I started my yellow glass build for Cameron at Fiberglass Manifesto this week.  This specifications on this rod are based on Cameron's input.  The rod has a slide band cork reel seat made of silver.  I decided to go with rope knurl on the rings.  We also put the JP Ross Templar Cross on the but cap.  In order to do this, we have to have the but cap diamond etched and then polished.  The grip is a 6 inch cork Flor Grade Cigar shape grip.  I think the reel seat with Cross and the Cigar handle look really nice. 

I added a Jungle Cock Feather inlay, and also inscribed the rod with "the Fiberglass Manifesto" below the feather.

The fly rod blank is rolled by Mike Mcarland, but is slower than most of his stuff.  I wanted a 6 foot 11 inch 2 or 3 weight 3 piece rod for fishing small streams and blue gill.  The added couple inches from a 6'6" helps the rod cast smoother and feel more like a longer rod, but have that tight feel of a short rod.

The rod will be made with double foot guides because that was what Cameron wanted, however I have found that these rods shot line better and are lighter with single foot guides.  The added weight of the double foots on the tip add weight and in turn slow down recovery speed of the blank while casting. 

The rod will be wrapped in a honey silk thread color and will have tiny alignment dots in black.  It should be pretty beautiful when complete.

Here is a Post from the Fiberglass Manifesto Blog.

Jordan Ross of JP Ross Fly Rod & Co. spent this past weekend at his cabin and was struck with a bit of "spirited" inspiration before bed which he shares in this post.

Jordan Ross wrote...

"It's the last weekend before Christmas, and I still have over a dozen rods to ship out tomorrow for last minute orders that came through. So after the last one was epoxied, I sat in the Cabin with Montana and Patton, listening to Jimmy Buffet. I could not go in just yet. There still was something left I had to do...something creative. So I grabbed a glass and poured a pinch of creative goodness and started working on The Fiberglass Manifesto rod case cap.

Trying to make a theme rod for Cameron is a lot of fun, especially when you have a Facebook following and a website like he does. Everyone loves giving their opinion about what should go on The Fiberglass Manifesto Eagle Creek Special. But many people do not realize that this is what we have been doing for fifteen years. I started JP Ross Fly Rod & Co. before I could legally drink that glass of scotch I just poured. For over a decade we have been making corporate theme rods for people, just like this one, except this one is a bit more special, because its glass."

"I enjoy making this rod for Cameron for two reasons, it's fun to do for a nice guy like him, and its probably one of the last fiberglass rods I will be making.

The influx of fiberglass fly rod makers to the scene has really taken the wind out of my sales with glass. There are so many new makers that I probably will go back to my strong suit and make quality graphite small stream rods. Kabuto Rods and Scott Fly Rod Company in my opinion are the leaders, and I tip my hat to them. I wish Tom Dorsey at Thomas & Thomas would push his designs more. He is a great guy and a terrific designer. As for me? The Reuben Wood was my biggest achievement for the glass market. No one had the guts to put a silver ferrule on a glass rod, but we did. To me the Reuben Wood is a testament to old world glass. Probably like Cameron, I had been fishing glass fly rods for many many years before the glass boom he pretty much created. Fenwick and Garcia were by far my favorites, and still are. All with metal ferrules.

So as the temp dips down some more, and the glass of Johnny Walker Blue Label begins to evaporate into my throat, I put the finishing touches on this quaint case cap. I hope that Cameron gets as much enjoyment out of this rod as I have gotten from making it.

More to come. This week I wrap it with silk."

I really appreciate how much time and consideration that Jordan is putting into this build and I look forward to seeing it continue to come together step by step.

Learn more about  the Eagle Creek Special here.

With the Holidays only a few weeks away, I wanted to try to do something special, but only in a limited run.  I built this small stream, short fly rod with me in mind.  If I were to make a Beaver Meadow for myself, what would it look like?  Well here is the answer....

This rod is a Beaver Meadow Small Stream fly rod for fishing short, slim, small rivers and streams for wild fish. The rod is a pack rod at about 19 inches when packed down. It is a medium slow action rod and works great for casting short and long. A couple of my buddies were using these on our last trip to Labrador Canada and everyone loved them and caught fish as big as 6 pounds on them.

Standard attributes include.

