My son and I drove through WBSF yesterday morning on the way to drop him off at Boy Scout camp. Nick asked, “Do you think there are any trout in there Dad?”. I replied, “I don’t know but it might be fun trying sometime.”

On the way home after the drop off, my mind turned to Willard Brook. It seemed to be a perfect spot for tenkara fishing for Brook trout. I could not resist the temptation to pull over and try it out. No need for waders, net and all of the other accouterments that normally accompany me on larger rivers. I grabbed my tenkara rod and line, a spool of tippet and a small box of my favorite flies (that included a small nipper for cutting tippet). That was it – me, a simple rod, and a beautiful cascading stream.

I found a likely spot, a deep pool with crystal clear icy water. I always sit and watch pools like this for a few minutes before casting in. Many times, a Brookie will give away their hiding spot or come up for a quick bite. I didn’t see anything after a few minutes so I cast in to the cascade and let the current propel my simple tenkara fly. It was a bright sunny day and there were spots of bright sunlight and dark shadows on the stream. I used my favorite red body, grizzly hackle fly. I fished that pool – about the size of a Volkswagon Beetle in size and depth (the original Volkswagon Beetle) – making sure to cover every possible trout lair. No luck.

I moved down stream a short distance to pool #2. This pool was significantly smaller but deeper and was flanked by a large boulder that diverted the water rushing in to it.

I sat quietly on a large boulder and peered in to the clear water. I spotted a long slender shadow on a rock deep in the pool. It still amazes me how a trained eye can locate these tell-tale signs of trout! I focused on the shadow and, sure enough, it moved slightly to the left just as I spotted the Brookie hovering about a foot above it. This was a nice small stream Brook Trout! I watched the trout as he rushed to the surface, grabbed what looked to be a small tan caddis, and headed for the depths of his pool. He was feeding and I knew where he hid – a perfect opportunity! As I quickly found and tied on a small (size 18) tan Elk Hair Caddis (one of my go-to dry fly patterns) he came up for another morsel. This time I got a better look at his colorful spots and white edged fins. This was an exceptional fish.

I waited for 60 seconds after he fed and then gently “cast” my EHC about 6′ upstream of his lair. I like to use the “slingshot” cast on short, precision casts like this. In this case, it was perfect and the fly landed gently on the water in a cluster of foam. I raised the tip of my rod so only the fly and 6″ of tippet were in the water. As the caddis imitation drifted over Brookie’s hold, the fish moved forward and gave a look up, but no take. At least I got his attention. I let the fly drift well downstream – staying alert in case another fish hit. After retrieving my fly, I slingshot cast it to the exact spot. This time it was on the outer edge of a little foam raft and clearly visible. I waited patiently as the fly swirled and slowly made its way down stream. This time Brookie saw the fly and darted to the surface – a good 5′ or so – and grabbed the fly with perfect precision.

As Brookie darted to the bottom with my EHC in its mouth, he realized something wasn’t quite right and turned to head downstream. A quick redirection with my rod and I began the retrieve. Tenkara rods have no reel so the retrieve basically consists of gently pulling the fish towards you until it is close enough to land. In small streams and small trout a net isn’t necessary. I landed the fish and admired his colors and healthy appearance. I always keep my camera at the ready so I wasted no time snapping a few photos.

I like to get the fish back in to the water as quickly as possible so sometimes the photos are not quite focused. That happened in this case. I wanted a shot of the fish next to my rod handle so I could measure it later. The photo was slightly out of focus but suitable for its intended purpose. A little work in Photoshop turned the out of focus photo into a pseudo “art shot”.

Satisfied, I packed up and headed up the bank to head home. The entire experience lasted all of 30 minutes from the time I parked!

In any event, with the book finally shipping, I am now officially “an author”!

My contribution is the reel and a horse hair line. I’ve already blogged about how I rediscovered line making, so I won’t cover that again. The reel I recreated is based on a reel I borrowed that is attributed to the period and location – mid 1800s, New York. I had permission to carefully peek inside the reel so I could more accurately reproduce it.

My goal was not just to make a “looks like the original” but to actually reproduce the techniques and use the same tools the original reelsmith used. Although there is no way to know for sure, there are always tell tale signs that are left as evidence. For instance, metal spinning leaves a distinctive pattern of concentric impressions on the curved surface. This was the technique used to make the spool plates. It is an old technique and an art form. At first I thought the front plate cover was spun too, but close scrutiny under high magnification showed that it was actually hollowed on the lathe.

