T.F.M. Spotting - Mike in Maine...Again

T.F.M. readers may remember a few months back when Mike Boward duped his bosses into sending him on a plane ride to Maine for a week long class. Summer vacation rolls around and the Boward family found themselves on the Maine coast in an ocean house rental for a week of complete relaxation and a bit of fly fishing mixed in as well. Mike sent along a few photos to rub it in that the rest of us weren't there to enjoy it with them.

What a view out the backyard and the T.F.M. t-shirt is pretty sharp as well.

A few flies to chase stripers with right out the back door of the house.

Is there a better color for the ocean fish than chartreuse?


Mike's brother, Mark Boward, is a serious photog and popped this stellar frame of Mike casting off the rocks.

Moxie, the official soft drink of Maine. For those of you that have not tasted this unusual soda, it is an experience.

Mike, your photos remind me that I've got to get back up to Maine sooner than later.

Off to Almont

By the time this posts I should be up in the air flying up the east coast and then across the country to drop into Denver by noon. A week in Colorado will have begun.

As I write this the suitcases are full of clothes and fly gear, the car is packed, the alarm is set, and I hope to catch a couple of hours of shut eye before I drive to Charlotte.


The anticipation for this trip has been great and the need to return to the west has been growing all summer. On weeks like this I get to shake the "poser" off and be on the water from morning until dark for days in a row.

I'll be bringing back a few stories, reviews for a couple prototype/demo fiberglass rods and other pieces of gear, and hopefully some half decent photos too.

OK...time for a few minutes of sleep. See you in a week.

East Fork Fly Photography

Over the past year of writing The Fiberglass Manifesto, one of the surprising aspects is when someone sends something along that ends up in my mailbox that I did not expect. So, it was a complete surprise when Rich Schaaff said that he was sending along $20 for a T.F.M. t-shirt and a large flat package arrived at the door step.


Inside I found a black matted East Fork Fly Photography original which I really am impressed with. There is something about black and white photography and vintage fly gear that has such a timeless look to it.

Thank you Rick for the stellar print. I appreciate it greatly.


Rich sent along a "T.F.M. Spotting" photo overlooking a piece of local water he enjoys.

Check out more of Rich Schaaff's work on his website.

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.

T.F.M. Spotting - Dave Worldwide

The nature of the work that long time friend, Dave Lofthouse, does as a recruiter for a medical college takes him all over the world during his travel season. He has become accustomed to frequent air travel and ends up living out of a suitcase for long stretches of the year.

Earlier this year he dropped down in South America and fished a bit on the Amazon River...


...and then a month or so later he was in the markets of Tokyo, Japan.


David...thanks for remembering to pack your t-shirt since it's neat to see T.F.M. go WORLDWIDE!

Sunday Cinema - RA's Green Screen

A few weeks ago I received a copy of RA Beattie's latest fly fishing DVD, Nervous Water, and eagerly dropped it in the player. The entire disk is REALLY well done but the short film that makes me smile every time I see it is "Green Screen".

This five minute film is not only a laugh to watch but also one of the coolest prefaces to a film that I've ever seen.


The dimensions of the YouTube link don't fit to great on the T.F.M. blog, so check out the film on YouTube and come back to comment.

Click "YouTube" or "Green Screen" link above to see the film.

To order your copy of Nervous Water check out RA's website. Also, there is a contest running on the Simms Fishing Products facebook page to give away ten copies as well to a few lucky photogs.

Look for an in depth review of Nervous Water to be posted later next month on T.F.M.

T.F.M. Interviews Mr. monoMASTER

As is usual with T.F.M.'s OFFER OF THE MONTH, I was able to get Ian White of Grasshopper Products to sit down and answer a few questions for this month's interview.

Can you give us a little bit of background on Ian White and Grasshopper Products? What is your story?

I'm originally from England and moved to the US 10 years ago. I obtained my PhD from Cornell University where I studied adult stem-cell biology, trying to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of cancer. I'm now working at UGA with a focus on cardiac stem cells and post heart attack recovery. While at Cornell I fished many of the rivers in NY and this is when I invented the monoMASTER.


Where did you get the idea for the monoMASTER and how many different models and prototypes did you develop before you came up with the final version?