• jungle cock feather inlay
• dyed green black ash burl wood
• mayfly inlay on wood
• silver slide band down lock reel seat with rope knurling
• western grip
• gold strip guide
• chrome single foot snake guides and a red accent tip wrap
• extruded aluminum rod tube and cotton bag

I have made 6 of these to start and they are on sale for $299.00. Normally these rods are $430.00 with the silver seat.

There are three ways you can own one of the beautiful fly rods.

• call me: 888-300-6617
• email me
• puchase on our online store

Two years ago I released the Reuben Wood 6 foot 2 3 4 5 weight at the 2009 Fly Tying Symposium. The Reuben Wood was a fiberglass fly rod and one of the only fiberglass fly rods for small streams, with a retro flare and Nickel Silver ferrule.  That rod has been a huge success, thanks to the Fiberglass Manifesto and the fiberglass fly rodders. 

Now I decided to go a step further and create another small stream fly rod made of fiberglass, but this time with more of a high end technical theme. Introducing the new 6 foot 11 inch (6’11”) 3 weight 3 piece yellow glass, fiberglass fly rod. This rod is sweet and the first build will go to my good friend Tom Sobik of Eagle Bay , NY in the Adirondack. Tom is an old friend of mine and is mentioned in my book Adirondack Flies. 

Update: 

OK Guys, I have gotten a huge response from this post.  Now I need your help.  We have had almost a dozen inquiries on this, so I am excited to launch it but I need your help. 

Please respond to these questions on facebook. click here to go there.

I have settled on this reel seat and wood.  I also like the 6 inch cigar grip.  Now for guides, feather inlay, name, wrap colors, and case options. 

I am looking to release these for $450.00 and only make 10 to get started.  If anyone gives me advice on this rod by posting on our page we will offer exclusive rights to one of the first ten at a discount price of $390.00.

so here is what I am thinking.

• I may go single foot recoil guides on this rod or Titanium Carbide...
• should we do an old style Agate Strip guide?
• I think silk wraps are a must.  How about a honey color?
• jungle cock feather inlay or guinea fowl
• I dont know what to name the rod... perhaps six eleven, or something... i need ideas.
• the case could be black powder coat with a brass cap. 

I would love some feedback.

 come on Travis, John, Tim, Brian, Mike....  you know who you are.  dont be shy.

John Wallace and I have been friends for years and recently I finished a long awaited Kabuto Fiberglass 8 foot 5 weight 3 piece custom fly rod build for him.  Here the fly rod is pictured.  I just love the color of the Kabuto Blank.  I felt like I was working on Jade.

Here are the attributes of the rod we chose for this build.

• Kabuto 8 foot 5 weight fiberglass fly rod 3 piece
• Custom turned Cork handle with Burl Ring accents
• Titanium carbide single foot guides
• #12 Titanium carbide strip guide
• over sized tip top
• macintosh green thread wraps
• green alignment dots
• pheasant inlay with Jungle Cock feather accent
• custom inscription
• flannel rod bag
• green case with gold cap

I expect that I will hear back from John this week when he gets it.  The rod was lighter than I expected and was a little faster than I expected too.  The taper is unique, but the rod casts smooth.  The ribbed unsanded finish on the rod was also kind of wierd and almost appeared to absorb some of the epoxy when I finished the rod.  

I am very happy that I did this build and expect to order a Kabuto Blank for myself soon.

here is a little something from their web site that I transltaed in google translator.

kabuto rod company: Based on the design of the original taper, has been commissioned to plant in Japan. Made using E-Glass, Epoxy resin is. Said blank in the design, emphasis is often only the shape of the mandrel, Puriregu Other (sheet), the amount of consideration, such as resin thickness wound cutting a wide variety of materials.

To produce a blank KabutoRods has a career of more than 30 years (and) is a company called Sunflower Yokozuka said. He did respond appropriately to the needs of my fine in creating a prototype, if not I would have been his co-development costs and time spent on more. I hope you enjoy our physical understanding of high-tech manufacturing Kabutorods blank uniformity of products such as fitting a straight tip of the ferrule.
Recently, the technology has progressed significantly in Asian countries producing blank, intentionally stuck to MADE IN JAPAN.

Contact me if you would like us to make your next rod, or to even refurbish one of your old ones. 

This is our new yellow glass, fiberglass fly rod.  It is an 8 foot 5 weight 4 piece rod.  I teamed up with Mike McFarland from McFarland rods to roll this blank for us.  The rod is super slow but very light.  We are now releasing this rod and it will come with a black case and gold cap.  The rod will have a chioce of a few different handles and reel seat options. 

we will offer the following.