It was through careful scrutiny and studying 19th century tools and techniques that I was able to piece together how this reel was made. The only deviation that I know I made was the reel foot and bracket. the original are obviously cast and are most likely bronze based on their slightly reddish coloration. I don’t currently have the means to cast brass and bronze (it is on my list of things to do!) so I used solid brass stock and formed it by cold and hot forging. Not quite the same but a reasonable alternative. Next time I’ll cast these parts!

Here is the construction process as I approached it. First, here are some photos of the model reel:

This reel is a multiplier – meaning that for each crank of the handle, the spool rotates more than one revolution (2 1/2 in this case) – and has a stop latch to lock the spool from rotating). It is about 2″ in diameter and has an original, unmolested long reel foot. The screws are all hand cut and the grip is most likely ivory.

To fabricate this reel, I started with the front plate and cover. This was turned from a 2″ diameter section of brass rod.

The cone in the center was also turned and slightly hollowed on the inside with a graver. The decorative bands were cut with a graver on the lathe. The plate has a small rebate around its edge for the cover to fit on. The cover will be fastened with 3 screws.

Next up is the reel foot and bracket assembly. The foot was formed from .064″ brass that was pounded in to shape in a concave wooden mold. The bracket is just a bar of brass that was hot forged to make it flow a little to simulate the cast part on the original. The concave cradle for the foot was cut with a half round file. The bracket is riveted to the foot with two 1/8″ brass rods.

The back plate was fabricated similarly to the front plate. Here are the front and back plate assembled to the reel foot bracket.
I hand made the screws from drill rod. The originals appeared to be #3 and maybe 50TPI. I only had 4-40 taps and dies so I used those. But I took care to make the screw heads the proper shape and size. Here is a bottom view of the assembly with the front cover in place.

The pillars were turned from 1/8″ D brass rod. The end that attaches to the back plate is turned down to 1/16″ to fit holes in the back plate and will be peened in place. The front end is also reduced in size (3/32″) for mating holes in the front plate.
The spool was a complex part to fabricate. The spool plates were formed using lathe spinning. This is how the originals were made. It was an easy technique to master. The spindle is my design since I could not take the reference reel apart to see how it was put together. But, it makes sense based on close scrutiny and similarity to other reels that I have completely disassembled.

The spool plates are silver soldered to the spindle. Here is the completed spool assembly.

An 8 tooth pinion attaches to the 1/8″ shaft on the right side of the spindle.  Here is the frame and spool dry assembled.

With this work complete, it was time to turn to the mechanicals – the stop latch and multiplier mechanisms. The stop latch consists of a small lever and a brass spring fitted with a steel pin. The lever lifts the spring and pin out of a hole that passes through the plate and spool. The ball head on the lever was tricky. The original lever end is egg shaped and appeared to be shaped by hand, not turned on a lathe. I used files to fabricate mine. The end opposite the handle has a 45 degree bevel to act as a wedge to lift the spring. You can see it in this photograph.

The handle is attached to the main gear (20 tooth). The gear pivots on an idler post fabricated from steel. I attached this from the back with an oval head 2-56 screw. I don’t know how the original was done but this made sense.

The main gear was re-shafted and turned to final shape. The end was cut to a square with a file to mate with the handle crank.

The handle assembly was straight forward. The crank shape was copied from the original. The brass is thicker at the hub end than the handle end. I tapered it with cold forging and files. The hub end has a square hole to receive the main gear shaft. The grip is “vegetable ivory” – Tagua Nut. I started the fatiguing process of it.

Here’s a top view of the mechanical assembly.

The last thing to do was peen the pillar ends to form a nice rivet head. Once this is done, the reel can not be disassembled. Here are some photos of the new reel next to the original reel.

That completes the assembly of the reel. The last task is to lightly distress and patina it to look used. I am going for the “10 year” look of a used and cared-for reel. Photos to follow.

And here is the reel attached to the reproduction Porter’s General rod created by Drbaits.

The section “Tenkara in the Land of Little Rivers” was shot in the Catskills. One of the attendees, Christopher Stuart has many appearances in the video and is the gentleman who introduced me to tenkara when he posted a comment about my horse hair fly lines on this blog! My son and I also have a short appearance (but I would like this video anyway!). The video is remarkably affordable at $5 too. Daniel (founder of Tenkara USA) has done a wonderful job educating and promoting tenkara to American anglers. There is a great section on tenkara techniques and equipment on the DVD too. Check it out!

I now take a tenkara rod on all my backpacking trips or to keep one in my car for a quick stop at a local stream.

