It’s one of many shortcomings in my personality, but I cannot help but admire those anglers that eye the conventional, scratch their chin and opt to blaze new trails.
The results aren’t always successful, but the “what if I …” question is what keeps this sport alive and vital.
It starts with the faux Birch bark reel seat and grip, and after another light bulb glows bright, morphs into the real Birch bark veneer handle, which causes some other fellow to add his own wrinkle and the rest of us wind up owning a half dozen once they’re mainstreamed.
(photo by the Eclecticguy.com)
… sure it helps to have a lot of woodworking experience and tools, but imagination is the key ingredient.
I’m not suggesting either party invented anything, merely admiring their willingness to take that monstrous leap into the realm of public opinion.
We’ve done “collaborative” on flies for hundreds of years, it’s fun to see it at work in another angling product.
The “Eclectic Guy” has added the Eclectic Angler website, featuring horse hair fly lines, handmade brass & nickel silver fly reels, and Tenkara flies.
Tags: Birch bark fly rod grip, faux birch bark, rod building, how-to, fly rod
Thanks for the post about my rod grips! This might surprise you but the order of “invention” went the other way – first I made the reel birch bark grip. Then, I was fishing for really spooky Brookies one autumn and the idea for the “ultimate stealth rod” came to mind – built to look like a birch branch!
Recently, I’ve been building and teaching others to build their own fly rods. Check out http://www.reelsmithing.com/forum!
Now you’ve done it, how soon can us “urban anglers” expect a grip in concrete?
I’va actually been working on the “ultimate urban stealth rod” – it is made from old car antennas and is disguised as a zip gun. A concrete grip would complete the ensemble though.