Yup Child Services has already been notified by concerned relatives and friends. My faint whispers of chapter 3 from Vince Marino's A Modern Dry Fly Code can be heard at night from his newly painted room. His big Christmas gift was a 5'6" 4/5 wt. bamboo rod that I just crafted over the last month and inscribed on it “Little Fish” with his name and birth date. He's got a little Meisselbach Featherlite 280 reel to put on his new fly rod. Unfortunately the only fly fishing vests that fit him are Christmas ornaments. Oh well all I can do now is wait a few years for a new river buddy.

Its a fly fishing Christmas Miracle.

~Clint Joseph Bova

Boxers or Briefs

2009-12-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

Big winter midger, who says you cannot

catch big fish in the winter on dry flies?

Describing actions of bamboo fly rods is a bit like describing a painting you have seen at a local gallery to a slack-jawed friend. If you are really good at creatively visualizing something while somebody else is describing it to you then its not a problem. Fly rod literature for most part is typically comprised of a multitude of adjectives and combinations of touchy feely words that really do not describe the essence of a particular rods action. Until you pick up the rod and actually cast it you can only then fully understand the rods true persona.

As a rodmaker I’ve casted countless bamboo fly rods and the ones I like most are the ones that compliment the way I fish. That being said I gravitate to dry fly rods that are moderately quick, accurate, and light weight. Some load up in close, others spit line like a fire hose, some do both. I’ve casted Leonards, Paynes, T&T’s, and Garrisons and liked them all. I dislike many rods that others like, and like many rods others dislike for pretty obvious reasons. Boxers or briefs? I had a caller once ask me “how far do your rods cast?” my reply was “how good of a caster are you?” We all have arms and wrists that are educated differently, we all have different ways we choose fish, different rivers, different flies, and inevitably there is a rod best suited for the particular need. The choices are limitless.

My favorite clients are dry fly enthusiasts because I know that they are not going to put one of those silly fluorescent line indicators on their leader and triple haul a #2 salmon fly with a trout rod. Although I’m probably going to take some heat for this entry irregardless. Recently I had a really good chat with a customer who lives in upstate New York and he said casting the rod I made for him was like “eating ice cream”, I thought that was a very creative way of saying it was his new best friend. He described the rods action as most complimentary to his fishing style.

“My favorite rods are the ones I can manipulate masterfully to simply catch fish”

This has been my personal motto for many years now. I suppose I’ve always trusted my intuition about fish so naturally I make rods to further reinforce those intuitions. Ultimately I am in a happy place since I am able to make “favorite” rods for myself and many others to date. I only wish to continue a certain level of excellence and evolution in my rod building. I also am thankful for the giving few who have inspired me to do so and only hope that I may also be of influence as I grow older.

Clint Joseph Bova

The Classic Vise Co.

2009-12-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

Back in 1995 I purchased a phenomenal fly tying vise from The Classic Vise Co. It is engineered very very well and built like a M1 Bradley. It detents four times in full rotation, and allows me to tie flies as small as #28. I purchased the vise in Canada and am not sure if it is still in production. My little HMH is always well used but The Classic Vise has holding power like no other vise I have used before. This vise is made from very high quality stainless and has endured countless wet hands while tying soaked quills and still shows no signs of weathering. Tools such as these make the craft of fly tying that much more enjoyable. Being a creature of habit it will more than likely be my last vise I ever purchase.

~Clint Bova

Fall Dry Fly Patience

2009-11-11T06:08:00.000-08:00

Fall Brown, caught with my 7'6" 4wt. “Shawnee Rose”

on a #20 Black quilled suspender midge

With a consistent cool breeze the flotsam piles up during the fall on edges, seam lines, and sweepers along the river banks in the North East. This is a period of time when the fish are foraging and becoming quite picky when it comes to surface feeding. I use to fish scuds especially hard in the fall but over the years have taken to surface fishing year round. I simply enjoy dry fly fishing over any other type of fishing period, especially in the fall.