• cigar grip
• fullwells grip
• western grip
• silver or black reel seat
• wood insert options
• engraving on the case cap
• engraving on the reel seat cap
• engraving on the wood insert
• feather inlay
• custom inscription
• Gold or titanium strip carbide guides
• chrome, Titanium Carbide or Recoil single foot guides

This rod will be released Spring 2011 and will retail for $399.00. 

UPDATE 6/25/2011:  due to issues in supply, this rod will not be available from McFarland Rods for the immediate future.  We will be working with McFarland and a few other vendors to try to roll this fiberglass fly rod for us as an exclusive.  For the time being, our Graphite and our Reuben Wood Fiberglass fly rod are still all exclusive to JP Ross and can not be duplicated by anyone elde.  Until we can find a source for a 8 foot 5 weight 4 piece that is exclusive to our design parfameters, this rod will not be available. We will update you as soon as we can.  In the mean time, please contact us via email for other possible soutions to your fiberglass fly rod needs. 

Also see our recent Kabuto Rod Build and our Retro Refurb program.

if you are interested in this rod or others, please contact me via email.

more pictures in our Gallery

Back in a cabin in the woods there is an almost clear 8 foot 5 weight fiberglass fly rod.  It currently lays on my rod wrapping table sitting before two bottles of Johnny Walker Blue and a coffee machine.  The rod is being built for a friend of mine John Wallace.  It is a Kabuto 8 foot 5 weight 3 piece and it is a pleasure making this rod for John.  As I write this, the cork handle is still drying and I expect to put that on the lathe tomorrow, do some finishing touches and finally epoxy the rod. 

John wanted some special apple green wraps on this rod, and after buying 2 different spools of silk thread, it turns out the thread I had all the time is probably the best color based on what her wants.  The rod will have titanium carbide single foot guides no trim wraps and a reel seat that John had made for the rod.  I asked John why he chose me as a custom rod builder and especially why he had chose me to make his fiberglas Kabuto fly rod, this is what he said.

 John here, I just want to write a little something about why I picked JP Ross. I know we have talked and e-mail many times but I don't know if I ever have told you why I have you do most of my rods. I like to look and find different makers of fly rods. I just don’t  like to do, or have, what everyone else has. There are a lot of great builders out there but I try to find ones I haven't heard of or read about. I was looking on the web under custom fly rods and I found your site. I did see you don't use the same blanks that most use.   So I keep coming back to your site and looking all most every day.  I like to see pictures of the rods, how they were wrapped and the inlay. I can't see enough about the inlay. So I called and talked to you about what I want. I like the question you ask. And got the feeling you really cared about what I was looking for and how I wanted it done. That is when I got a my 10' 6wt rod.   Again it was better then what I could hope for. After that I found one of your 6' 2wt's for sale and bought that.   Again the wraps, inlay and reel seat was perfect.   After that I saw the Reuben Wood in fiberglass and the color of the wrap on the blank and the reel seat and hardware was something I haven't seen before. The hardware had a rope look on the edges, and the wood insert was some of the best I've seen. When I got that rod it made me remember when I first started fishing and all there was, was fiberglass and bamboo. I started having problems with my wrists, so I stop using the 10'. I decide to try a hexigragh graphite rod.   But it was a little more then I could afford. They did have a black blank that they were selling.   So I contact JP Ross again to do the build and again there is words on how it turn out.

 After that I had been reading about the Kabuto blanks and contacted him and got one of his blanks. While this was all happening I decide to sell the 10' 6wt because I wasn't using it and the 6' 2wt graphite as well to pay for the build of the Kabuto.   I got a call from JP Ross rods and he said he would be glad to buy it back and give me credit.   I sent it back to him and he gave me more than a fair price.   So I used the credit for JP Ross to build the Kabuto.   He didn't like the way the wraps were working with the blank and called me to let me know.   He has done this on a couple of the builds to be sure I would be happy.   I can't say enough  about his built and customer service.

