Fly fishing and more: September 2019

Okay I've come up with an idea to interview some of the memorable people I've met in fly fishing, both online as well as offline. Rather than a true interview I decided to keep it simple by asking a few Q&A's.

Our first guest is Chris Barclay. I've got several rods from Chris and I'm afraid my collection will keep growing as long as Chris keeps designing & building amazing rods.

1) Q: To how many countries have you shipped your rods to? What's the most unexpected destination?

"Looking at a world map the best I can tell is 33 countries. Most unexpected? I'd say Russia or Indonesia."

2) Q: Do you have a rod builder you look up to, get inspiration from his work?

"Yes I have several rod builders I gain inspiration from. Modern: Kazutomo Ijuin is top of the list for being a stylistic and taper inspiration as well as being a good friend. I'm also inspired by Paul Young's ideas."

3) Q: You've built rods from graphite, fiberglass and bamboo blanks. Are you going into bamboo making in the future?

"At this point I have no plans to start making bamboo rods. I have made a few bamboo rods in the past but do not have the tooling available to me anymore. I love the handwork, care and thoughtfulness that goes into it but honestly prefer fishing fiberglass to any other material. One reason is the practicality of time. I'd rather go fishing than build a rod. And I feel it would be difficult for me, in this stage of the game, to change gears and make a living building bamboo rods. Maybe when/if I 'retire' 😃."

4) Q: In rod building a lot of the marketing has to do with the rod builder's style. What do you consider your style and how difficult was it to develop your style?

"When I started building rods, my biggest inspiration was the original Orvis Superfine graphite and bamboo rods. Most of the blanks wrapped with medium brown Gudebrod size A nylon thread. They had a simple cork and dual ring reel seat. Simple elegance and classic beauty. Many of the bamboo rods I was inspired by were very similar especially the ones built by Paul Young in the 1950's.

Since then, I have wanted the styling of the build to not overbear the casting and fishing characteristics of the rod itself. I do appreciate beauty and artistry that go into more complicated rods and love how other builders do a lot of aesthetic flourishes (and often refer clients to other builders if they would like that style) but I find that I prefer to use the blank itself as the center of beauty.

I have moved from mainly doing cork reel seats to using specific species of wood. I still make cork seats on request but prefer the durability of wood. Most of the time I use camphor wood. I love the look of it when finished as it's unique and usually subtle. But I also love the smell when turning it, and when removing it from the tube to fish. It reminds me of my grandmother and mother who are primarily responsible for teaching me how to fish - the frequent use of camphor oil based Mentholatum and it's smell reminds me of them. I can't think of a better way to honor them than thinking of them whenever I fish and build rods.

Wood is also beautiful and can hold meaning for me as well as my clients. For instance, this past year I found some wood in my stash from when I lived in Nacogdoches, TX. In 1995 I was working an odd job helping to renovate an old bowling alley and was able to take home a few slabs of hard maple that were no longer needed. I ended up building a rod for a good friend who was actually born in Nacogdoches and his parents enjoyed going to the bowling before and after he was born. I used a beautiful piece of that birdseye bowling alley maple as the centerpiece of his rod.

Another attribute of my fly rods is that I prefer to make them with clear guide wraps and dark guides for contrast. I like to use accent wraps like amber, olive green, red or brown at the ferrules most of the time tying in the colors of the wood seat or the colors of the intended quarry, tiptop and grip. I also like to do a small trim wrap at the 10" and 12" points with my signature and rod info in between those. I like the contrasting accent wraps at the ferrules to help them stand out when taking apart and assembling the rod.

So, I prefer to build in a classic and understated style with a few personal touches, most of the time they are subtle and nearly always practical."

5) Q: What kind of fishing or destination are in your top three bucket list?

"As far as places to fish, top of my list is Japan to fish for Yamame, Iwana, and Amago. I have several friends there and would love to with with them for those fish.

Then there's Golden Trout in their native range in California.
It's hard for me to think of a third specifically, but I'd love to fish Europe small streams for native trout there. I'd also like to fish for all the known cutthroat species in and around the Rockies here in the US."

6) Q: One development I have seen the past years is the acceptance and even popularity of the ventilated grips. Why is this? And do you see any new grip types or shapes coming into the game?

"That's a tough one. I've seen the popularity/acceptance of ventilated grips with the increased popularity of parabolic tapers I guess. I think it is possibly because of people using rods with them and discovering the advantages a vented grip gives - better sense of timing primarily.

I honestly have no clue if there is anything new coming up. It seems like most 'new' things are basically repeats of things that were done in the past."

7) Q: Do you see new developments in fiberglass that will rock the world (within the fiberglass world that is) in the future?

"I don't know of anything specifically but I do believe the fiberglass materials we use will continue to improve and also be more available to the rod making world."

Thank you Chris!

Update 28 Sep 2019:
A short addition to the answer from question number 6.
Chris once explained the difference between a progressive and parabolic action:

"The way I begin to explain the primary difference between a para rod and a progressive rod is where the blank wants to bend initially.

A para rod begins to bend above the grip and then move out toward the tip. The weight of the blank itself helps to transfer the power and the more muscle the caster puts into the rod the harder it is to cast. This makes it a more intuitive and artistic rod to cast with a generally shorter stroke.

People refer to the 'hinge' effect in a para rod. That's when too much power is applied and the blank gives up. Progressive rods give up too, especially when the tip is overpowered and collapses.

Now for the important part... Do they FISH? Both paras and progressive rods fish. There are well done designs of each flavor. And people will disagree and try to argue that one is better than the other. They will fish dries, wets, big bushy flies, tiny flies, cast in wind and calm, distance and short range. You can adjust your casting stroke, line, leader, power application, etc. and do the exact same thing with each flavor of rod."

A progressive rod begins to bend at the tip and then works its way down toward the butt section. Increasing in power until the power is exhausted (you can push it until it can't take it any more)."

Here's a an elaborate history of the parabolic action by the Australian bamboo maker Nick Taransky. The flex diagram is very helpful.

Update 10 Oct 2019:
Here's a look at Chris' day at the office.