Fall dry fly fishing takes perseverance, patience, and focus. There is so much floating in the water that both Trout and angler become distracted. I have a fly box dedicated to late fall midges, typically fore and aft designs and micro parachute suspender midges in black and gray sizes #20, #24, and #26. With water levels low and typically clear I fish 6x and 7x with a 14 foot leader. I usually fish my “Johnny Logan”, or “Little Mecoche” rods, 4wts. on the lighter side of the scale. In medium sized water I take out my “Shawnee Rose” a 7'6" 4wt. I approach dry fly fishing in November and December with my expectations in check, an open mind, and tend to squint and stare a lot. Walking significant distances, and moving on the water makes it always more productive as well. The subtle fall sipping of a Brown Trout is a beautiful thing to watch. If you decide to place a fly that is not on the Trout menu you will see them make a bee-line for the nearest sweeper or undercut. I have found over the years, based on my location, that black midges are my most consistent best bet. The smaller the better. I use black quills that I strip and dye myself to create a slight segmentation and use either black or med dun hackle.

#20 quilled parachute midge and my fore and aft quilled midge

Fall fishing really is a time for reflection, introspection, and a little space. A sense of pause after a summer that is sometimes filled with a results oriented mindset, during hatches or perfect conditions. I recently had an interesting occurrence on the Mad River down the street from my house. While waiting out some nice browns under a bush for twenty minutes, I sat very still, almost to the point that my leg started to fall asleep. Wearing my floppy green canvas hat and dark ochre colors I must have looked like a pile leaves, or interesting lichens from above. A chipmunk pounced on my head, scurried counterclockwise, made an audible shriek, and managed to scare the crap out of me. A “chipmunk swirlly”, as a friend of mine called it. I suppose I felt a certain level of cunning satisfaction from this little occurrence because I blended in so well with the fall colors. I could only hope that a trout would jump on my head for the same reasons.

~Clint Bova

The Fall Prayer

2009-10-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

Path Walker

An American Indian Prayer

To bring back the natural harmony that humans once enjoyed.
To save the planet from present practices of destruction.
To find and re-employ real truth.
To promote true balance between both genders.
To share and be less materialistic.
To become rid of prejudice.
To learn to be related.

To be kind to animals and take no more than we need.
To play with one's children and love each equally and fairly.
To be brave and courageous, enough so,
To take a stand and make a commitment.
To understand what Generations Unborn really means.
To accept the Great Mystery
in order to end foolish argument over religion.

May your fall fishing be memorable and peaceful ~Clint Joseph Bova

Landscapes by Christopher Greco

2009-08-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

“Streaming Light and Shadow” oil on board

“Late Afternoon Below the Fields” oil on board

“Side Door and Back Steps” oil on board

“Beside a Stream” oil on board

“Down River” oil on board

Christopher Greco is one of those rare painters you come across that has a point of view that incorporates old school mediums in a very relevant and current way. His series “A New Painting Every Day” captures a natural rural spirit that is honest and heartfelt. I catch myself smiling when I look at his paintings because I feel as though I am experiencing this scenery along side him. Most of these paintings from his series are all done on location, in a somewhat spontaneous manner, with no reworking. Christopher Greco resides in Westlake Ohio and continues to produce marvelous work with his oils.

~Clint Bova

Guidewater Pants by Patagonia®~Product Review

2009-08-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting a long time to find a really functional and comfortable wet wading pant. During the summer months shorts just do not cut it for me because of sun, brambles, poison oak, poison ivy, leaches, deer fly's, the occasional hungry mink, and various other man nibbling critters. Patagonia's Guidewater Pant is the best wet wading pant I've used period. I have used these pants for about a season and have no issues at all with the wear, general design, or comfort. These pants do not bunch up or bind when wet. They are pliable, dry very quickly, and repel water like a raincoat. Finally I found a wet wading pant that works great which is a genuine relief because I have been searching for a wet wading pant that fulfills all of the above criteria. I really have no reason to wear waders during the summer months now. Even my waist high waders are now collecting dust during the summer months which is a relief because I just don't like the extra bulk when its over 80 degrees.

