A few weeks back I needed to be up in Greensboro for a dinner and as I planning the trip up, I reached out to Chris Barclay of C. Barclay Fly Rod Co. to see if he'd be around and if I could stop by the new shop for a visit on my way through. Chris texted back that I was welcome to stop by and that he should be working in the shop for most of the day. I arrived just afternoon noon and after a quick glance at the shop, we walked across the street for a poke bowl and a chat. We returned to the shop and over the next couple of hours, Chris worked on several fly rod projects while I quietly snapped photographs which you can slow scroll through in his post. I appreciate Chris's generosity in letting me stop by and the conversation.
After a few years of C. Barclay Fly Rod Co. being somewhat in flux without a real shop, Chris happened on this new space while visiting his local guitar shop. He asked if they were aware of a shop rental around and was offered their largely unused three-room basement. This could not have been more perfect since it's provided a "Dirty Room" for making dust turning cork grips and wood reel seats and then passing through a curtain into a "Clean Room" that feels more like a lounge for wrapping and finishing fly rods, with a desk, work bench, and couch. The entire space is comfortable with more than enough room for Chris to work, and often a playlist of Guy Clark, Charlie Parr, Jeffery Foucault, Gillian Welch, Gregory Allen Hess, Derrick Trucks Band, Mississippi John Hurt, Billy Strings or others can be heard playing in the background.
After years of building fly rods at his home or in a couple of different backyard sheds, having an actual shop that's a fifteen minute drive from his home has helped Chris create some needed work-life balance with actual "shop hours" instead of living around half-built fly rods in various stages of completion.
Looking back through the T.F.M. archives, the first mention of Chris Barclay was in 2012 with a post on bluegill fishing with a McFarland Rod Company Spruce Creek 7'6" 3-weight that he had just built. A little over a year later, Chris launched the C. Barclay Fly Rod Co. website announcing his first offering, dubbed "Barclay Glass", which was a 7'2" 3-weight on a translucent "Brown Ale" blank. There have been quite a few changes since then but it's interesting looking back how many of the design features remain wonderfully the same.
Chris reflected on gaining experience and confidence from mentors which included Art Mayfield, a handful of members from the Fiberglass Flyrodders forum who pushed him to continue, and James Green at the Orvis Rod Factory, who provided him with blanks, hardware, and thread. He was interested in fiberglass fly rods but sold several guitars to purchase Paul Young Granger bamboo fly rods which he deconstructed to see how they were put together. Through the years, Tomo of Ijuin-Rod has been a tremendous influence and friend, pushing him to develop his own style and to stick with it.
Knowing Chris for all these years, I can say that he's firmly stayed on script designing and building some of the finest light line fiberglass fly rods for small streams. There has been the occasional 6-weight or 8-weight but his wheelhouse is in the 3-weight to 4-weight realm, maybe stretching into a 5-weight. I didn't know it until this visit but Chris is colorblind and he would forgo the brown blank color for a color that he can actually see. Over the years, his blanks have been a few different shades of yellow which he described these variations as "Mango", "Lemony", "School Bus", and "Sunrise Yellow", all which remind him of cutthroat trout that he's caught on trips out west.
What's next for Chris? He is continuing to settle into this new shop space and imagining future opportunities, like an open house gathering to bring "Glass Geeks" together from time to time. He hinted that he and his wife might end up out west for part of their year and he was figuring out ways that he could build fly rods with a mobile shop. And then there are new ideas of fly rod tapers that he's still working through the prototype process of. He's also simplified his the Synthesis Series lineup and made some price adjustments, too. You can read about this update on his recent Smallwater post.
The future is bright for C. Barclay Fly Rod Co. and this new shop is a spark that will carry him forward. Longtime supporters and a growing group of enthusiasts of his fly rods go a long ways in this, too.
While this post is much longer than typical, I figured that you might enjoy seeing an in depth set of images. I had a good time capturing these photos and there were just too many not to share.
Visit the C. Barclay Fly Rod Co. website, don't sleep on his Smallwater blog updates, and follow along with the latest shop news on Facebook and Instagram.
Need more? Consider joining the C. Barclay Fly Rod Co. Enthusiasts Group on Facebook, too.
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