Dwight Lyons "Hardy Tribute" Build

A couple of months ago Abe Lee (aka docbluedevel) started a thread on the Fiberglass Flyrodders website about a build that Dwight Lyons had just completed for him on a Fisher blank that he had picked up and sent for a rebuild.

I'll let Abe's narrative and photographs tell the story...

The idea behind my first custom built rod certainly evolved over time. Being a Winston glass fan, I jumped on an opportunity to buy a Fisher 8’0” 5 weight fiberglass blank last year. The blank came partially assembled with a decent cork grip and reel seat and only needed wraps and guides to be fishable.


Not knowing where to start in choosing wrap colors, I decided to look first at color schemes of various Fisher-based factory rods from Winston, Hardy, and others. I decided on the bold but elegant orange/ruby combination of the Hardy JET series. Plus, it seemed fitting, considering the historical association between Fisher and Hardy.



I eventually contacted Dwight Lyons about the build after seeing some of his rods on the Fiberglass Flyrodders forum. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he was very knowledgeable about Hardy rod specifications and that he even had some vintage Hardy rod hardware available for the project.


This is when I realized that this build could be more than just a Fisher blank with arbitrary components and JET-inspired wraps. Creating a cohesive theme in the form of a replica rod intrigued me. After discussing the idea with Dwight, we made plans for a “Hardy Tribute” rod, which wasn’t so much a copy of any specific rod but rather a compilation of some of Hardy’s most characteristic rod features.



As you can see from the pictures, Dwight crafted the rod with the distinctive Hardy Universal slide band cork reel seat and cigar grip, a Hardy NOS clear agate stripper, sunburst wraps with maroon tipping, factory-styled inscriptions, and of course, a ferrule plug. I fortuitously found a Hardy rod decal on eBay to add to the fun as well. Dwight’s wife created a beautiful custom replica bag that continues the build motif of orange and ruby. The rod is mated appropriately with a Hardy LRH reel.


I couldn’t be more pleased with the end result. This build just makes sense to me.

A Fiberglass Flyrodder member put it best when he said that Dwight did a fantastic job of "bringing the 'inner Hardy' out of that Fisher blank."

A fine tribute indeed.