~Clint Bova

Starting Young

2009-08-02T06:23:00.000-07:00

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 bars tock 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

Divine Inspiration

2009-07-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I was asked by a customer out of Upstate New York what inspires me to lean towards my more “antique-esque” hardware patterns. I definitely have an affinity for some past rod makers one being the late Fred D. Divine who began making rods in 1875 out of Utica N.Y. I always felt that his hardware was somewhat medieval in personality. After going through the armory exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art for the fourth time I started seeing some basic geometries that were very reminiscent of some of Divines tooling and stamping. Meandering about in arms and armor exhibits is a good way to develop a taste for forging and tooling. I soon started making drawings of my own and surrounding myself with little artifacts of “Divine” inspiration. I have a small collection of Divine paraphernalia that keeps my creative juices flowing. 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 and echo some of the trim detailing not only on the cap and rings but also adapting on the cork check and winding checks. 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, I am then inspired to stand in front of my lathe for hours and burn the midnight oil.

Thank you for all of the kind complements out of the Mohawk Valley.

~Clint Bova

Simpler Life Simpler Tye

2009-07-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

I think I’ve learned more from Canadian ghillies about successful trout fly patterns over the years than anyone else. They seem to excercize the mantra, “the simpler the better”, and I’m a firm believer in this affirmation. For the most part trout food is fairly understated, modest in profile, and buggy. My most consistent and successful fly patterns are fairly dull, not a lot of flash if any, and only carry subtle hints of color variation. I suppose when you really think about it mayflys are two-toned, there are only two colors contrasting against one another on any mayfly with the exception of any varigations. Hues of green, yellow, umber, and rust are the basic color ways. These colors are accompanied by a range of cool and warm grays that range from 1-10 on a gray scale. These are the colors I mix and dye my feathers to emulate both mayflys and caddis flys. Terrestrials are a whole nother ball of wax but even these patterns need not be overly complex and garrish. I’m not a big fan of attractor flys of any kind in part because they are usually over designed in profile and color, and they are somebody else’s interpretation of nature and not my own. So simple streamlined patterns ring true to me. Some of the Scottish guides that I have come in contact with are extremely resouceful, frugal with materials, and creative. This is a great combination of traits for creating simple and effective “guide” patterns.

Several years ago I was fishing the Grand River in Ontario and I was fishing alongside a guide who handed me a “wee tuft” of CDC and Coq De Leon on a dry #22 hook. I was fishing over a very large brown, over 22 inches and he was not budging so I tied on the “wee tuft” and the Scottish guide said “off you go”, and off I went! My little 7' Trails End started bending and bucking. Flashy flys look great in magazines, but when they’re all dressed up and nowhere to go effectiveness is revealed, a second date is undeserved.

~Clint

Fluid Time Delay

2009-07-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

I often find myself looking up, not really knowing why. Sometimes it’s as though I am looking for the wind and always trying to see it.The trees offer me a suggestive response with a flapping leaf or a bending branch. The wind acts as a obscure time piece, and like temperature, the wind is affected by the sun directly and indirectly. The wind does respond to time in a sort of celestial manner. My dog Manny often looks up when I do when the wind blows, he joins in and looks somewhat introspective while doing so. I then try to draw a mental picture in my mind of what the nearest piece of trout laden water is doing. If my dog could fish we would do so often since both of us have a certain zest for solitude and running water. Unfortunately Manny will never bare an opposable thumb so the idea of meandering about with him in streams grasping fly rods is somewhat wishful thinking. Although there is an orthopedic surgeon that I know of nearby that could pull this surgery off, maybe I could trade him a fly rod for such a surgery? Needed: one left thumb, in good condition, preferably a furry one. The surgeon also happens to be a fly fisherman so I don’t think he would deliberate over the procedure too long. Manny would only need one thumb on his left front paw because he seems to have the temperament of a left handed caster. If you watch this Golden Retriever he seems to sense ghosts in running water. He watches the eddies, reflections, and riffles with a certain kind of introspection and turns his head one way then the next as if he is taking shorthand notes. I chime in and say “whatcha see Manny”, he then responds with a sorrowful look and ends up sticking his head fully underwater, much like a Blue Heron would looking for a crayfish.