I was frustrated dealing with my own waste mono and the waste of others. My pockets were full of waste mono and it would keep getting tangled with my other equipment. Worse, if I forgot about it it would end up falling out into the water or into my washing machine. Each year anglers in the U.S. generate enough waste monofilament to go around the Earth 45 times. As mono takes over 600 years to degrade in the environment it is easy to see how this is a growing problem. I started looking around for a practical solution to securely store my waste mono, but couldn't find anything. other people used plastic baggies and other containers, but they all required a lot of work and it was just too easy to not use them. I wanted to come up with something that was as easy to use as it would be to just toss the waste away. It also had to be something that was easy to access and reusable. I went to the hardware store and spent what money I had in my pocket on piping and other material and locked myself in my apt with a bottle of wine to see what I could come up with. I went through a lot of iterations that were rather complex and involved springs and flaps and all kinds of gimmicks. But, I just couldn't see anyone actually using it. I threw it all out and went back to basics. I grabbed a camera film case and cut a window in the side. I wrapped the wine cork in velcro and stuck a nail in the bottom. I dropped it into the film case and had the first prototype of the monoMASTER. It functioned surprisingly well and I worked from there to refine the design and function.

How long has the monoMASTER been on the market?

I launched it at the Somerset, NJ flyfishing expo in January, 2008. I sold over 200 during the 2 days of the show. I received a lot of comments from the other exhibitors about the attention the monoMASTER was receiving and I realized that anglers really felt the same way i did about collecting waste mono and were keen for a practical solution to this. I then hired someone to design a website and I contacted Orvis and Cabela's and things have grown from there. The monoMASTER is now available in stores acrosse the country and internationally from Canada and Europe to Japan.



How do you think that products like the monoMASTER, biodegradable fishing lines, and other eco-friendly products will change fishing in the future?

I'd like to think that anglers will be inclined to use these products for the sake of conserving the environments in which we chose to pass our time. As anglers we are not only sportsmen and sportswomen, but we're also wardens of the streams, rivers and ponds in which we fish. Most anglers are conscientious and willing to do what they can to protect our waters for future generations. We have designed the monoMASTER to be as light, compact and easy to use as possible so that anglers can use it to help preserve the environment in an effortless and clutter-free way. We hope it will contribute directly to reducing the burden of waste mono and also indirectly by making people think a little more about what happens to all the waste they generate.

What is next for Grasshopper Products?

Well, we're working on a few other ideas right now. We have one other eco-friendly product in the works and a couple other products to make the outdoor experience more enjoyable. The monoMASTER is still a new introduction to the industry, but with recognition from Field & Stream, Trout Unlimited and others we're getting the word out there. We just hope anglers will keep using it and bring it to the attention of their friends, family and fellow members of the various fishing groups they might be associated with.

Besides offering T.F.M. readers a great deal on purchasing a monoMASTER with a free zinger this month, it should also be noted that Ian White gives $3 to the Federation of Fly Fishers Conservation Fund for each monoMASTER that is sold and the customer uses the coupon code "FEDERATION".

Thanks Ian for an interesting interview and I look forward to what is coming next for your company.

FISH with GLASS

A friend from Maine, John Sisco (a.k.a. ratfacedmcdougal), sent me a letter this past week with this decal inside.


It was too great not to slap on the Element side window and then share with the T.F.M. readership. I need a stack of these.

T.F.M. Spotting - "Mr. Mom"

Being a middle school teacher, Matt Leiderman usually has his summers off to build fly rods and to work on renovation projects around the house.

This summer however is much different with the arrival of their baby girl, Paige Elizabeth, that entered their lives this past February.


Add to the adjustment of the new baby that his wife is also finishing her masters degree this summer. So instead of rod building Matt Leiderman is playing "Mr. Mom" for the summer. No worries since Paige is not fussy and pretty laid back.

Matt's planning to start Paige out right with a little fiberglass Fenwick FF70-4 that he has stowed away some place safe for now.


The cargo box a top the family ride is badged with a T.F.M. decal and is ready for a trout trip or a run to the park.

Check out Matt Leiderman's website to see some examples of his high quality fiberglass and bamboo builds.

Offer of the Month - Monomaster

Recently a device caught my eye and I got in contact with Ian White at Grasshopper Products about doing a T.F.M. Offer of the Month with the Monomaster.


The Monomaster is a small device that can be attached to your lanyard, vest, or pack which you use to collect all your pieces of leader and tippet that would likely end up in the water or along the edges of the water where we fish.


For the month of August, Grasshopper Products is offering a FREE Zinger ($5.99 value) for every Monomaster purchased. Use the code "TFMOFFER" in the coupon box on the first page of the checkout. Ian will toss a zinger in with your order.

As we all become more conscientious anglers adding pieces of gear like the Monomaster make a lot of sense keeping our waterways free of discarded monofiloment.