A man can dream ...

This week I was having a Facebook conversation with an American rod-builder friend of mine. Don Morse has been building custom fishing rods to order from his Michigan home for years trading as Rattlesnake Rods, and his creations really are "works of art".

 

 

Don, an avid angler, committed Christian and family man (who also has a sideline in making "novelty" in-line spinners using bottletops) takes a pride in producing unique designs to specifications discussed by him and his clients. I've seen pictures of rods incorporating photo's of wives and children, any number of styles of cork and abbreviated  cork handles, imaginative colour schemes and even his trademark rods incorporating a rattlesnake's head.

 

 

 

We got to talking prices, and a picture entered my mind as a gleam began to come into my eye. I've always fancied a rod built just for me, and the prices sounded very reasonable, although I'll refrain from putting a number on "reasonable" just in case my wife is reading this!

So, here's the plan: this year's fishing expenditure on big items is already mapped out, but I intend to order one of Don's rods in 2015. I'm thinking of a 2 piece 6" all round spinning/lure rod that'll span the range from catching perch to small/medium sized pike. I've already contacted UK Customs and Excise (15 day lead-time for an e-mail response!) to find out how the import tax side of things work.

 

I've got a few ideas in terms of colour schemes, and am already boyishly excited about the prospect. I won't be opting for a rattlesnake head (I'm not sure my local canal is ready for that level of "unique"!), but I know that the rod will be worth both the expenditure and the wait.

 

Don- I'll be in touch!

 

 

Walton and Connecticut Yankees

Anyone who's followed this blog since its earliest days will be aware that I'm a sucker for "all things Walton" and for angling art, and so I was excited to discover this week, via an email, about an American artist, writer and angler called James Prosek.
 

As a young American Ivy League graduate, back in 1999, Prosek successfully "blagged" sponsorship from Yale for a literary/artistic/angling "jolly", and with his pockets full of dollars converted into pounds travelled to the UK, fished where Walton fished and wrote and illustrated a book about his adventure. The (coffee table style) book that emerged from his Waltonian pilgrimage has duly been ordered from Amazon, and I await its arrival with eager anticipation.

 

Prosek also made a film of his time in the UK, which makes pleasant viewing. Although occasionally self-indulgent and over-fawning around the English upper classes, it has some beautiful camera work, an evocative soundtrack, some pleasing fishing scenes and is a worthy effort. Follow the link below, pour a glass of something you enjoy, sit back and watch .....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r2nRfnpWxwk

For all that harbouring an admiration for Walton is something of an angling cliché, my fondness for the old chap continues to grow..... angler, Christian, writer- does it get any better than that?