If our minutes are measured in hours in dog time then their pondering is much more drawn out than ours making them masters of internal conversations and thoughtful doggy introspection. It also makes them much more aware and perceptive than human beings. I am convinced that dogs and trout have this ability and are the real masters of our universe for this reason. Our arrogant sense of time simply caters to our lack of focus and harmony with the natural world. We are mislead by time, we base everything on the speed of two hands in a circle. We need to slow our clocks down or just simply throw them all away. If every human minute was equivalent to an hour in canine time we would understand why our furry friends are so attentive and understanding.They live seemingly shorter lives because they live on a different clock all together.

While we embrace time that we’ve been subserviently checking all our lives, we can actually embrace the notion that we spend less time exercising our senses and more time dealing with meaningless distractions based on the relative speed of a clock. We accelerate ourselves for somebody else’s invention. We’ve all haven been given a time handicap. Nearly everything follows sheepishly an unchanged time piece. We are slaves to two hands in a circle. Humans use to live shorter because they spent more hours being useful and partaking in meaningful activity, souls satiated early, no need to live longer, the spirits take them once they have proven their worthiness into the next life. An interesting notion when looking at it from a spiritual standpoint. I had this discussion with a very thoughtful and creative furniture designer many years ago. I suppose this also embraces the notion that “the good die young”. When our dogs are staring introspectively into running water and chasing ghosts are they playing or are they fully focused, and practicing and passing through for some kind of meaningful life lesson portal? Growing up on the ocean and watching animals in and out of the water most of my life has planted this notion in my head over the years. I’m convinced that spending time on the water actually extends your life considerably. Our senses align with a natural time delay, and like our furry and finned friends, we too can momentarily cycle side by side with their god given clocks.

~Clint Joseph Bova

“You do not cease to fish because you get old,

You get old because you cease to fish”

~Anonymous

Easy Grilled Rainbow Trout

2009-07-22T11:32:00.001-07:00

Ingredients:

4 six-ounce fillets of rainbow trout.

1/4 cup of canola oil.

2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice.

1 tablespoon of ginger root, minced.

1 teaspoon of grated lime peel.

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper.

Preparation:

In a suitably sized saucepan over medium heat, sauté the minced ginger and grated lime peel in the canola

oil, until just lightly browned and aromatic.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, then stir in the crushed red pepper.

Once the oil has completely cooled, gently whisk in the lime juice and reserve.

Heat the grill to a moderate temperature.

Brush the grill pan with some oil to reduce sticking, and grill the trout fillets with the flesh side down for about

2 minutes.

Gently turn the fillets and grill for 2 minutes more, or until the trout turns opaque.

Serve the trout immediately with a splash of the ginger/lime mixture.

Sweet Whippings~Silk Rod Wraps

2009-07-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

I definitely love wrapping with silk. I have always been a big fan of Pearsall’s silk threads. I honestly believe that the dye batches are the most consistent, color fast, and easily matched. I have been wrapping with Pearsall’s consistently for the last fifteen or so years and have had no guide failures at all. I suppose this sounds a bit like a sales pitch but I’m typically a very reserved optimist and a bit superstitious on top of it all. So I usually keep my happy thoughts to myself. I wrap a lot of rods with white silk which eventually ends up as clear wraps. I have managed over the years to consistently create crystal clear wraps, no glassing at all, no thread tunnel pockets or bubbles by paying close attention to time, temperature, and viscosity using spar. Pearsall’s silk is all I will use to achieve clear wraps to my level of “perfectness” or maybe I just have a high level of comfort and trust with our friends in the UK. My wife has watched me over the years reach scarey levels of deep meditation and severe cognitive dissonance over this particular process. If you approached her on the topic of clear wraps she would wink at you and say I was truly insane. Most people who have seen my wraps would understand my level of OC when it comes to finishing.

One remarkable property of silk is its high tensile strength and its fibers will not easily tear or damage. It is also an elastic medium that can be stretched and then will recover to its original size unless stretched beyond 20-25% of its original length. It has been used in the past in making guy ropes to take advantage of this resilliency.

