SANDY'S CUSTOM FLY RODS - Sandy's Ethos

Some time ago, I reached out to Sandy Nelson to ask if I could highlight some of his stellar fiberglass fly rod builds on The Fiberglass Manifesto and as things usually do, we ended up mapping out several articles instead of just one that I'll begin sharing today with "Sandy's Ethos". 

If you aren't familiar with Sandy, you should be.  He lives in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and grew up on the banks of the rivers Don and Deveron.  This made for a trout addict who ended up growing into a "Fiberglass Junkie".  He enjoys hunting monster fish with dry flies and relies on quality glass fly rods to get them to the net on light tippets.

Sandy considers himself a "Hobby Builder" but I think we'd all agree that his handiwork surpasses what that title usually implies.   

 
MY ETHOS...

Building and repairing rods has been my winter hobby for many years, right back to being a teenager. Building glass rods became a large part of this around 2012 when I first experienced Epic Fly Rods.  Being able to discuss things with Carl over the internet was exciting and changed my perspective on building.  Where I used to build for myself and friends using off the shelf components, I started to explore some of the smaller components makers and it became a bit of a mission to try and introduce people to modern glass rods and hopefully do for their fishing what it had done for mine.  The incentive to sell a few means I can afford to donate a rod to the Wild Trout Trust auction each year, here in the United Kingdom.


The Fiberglass Manifesto was one of the first online resources I came across and I have been avid follower ever since.  I encourage people to build their own rod as often as possible.  I have had so much fun doing it over the years that I think everyone should give it a go.  There is such a wide range of shops on the internet that support this, these days, that weren’t there 20 years ago.  There are some fantastic blanks available to everyone so you can really build something great from the outset.

Over the years I have gotten to know some of the makers really well and some of the other builders too, the internet is wonderful resource when used properly. I now count among my friends, Chris Barclay, George Minculette, Shane Gray, Nico Vreugdenhil, Ray Lee, Mark Williams, Tomo Ijuin, Mike McFarland and Dusty Smith.

These are guys I have talked fishing rods, components and even just shot the fishing breeze with. Some of these fantastic conversations have driven me in different directions and had me exploring other products and meeting other folk.

My whole ethos for sourcing is being able to support the small guys around the world that are doing cool stuff.  So I get my blanks from guys I can talk with Mike, Shane, Tomo and Dusty being the main sources.  Sometimes I discuss the products direct and I will often buy via Nico who has the established relationships for shipping things around the world.  It's great to be able to discuss new products and specific requirements for someone, directly with the designer. 

I deal direct with Ray Lee to choose my wooden inserts and sliding band real seats, Steve van Winkle at Struble and Joe Arguello supply my agate guides, which I also get to choose and is one of my favourite jobs.  I rely on Mark Williams and Marc Beissler for sourcing my metalwork (Struble or Lemke), Snake Brand guides, rod tubes and anything else I might need for building.  These guys run fantastic websites for rod builders and are full of advice for folk who want to build their own.  Finally I get all my cork direct from Marcia in Portugal and again get to chat and discuss exactly what I want. 

 

As long as you remember that getting things you want in a specific way will take time and you employ the same patience for sourcing your bits as you will need for building your rod and then catching your fish, its a wonderful adventure.

Stand by for a few days and I'll roll out two additional posts on Sandy's Custom Fly Rods.  In the meantime, you can see more of his work on Instagram.