I am always keen to tell stories of collaborations and this fly rod build by Jory Ward has a neat story behind it. I've long been a fan of the talents of Jory and some of his (along with others) very best work is in this Blue Halo four weight blank build.
Jory put together a few photos of this finished fly rod build and provided some interesting background to who this fly rod was given. Great to see Tim Johnson Gallery, Tacky Fly Fishing, Fly Ninja and Tim Jenkins involved in this project as well.
Jory wrote... "Being from the Idaho and Utah region, most of us, if not all, grew up in the Mormon religion. And everyone involved in this project have all known each other for a number of years. This collaboration was born from the guys at Blue Halo. In our church, we have a Prophet, his name was Thomas Monson. We knew he had been a fisherman his whole life. Even a fly fisherman. We've heard talks given and stories told by others of his love for fishing. As the years go by we could see the Prophet's health was deteriorating. We wanted to give him a Christmas present before it was to late.
Cort from Blue Halo took the lead and rounded up the talents of a few more artists, fly tyers and industry pros. Blue Halo donated a blank and I was to build it out. We researched his "Monson" favorite color, which was yellow. I did yellow wraps on a white blank and matched it with a beautiful piece of yellow Buckeye burl. The blue agate was a nice touch, being it was a Blue Halo rod.
I then passed the rod onto Tim Johnson to let him do his magic on the grip and rod tube from Tim Jenkins. There was a lot of discussion on what should be burned on the grip. It was fun to hear every ones ideas and Tim did a perfect job with this. The design is the Tree of Life/Holding to the Iron Rod scene. Tim designed it in a way that as you hold the grip, your hand envelopes the scene perfectly and your left with the beautiful image. He also burned the rod tube with an image of Christ. That is just amazing. Spencer from Tacky had a box engraved and tied a selection of flies. The fly tying master Grant Bench also added a selection of hand tied flies.
Jory put together a few photos of this finished fly rod build and provided some interesting background to who this fly rod was given. Great to see Tim Johnson Gallery, Tacky Fly Fishing, Fly Ninja and Tim Jenkins involved in this project as well.
Jory wrote... "Being from the Idaho and Utah region, most of us, if not all, grew up in the Mormon religion. And everyone involved in this project have all known each other for a number of years. This collaboration was born from the guys at Blue Halo. In our church, we have a Prophet, his name was Thomas Monson. We knew he had been a fisherman his whole life. Even a fly fisherman. We've heard talks given and stories told by others of his love for fishing. As the years go by we could see the Prophet's health was deteriorating. We wanted to give him a Christmas present before it was to late.
Cort from Blue Halo took the lead and rounded up the talents of a few more artists, fly tyers and industry pros. Blue Halo donated a blank and I was to build it out. We researched his "Monson" favorite color, which was yellow. I did yellow wraps on a white blank and matched it with a beautiful piece of yellow Buckeye burl. The blue agate was a nice touch, being it was a Blue Halo rod.
I then passed the rod onto Tim Johnson to let him do his magic on the grip and rod tube from Tim Jenkins. There was a lot of discussion on what should be burned on the grip. It was fun to hear every ones ideas and Tim did a perfect job with this. The design is the Tree of Life/Holding to the Iron Rod scene. Tim designed it in a way that as you hold the grip, your hand envelopes the scene perfectly and your left with the beautiful image. He also burned the rod tube with an image of Christ. That is just amazing. Spencer from Tacky had a box engraved and tied a selection of flies. The fly tying master Grant Bench also added a selection of hand tied flies.
We were able to
have this gift delivered just before Christmas, which was just in time.
The Prophet Thomas Monson passed on to the next one on January 2, 2018.
Although he was never able to fish it, I'm sure it brought a smile to
his face."
To see more of Jory's work, be sure to follow him on Instagram.
3 comments:
Hold to the rod. Nice work fellas.
Very cool!! Thanks for sharing.
Very cool!! Amazing work and well thought out!
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