The attributes of silk all are very positive in my point of view. Pearsall’s offers “Naples”, a heavier diameter silk, which I use for overwrapping ferrules, and the standard “Gossamer” silk thread that I use for guide wrapping and tipping. Again silk has a very high tensile strength but maintains a very consistent minimal diameter. With this in mind it is perfect for whipping threads. Silk evenly absorbs solvent like a sponge, so if you are using spar or even spar urethane blends you can get a very consistent clarity if applied and diluted correctly.

Silk thread has the property of being a very flexible material. For example, a silk scarf can readily be pulled through a wedding ring, and it will quickly retake its original shape without a lot of wrinkling. In addition, silk holds its structural integrity and will not rot. Silk is also more heat resistant than many other types of thread, including nylon, and is actually rather difficult to burn.

Silk takes well to dyes, both natural and synthetic, which results in wide variables when it comes to color especially in threads. Another property of silk is its soft feel, and it retains it shape well, even after having been stretched. In appearance silk has a sheen and luminosity which makes it easier to work with while wrapping under a magnifier. Both bamboo and silk complement one another as raw mediums. They have been used in tandem for hundreds if not thousands of years for swords, suits of armor, and specialized tools. I suppose if a synthetic equivalent to silk was ever developed I would turn my cheek because like bamboo it is truly a gift from Mother Nature.

~Clint

Fishing the Little Gems

2009-07-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

Above: Some of my reels that I frequently use and have refurbished

I recently fixed one of my old Meisselbach reels and am currently using it on one of my light trout rods and have come to love fighting fish on it. I fish an old Winchester raised pillar reel pretty hard as well and actually prefer it over an old Hardy Featherweight I use to use quite often. I suppose people in general are afraid to use these older reels for a few reasons. Frequently the pawl mechanisms simply corrode and fall apart. Or the pawl spring is either bent or broken and the reel spins freely. Another common reason is the spindle shafts are bent. The reel foot on most older reels such as Pfleuger’s, Meisselbach’s, Winchester’s, etc. were stamped brass or nickel plated steel. If you happen to have an old ring mandrel you can easily tap the foot straight as an arrow with a ferruling or jewelers hammer. Pawl springs are easy to make with the proper diameter spring steel wire, a pair of jewelers pliars, and a propane torch. Careful with the torch you can end up branding yourself with the shape of a pawl spring, the mark of a true die hard. With a few simple tools you can make your reels look and function like new.

I have a modest collection of older reels that I’ve refurbished myself using a mill and a metal lathe to primarily fix head and tail plates, revolving plates, pillars, and spindle shafts. These older reels are typically great for silk lines because they are well vented and the line dries quickly. I tend to like to use the old stuff as opposed to let it collect dust or trade it. I am not a collector of things but the stuff I do own is old and very well used. Occasionally I get a huge sparkly glint from an olde’ timer on rivers especially in Pennsylvania. They get all excited to see me using a favorite Meisselbach reel, especially when I bring in a fish with one that’s over a hundred years old. I had one old timer in Warren County a while back tell me “I bet your grandfather wasn’t even born when that reel was first used”, I replied “it fishes like it was brand new!” The reel was a Meisselbach Featherlight #260, a reel little gem.

~Clint

Bed Bugs & Ballyhoo

2009-06-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

Thomas Doughtry “Open Meadow” 9" x 12" oil on wood panel

I suppose there really is not a mutual understanding between critters when it comes to rural life in North America. It still is everything goes, as it should, and like anywhere else location means nothing when it comes to making sense of our own mortality let alone other creatures. While walking on somebody else’s farmland to get to a favorite piece of water I often rubberneck every few hundred yards. It never ceases to amaze me the likelihood of finding something interesting poking out of the freshly tilled soil. Early this season while tromping along in a half dazed sleep deprived state wearing baggy waders I came across a big leg. It was severed from the socket in the hip and partially eaten mid-thigh, hoof still attached. I stopped abruptly and just stared at it for a few minutes. I was both mortified and curious. “Where’s the rest of the body?”, I said to myself. I imagined David Caruso showing up on the scene with aviator glasses and a sidling bra-less wonder toting an expensive Nikon with a ringlight. Forensics probably were not in the budget on this one. My imagination wanders aimlessly until it lands on the notion that it had to have been a hungry “meadow yeti” handling this 40 pound hind quarter like a drummy. “Where the hell is the rest of the deer!”, probably in it’s underground yeti lair with all of the rest of the missing person’s that I see up on the entrance walls of the local Walmart. Not a fox, not a dog, it’s too heavy, maybe a hungry fisherman? Nope, too domesticated, would have had to properly dress it first with some kind of cool gadget from Cabela’s.

