Fishing rod building: A winter’s pastime

Back in the mid-1970s my dad told me a person could make a better fishing rod than what was available in the stores at that time. Dad had a good friend, Mark Brumbaugh, who had been building and fishing with his own rods pursuing salmon and steelhead for a number of years. Brumbaugh’s rods were put together well and looked sharp — in addition — he was one of those individuals who often caught a larger share of the fish on any given trip. My Dad, his brother, and my grandfather had also built many rods, years earlier, however, those rods definitely had a roughly homemade look to them — some even used hose clamps to secure a reel to the rod.

That’s not to say my father was not handy at building and repairing things — in his younger years he and my uncle worked in the family cabinet shop along with my grandfather and grandmother. All of them could whip out professionally looking projects and usually in an amazingly short amount of time — at least compared to myself. Growing up, I was often discouraged with woodworking and building projects, as I compared myself to my Dad — who never seemed to measure or cut an item wrong. His building projects always appeared to me to go together so easily for him —- while in comparison — whatever I was attempting to build or repair most often looked like a mistake.

After talking with his rod building friend, Dad mail-ordered up a collection of rod parts, and as I remember, quickly put everything together — building and varnishing his rod in a single day. Back then, most people used individual cork rings to build a rod handle, and after the rings were glued together, the handle had to be shaped to whatever form the rod builder preferred. Dad shaped his handle with a wood rasp and some sand paper, and it looked, and felt sharp when finished.

Watching that rod being built, and learning how much quality rod parts cost, was quite intimidating to me, however, Dad let me fish with his new rod a few times the next summer. After which, I was convinced I needed a custom-built fishing rod like Dad. So I spent quite a bit of the money I made working on Palmer area farms and mail-ordered my own rod building supplies. Dad told me what he had done to build his rod, but he did not do any of the work for me.

In another fishing column I wrote how I got my junior high school art teacher to give me credit for building the rod as an art class project. That rod took quite a while for me to complete, and I had read about and tried a new epoxy rod finish — which handled much differently than the rod varnish my Dad had used. The epoxy finish was much thicker when applied, and while it started setting up fairly quickly, it kept flowing downward long after I had brushed it onto the thread wraps that secured the guides to my rod. When I inspected my new rod after the finish had set, the epoxy finish had run and set in a pattern of little finish on the top side of the rod opposite the guides, with thicker glops of finish set up against the guides. Definitely not the “Rod-look,” someone would select to purchase from a rod rack in a store. I, however, talked up my new rod whenever someone mentioned how sloppy it looked. My first day fishing with the new rod, I caught my first king salmon, which would also turn out to be the largest king salmon I would catch for the next 5 years.

I was proud of the fishing rod I had built, and it helped me catch quite a few salmon, however, even I noticed the sloppy finish the first time I looked at it. In addition, the rod’s cork handle looked like some kid had shaped it, while experimenting with a wood rasp for the first time in his life. ( The handle not only looked and felt lop-sided, it was lop-sided!).

One thing about being such a poor project builder — after looking at the results — I immediately knew I could build a better fishing rod. It took me a while to save up the money for more parts, but that is how I started building fishing rods. Even now, over 45 years and hundreds of rod building and repair projects later, I am still knowing I can build better.

Rod building and repair has become somewhat of an enjoyable pastime for me — especially when the daylight hours are short and the temperatures cold outside. Even more fun — testing the finished rods, next summer, during pleasant days with warmer temperatures and open water! Those who know me well, have learned if winter temperatures were to warm a bit above freezing, I’d likely skip waiting for next summer, to start test casting into the frigid, but ice-free, waters at Eklutna Tailrace. I might even convince myself that the salmon are already swimming their way back to Mat-Su Valley!

Build and Fish On!