 I don't have anything to do with JP Ross rods.   I have never meet  him personal, only talk to him over the phone. I have known him, I think for 3 years.   I'm writing this to you so you know why I pick JP Ross and so if anyone else is interested in you building a rod.   Please let them read this and if they want to call me please give them my number.   Hope all is well with you and your family. Thanks for all you have done.   John

I am looking forward to finishing this rod this week  and shipping it to the west cost for my friend to see.  Although I have done more elaborate rods, I feel this one is done tastefully elegant.  I have spent many weeks in Japan for my day job as a product specialist and product manager for an electronics materials company.  It is for this reason that I feel I understand the Japanese culture very well.  Being that this Kabuto is from Japan, I was careful in the way I wrapped and even chose colors.  No red, no accent colors, simple lines, and clean workmanship.   My goal would be to have even Kabuto look at this rod and agree that it is worthy of the build.

Feel free to contact me any time to build your rod.  Here are some guidelines.

Are you looking for someone to refurbish your bamboo or fiberglass fly rod.  Do you have an Horicks, Garcia Conolon, Diamondback, Fenwick or even a Heddon fly rod that is sentimental to you and you want it brought back to new condition.  We can re-varnish, re-wrap and completely re-build your rod for you.  Give us a call or email and we will get started on your Retro Rod Refurbish today.

• re-varnish: $20.00
• re-wrap and re-varnish: $50.00
• total strip down, re-wrap and clean up cork $85.00
• Add new guides $20.00 additional charge
• Add a new ferrule $35.00 per ferrule

We guarentee you will be happy with the results.  Here are some pictures of a Garcia Conolon we did.

Check out our retro rods for sale on our web site.

 Some people have been asking me about rods and reels and weights.  Here is a quick data assessment I put together.

New Blue Heron Edition Fly Rods by: JP Ross, Featuring Switch Rods.

John Hildenbrandt a long time friend and client of JP Ross has recently teamed up with JP to make his own series of fly rods.  The Blue Heron Fly Rods is made with very high quality components and the following features.

John owns Blue Heron Flies in Calgary Canada and runs fishing charters to his home waters.  John wanted something new this year and we are happy to promote this series for him.

• Select Grade Full Wells Grips
• Titanium Anodized Large Diameter Reel Seat
• Cherry Burl impregnated stabilized wood inserts with Celtic Cross Laser Engraving
• 1.5 inch Fighting butt with Celtic Cross Laser Etch
• Titanium Carbide Single Foot Guides
• Jungle Cock Feather Inlay
• Black Anodized cap with a 2inch Diameter extruded Aluminum Rod Tube Powder Coated in Gloss Bronze

John consulted with JP to make the following models:

All rods are 10 foot 8 inches long and all 4 piece.

• 5 weight medium fast action $529.00, free shipping in the US
• 6 weight medium fast action $529.00, free shipping in the US
• 8 weight medium fast action $529.00, free shipping in the US

To order please call 888-300-6617 JP or email JP Ross Fly Rods

or email John at blueheronflies@live.ca

New beer cap butt cap...

Recently a customer asked me if I could add a beer cap to the butt cap of their new fly rod. 

I thought about it, and I seldom turn down a chance to try to take care of a customer and especialy do something different.  I like to differentiate myself from the rest of the rod companies and most especially I want the rod we make to be a reflection of the user. 

I like beer...  I like making rods... lets do it.

And so we did.

Here you can see an example of this feature we offer on our rods. 

To have this done, simply send us two or three caps and we will add them to your rod that is being built for you.  There is no charge for this feature... it is just good fun. 

It is important to state that we have no affiliation with any beer company nor can we advertise a specific brand... Although I am most fond of our local brewery (Saranac).  

For the Holidays we are trying to something very special.  We have had a pretty good season here at JP Ross, and we wanted to do one more run of special rods for the season.

Our 5 foot Beaver Meadow fly rod is an intense little fly rod.  These blanks weight only half an oz.  And built up with the right components, this rod is easily less than an ounce when completely built. 

If you choose to take the rod as is, you will get a 6 inch handle, and a black aluminum reel seat, as well as an aluminum case and cotton bag.  If your order is placed by Dec 9th.  We can also get a custom feather inlay and inscription on the rod at no extra charge.  Please note that any wood insert needs to have an upgraded down-lock reel seat.

However, let me make a few suggestions. 

You can upgrade to a double ring cork reel seat which is the lightest seat we have. 

Or perhaps a down lock seat with wood insert if you are looking for some more elegance to your Beaver Meadow. 

Our Case options can also be upgraded by changing the cap style to anodized or even brass, as well as changing the color of your tube.

Rods available are. Click on to order.

5 foot 2 weight 2 piece slow action $155.00

5 foot 3 weight 2 piece medium action$155.00

If you have any questions, please email me.  I will be happy to assist you.