Later that night I pulled the sheets over my head and wondered where this three legged deer was roaming, see page 13 of Maurice Sendak's book

“Where the Wild Things Are”

The next day I returned to the same spot and the severed half eaten leg was gone. These are the things that frustrate me most in life, when you experience things in isolation nobody but you can ever rationalize it, and having a very active imagination makes it even more difficult. I suppose an ongoing open-ended narrative in our minds is a healthy thing, and as a fly fisherman it helps me discover and rediscover how it is I wish to experience the outdoors. So I decided to put up on the message board at the local Walmart;

“Lost, three quarters of a large deer, or...Lost one left hindquarter of a large deer. Please contact clint at....”

Epoxy Talk

2009-06-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

above: epoxy cohabitating with wood fibers

Recently I had a old client complement me on the durability of my bamboo fly rods so I thought I would take the time to write a little on polyepoxides. If you are interested in the stuff that actually holds bamboo fly rods together for a very very long time you may find this compelling.

My old work colleagues who were employed by GE Polymer Solutions, use to call me “Chemical Joey” (Joseph is my middle name) because my obsessive interest in epoxies. In my past life I was fortunate enough to live side by side with chemical engineers that could give me some very hard and detailed facts about epoxies also known as polyepoxides. Epoxy is a copolymer that is formed by the mixing of two parts. Unlike many traditional glues and water based glues epoxy has a very high tolerance to temperature variables, can be virtually unaffected by moisture or water, and can be subjected to such abuses as extreme flexural strength, impact strength, shear strengths, and peel strengths. Epoxy is definitely the hero in the rod makers world. It solves most if not all of the age old problems rod builders ran into using hide glues, Resorcinol, and water based glues in the past. Epoxy is a beautiful thing because it has both low and high viscosity mixtures which is critical in the construction of a bamboo fly rod and it's different components. Ultimately you want the very best adhesives that will last well over a hundred years and sustain an immeasurable amount of use.

Like anything else there is a vast amount of variables when considering the right epoxy for the right application. The levels of flexural strength, lap shear strength, and peel ratio vary greatly. For the purposes of rod making my quest for the “majic three” as I often refer to them, are three types of epoxy that fall into three different use buckets: laminating bamboo strips, bonding hardware, and gluing cork. There are similar and dissimilar materials being bonded here such as nickel silver to wood, wood to cane, cork to cork, and cork to cane. So it can get quite complex when considering which epoxy is used for which application. None of the epoxies I use are “off the shelf” because nothing bought in a hardware store can really do the job up to my level of scrutiny. It’s simply a matter of peace of mind. I have never had a ferrule come off, nor delamination, or even loose hardware.

The first epoxy that is very important is the epoxy that can tolerate high temperature, flexural strength, is waterproof, high peel ratio, and has a very low viscosity so as not to leave a visible glue joint, this is the epoxy used to laminate bamboo splines. It has a slow cure time and needs to eliminate any possibilities of creep, which means the bond does not shift between both surface planes. If it does you will get a set that really cannot be eliminated. Wood glues have this creep problem and really should never be used for anything to do with rod building period. It simply is an inferior glue altogether because of it’s low tolerance to heat and poor peel ratio with similar and non similar media. You would also have to have rocks in your head to think it’s bond can tolerate heat. I have fixed too many other builders rods and seen the havoc wood glue causes.

The second epoxy we use is for bonding is for ferrules and reel seat hardware, it has extreme high impact strength, no shrinkage or expansion, has a slow cure, and most importantly can be used to bond dissimilar media (alloy to wood). Zinc is a difficult property to deal with as far as bonding hardware, and as we know Nickel Silver contains around 60% zinc. Most off the shelf epoxies do not have proper peel ratios to bond properly with the zinc combination. Most off the shelf epoxy, even the really good ones, simply say “metal” which is fairly misleading. Zinc is the culprit here, it needs a slow cure epoxy with a lap sheer of about 4,000 PSI and a peel ratio of about 3.6 PLI, typically this kind of epoxy is used for attaching sledge hammer heads to fiberglass or hickory handles. Typically these epoxies are opaque and do not dry clear.

