Heddon 8306 Mark1 8'3

So I have a deep appreciation and fascination with vintage fiberglass rods..Simply put..I love everything about them. I have to give credit to Cameron from the fiberglass manifesto for sparking the obsession. I now have 5 glass rods, all dating back to the 60's. I have a ridiculous number of reels as well...my collection mainly consisting of old Plfuegers......although I have a Martin and an old single action Cortland as well....I love hearing that click...All of these rods and reels perform just as well as when they were made. They are tough, the casting is slow and smooth and I'm able to still cast sink lines and big flies like a graphite rod.

I recently broke the ferrule on one of my rods..a Heddon 8'3 8 wt. It was on a pickerel trip, the rod slipped apart just a bit and snapped the metal in half. It really was my fault for not checking it more. So I did some questioning and found a man to send it to to have it repaired. Andy Manchester Jr. of Old Yankee Rodsmith's did an amazing job...Not only did he fix the ferrule, he repaired the hook keep, replaced the cork handle and re-clear coated the rod. When I received the rod back in the mail, less then a 3 week turn around....it looked as if I just went into a store and bought it new off the shelf. I will be in time sending the rest of my glass collection to him for restore...Amazing to say the least. It's probably all in my head, but the rod even seems to cast smoother now...If you are in need of a new rod, Andy also does custom builds, glass, graphite and bamboo...need a rod repaired or restored..he's the man...over 40 years experience perfecting his craft...Give him a call....

Andy Manchester Jr.
Old Yankee Rodsmith's
1-203-435-7948
andymanyankee@yahoo.com

Here's some pics of the rod in progress....

All ready to chuck some fluff....Thanks Andy for the great craftsmanship...Tight Lines and Fiberglass Loops....

New store items

I added a few new nymphs to the store today...

SF Golden Stone

SF Black Stone

SF Steelie Golden Stone

SF Steelie Black Stone

www.rusuperfly.com

Symposium...The day after

This is one of my favorite shows of the year that I participate in. An incredible group of talented tyers from all over the world. It is an honor and pleasure to tie along side of these individuals. I made new friends, had some frosty barley pop with old friends. I feel inspired and awed by the amazing flies being produced by some of these folks. If you are a fly tyer or angler...you owe it to yourself to come to one of these events. There were some great opportunities presented to me at this show, details to follow at a later date..Let's just say I formed some new relationships with some great companies. Here's some photos of my booth from the show. See you all in January...

Fly Tying Symposium

The car is loaded an ready to go...The International Fly Tying Symposium in NJ is this weekend. Stop by and say hello...I'll be packing an stacking bass bugs all weekend..I also have a healthy assortment of other flies for you to check out...

Some new work...I was playing around with some articulated deceiver designs utilizing the eyes made by Andy Weiss of Germany. You can purchase them directly from him...Pretty crazy looking approach to eyes...

For all of you salties out there....feed this to a striper...This is a fully functional deer hair diver squid. It needs a bit of fine tuning, but the idea is there...

11-13-11

My usual routine this time of year is to begin chasing Steelhead and huge Browns on Lake Ontario tributaries. As much as I enjoy doing that...my real passion still remains with my warm water fish...A day like today..a little warmer, a little sun...gets my blood going for some warm water action.

Phil and I took the yaks out of winter storage and hit a local favorite hot spot lake for some bass, panfish and pickerel action...We easily hit into the 20+ fish a piece category...some beautiful fish were caught and released for sure...

I utilized one fly only today in two different colors. I was using the Strip-a-Boo Leech...I usually use this fly for smallies and carp...but in a couple of different color patterns......It worked like a charm today...I will be updating the color offerings on my website... www.rusuperfly.com

I kicked it old school rocking only a Fenwick glass rod and a Curt Gowdy Signature...both equipped with Plfueger reels...made in the USA of course. There is something magical about these rods and reels...Something special...I'll save that for another post....here's the porn...enjoy....

New Bird

As the appreciation for flies as art increases...my creativity grows and my use of deer hair continues to expand. This is a new demon bird display fly that I made for a fly shop...

Clear Cure Goo Eyes

Clear Cure Goo has done it again....Brian has started a line of realistic eyes that will knock your socks off....They will be available in a few weeks...make sure to check them out....

This is the logo I drew for them....