The third epoxy is for gluing cork. It needs to have flexural strength, dries clear, waterproof, and has a low viscosity so as not to leave a glue line. Most importantly it needs an extended pot life, why?, because if you’ve ever seen grips with glue lines its because the glue sets up before it can spill out of the ring seams. Bonding strength is not as critical here, but I still use a structural epoxy adhesive. Many people use wood glue for cork, again my one concern is that it sets up too quick and leaves a visible glue line. Many years ago I worked with the glue division at Elmers here in Columbus and had riveting conversations with chemists. I also got to tour their testing lab, I was like a pig in shit. I got into a discussion with a chemist and discussed the properties of white glue compared to wood glue and it comes down to a higher ratio of resin to solvent thus making the working time longer in wood glue neither of which should be used for gluing cork. Sweat from your hands contain chlorides and some urea compounds which will compromise wood glue (PVA) over time. So wood glue really is not the best glue to use for cork even the newer Crosslinking PVA’s that are waterproof. As a side note urethane glues simply do not stack up to epoxies overall strength and desired attributes. Urethanes generally are harder to control, and chemists that I've worked with still consider them more of an “all purpose household glue for specific low risk tasks”.

I have refrained from using any recommended brand names here because like any business I have my own trade secrets but I can leave you a very informative trail of bread crumbs.

~Clint Joseph Bova

Little Rods & Lessons From Jack

2009-06-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

24" Brown caught on a “Little Mecoche” 6'9" 4wt. 2pc.

fly used~ #18 Parachute Ant seen in upper jaw

At age thirteen I was a diehard ultralight fanatic armed with a wee Abu Garcia spinning reel spooled with four pound Maxima mono and a cork handled 5’6” fiberglass Shakespeare rod. Growing up on the South Shore of Oahu was an incredible classroom for playing very aggressive saltwater fish on light tackle. I caught my first Marlin at age eleven which dwarfed my smallish frame as well as the 9/0 reel that I caught it on. When I caught my first Mahi Mahi at age eleven on very light tackle I got the fever for life. The O’io, or bonefish was not the fiercest or most popular of quarry’s, the Papio, or Juvenile Jack Trevalle and the Ulua, or adult Jack Trevalle are really the signature sporting fish of the islands. Open any “Hawaii Fishing News” publication (www.hawaiifishingnews.com) and you will realize the fanatical clubs that revolve around this particular species. However small or large these fish will leave you weak in the knees after stripping your reel clean and making off with four weeks of your allowance money in the form of monofillament.

We loved and honored all these fish and actually in the valley we grew up in, Niu Valley, every one of our streets was named after a fish. There was Mahi Mahi street (dorado), Nenue street (rudderfish), Opakapaka street (red snapper), Aku street (skipjack tuna, Ono street (Wahoo), Malolo Street (flying fish) etc... So I actually learned the Hawaiian names for fish before I knew what the English names were. Today I still make reference to this day by their Hawaiian names. The take away from growing up in Hawaii’s saltwater environment and moving later in life to a fresh water world is that in saltwater you experience pound for pound some of the most sporting fish in the world. It really cannot be argued until you have actually fought either an 8 lb. or 80 lb. Jack Trevalle. Both are simply terrifying on light tackle. I watched a friend of mine in the flats in front of my neighborhood fight a large Papio (probably no more than seventeen inches in length) it made two violent runs at break neck speed and snapped his rod like a toothpick. My friend started crying, he was shaking like a leaf and being boys of only thirteen years old at the time we simply felt defeated by these beasts time and time again. It became a regular occurrence to either have your reel stripped clean or rod broken. As we grew older we learned how to play the fish more efficiently and prepare ourselves emotionally for sudden bouts of these piscatorial meltdowns. I was lucky enough to have a mother and father that allowed me to go out for days at a time and fish in some very dangerous waters off of Molokai and Oahu at such a young age. If you asked my father what I looked like when he handed me my first fishing rod he would probably laugh. We were taking a long weekend off to go out to Pats at Punaluu a small Kamaaina motel back in the early 70’s. It was on the winward side of Oahu and the area was prime Papio (juvenile jack trevalle) and O’io fishing (bonefish). He handed me my first fiberglass rod on the beach and I was so excited I could barely thread the mono through the guides and work the skirted reel. I remember I was about nine years old at the time and I was casting like I was batting in the World Series.

At age 43 monofilament has long given way to fly lines and bamboo rods with fairly traditional light reels. Lures have transcended into hackled dry fly’s no bigger than a fingernail, and emotionally, well let’s just say I still cry if I lose a twenty inch Brown trout. Having an extensive background in saltwater fishing has helped me later in life. I often shudder when I read or hear other fly fisherman talking about smallish fly rods as being “dangerous” to fish. I think if you took this opinion to the late great Lee Wulff or even Vince Marinaro they would dress you down pretty quick, and as I recall they both were fairly environmentally conscious men that loved smallish rods. The fact of the matter is that it takes no longer to bring in a fish on a 6’ rod as it does on a 8’ or 9’ rod of the same weight and tippet diameters. If the fish is played correctly you can bring it in as quickly as you want. If you walk a St. Bernard or a Shitzu both can give you equally a hard time on a leash, it’s how you lead them and hold the leash that matters. I always use the dog walking metaphor because it really holds true in regards to playing the head of the fish not the body. With a small 6’ or 7’ bamboo rod you can leverage a large fish with the right leading language. The Jack Trevalle will teach this lesson very quickly, on any tackle. Having been punished time and time again by such aggressive saltwater fish growing up made me go down an internal list of criteria in my head when I’m playing a large Trout or Salmon on light tackle. I would definitely say being from the islands that the Brown trout is a formidable fighter. Like the smallmouth bass (hold my tung and wait) the Browns personality is pretty aggressive at 15” and up. After landing a large fiesty Brown trout I often murmer under my breath, “wow, your a Jack in Brown trout clothes”

~Clint

Bench Dog

2009-05-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

Standing for long hours leaning over a bench, planing, straightening strips, pressing nodes, turning cork, and squinting a lot at 8/0 silk thread you realize that time passes very quickly but that time spent working at the bench is time well worth spent. For the processes and manipulations that go on during the course of building three bamboo fly rods at a time, which is how I work for the most part, one also realizes that solitude can be found not only on a river but standing in front of a well crafted bench.

About twelve years ago I had a wild hair and decided to build the ultimate rod making bench. Fred, a master cabinet maker from the west coast, was a good friend I worked with for many years and always wanted to make a traditional cabinet makers bench. One day during the fall of 1998 we decided to go for broke and took a trip to a Homish lumber yard and purchased some very large pieces of beautiful maple. We spent a lot of time designing, customizing the plans, and eventually resawing very large heavy blocks of maple to make two benches 7 feet in length. Having access to our model shop at FITCH day or night we had access to a Powermatic 24” bandsaw, large jointers, massive table saws, not to mention 4 lathes, a five axis router, 4 Hurcos (C&C machines), a large spray booth, mortiser, two large drill presses, a large power planer, and a ton of layout space. We spent roughly three months making these benches that weighed close to 500 pounds a piece. We used traditional mortise and tenon joints and milled all the hardware. We mounted the old large blue Record vises into the benches, which were of the same design and size that were used to build the British Spitfires of WWII, these imported vises unfortunately are no longer available.

Years later my bench has really become a best friend in many ways. It’s original odor of tung oil has given way to the distinct smell of bamboo. The bench is like a Swiss Army Knife because it can transform itself in multiple ways to meet the demands of all the processes involved in building split cane rods. The importance of a good bench is that it becomes an extension of your body.

The bench acts as the ultimate vessel that houses everything you need to practice your high craft. Occasionally I treat it to some indulgence and give it a good wiping of tung oil for being such a good friend.

~Clint