The engine is solid brass with 3 hooks orbiting a 4th central hook that rotates the opposite direction. The cradle holds a powered handpiece that chucks the furler shaft. The handpiece is held down with velcro looped around the brass cross bars as shown in the last photo. Quite the device! I am going to build myself one like this for the furled silk fly lines I am protoyping.

So I started to do a little snooping. I discovered many of my PHP files had a large string of characters at the start of every file. I also notice server not found errors in my log. I googled the error and server and discovered that this is a known WordPress virus. The solution was to eradicate it from every PHP file. I did, it was present in several dozen files including some plugins. But, things were no better, maybe worse! Now, my admin pages were all OK, editing worked, etc. But my blog’s pages came up empty, nata, nothing. No code at all in the pages. I spent some time on the WP forums and had some things to try but none worked.

I finally did a complete removal of my entire wordpress directory – except my wp-config and my uploads directory in wp-content. I did a manual reinstall of WP 2.9.1 and logged in. Same thing, no blog pages. Frustrated I went back to WP forums but found nothing helpful. Then I had an idea, I went to the Themes admin page and changed my theme to the Classic 1.5 theme. Reloaded, and voila, everything worked fine! I reinstalled my favorite theme – Vesper – and plugins and all is good on the EclecticGuy blog again. What a pain that was though. I changed all my passwords and admin login just to be safe.

Did anyone figure out what that drawing above is? It’s the common cold virus!

BOOK OVERVIEW

148 pages • 107 B&W photographs and illustrations • includes full scale reel plans and design templates • 8.5” x 11” hardcover • spiral bound to lie flat on your workbench

BOOK DESCRIPTION

In The Reelsmith’s Primer, author Michael L. J. Hackney has finally made reelsmithing accessible to the inspired angler. With a few basic hand tools, an electric drill, and Michael’s proven techniques, material selections, and clear step-by-step instructions, the reader will learn how to create functional and beautiful fly reels.

Following introductory chapters on the tools, materials, and techniques used, the aspiring reelsmith completes the four basic reel sub-assemblies: the frame, spool and drag, handle, and reel foot. The book’s task-oriented approach helps the reelsmith stay organized and keeps the process enjoyable. The final chapter, Reel Enhancements, presents ideas to customize the basic reel and techniques to help the reader design their own fly reels.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE BOOK

“Here is a delightful project. With a few, basic tools, anyone can make a family heirloom for generations to come. You will be captivated by this book, inspired to make a gleaming piece of angling history and art, the fly reel.”

– Darrel Martin, from the foreword

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael L. J. Hackney is a self-described Eclectic Angler. He resides in central Massachusetts near his home waters, the Squannacook and Nissitissit Rivers. He is the founder of the Reelsmithing forum (www.reelsmithing.com) and The Eclectic Angler.

Here it is, my new book! It went to press on Friday and it will take about 5 weeks to print. With its completion, I’ve fulfilled one of my personal goals – to write a how-to book. I’m not sure why that has been a goal, perhaps it has something to do with being a fan of the second Bob Newhart show, “Newhart“. In this series, Bob played an innkeeper and a do-it-yourself book author in Vermont. Throw in fly fishing and it would be a perfect life!

I approached writing The Reelsmith’s Primer exactly like I approach building a new software product or company. The basic steps were almost exactly the same and I used social media and “crowd sourcing” to help with the content, design, and now, marketing and sales. I did all of the writing, although it would be interesting to engage the community to help with the writing next time. Since this is the first book ever published on building fly fishing reels (as difficult as that is to believe!) there would not have been a lot of experienced contributors. My follow-on will be  a different case. I already have a thriving community of over 100 new reelsmiths from all over the world participating at The Reelsmithing Forum.

The basic process was something like this:

1. PHASE 1 – PRODUCT DEFINITION: First, I developed the “product” out of a perceived need and personal desire. At the time, very little information on reel building was available. There were no books and a Google search only turned up a reference to an article in the January 1951 issue of Mechanix Illustrated magazine. There were also a few photographs and forum posts here and there but no concise overview on how to build a reel or even how to get started. I realized that there was very little information available on building reels and there were lots of questions posted on forums asking for information on it. It was not clear what the right “delivery vehicle” for this information should be, but it was clear that there was some interest by other anglers.
2. PHASE 2 – MARKET RESEARCH: Having built a few reels and testing them on the river, I posted photos of them on several fly fishing related discussion forums. The response to these posts was surprising! I was bombarded with emails and PMs (private messages) asking if I would show the sender how to build a reel. There appeared to be interest and demand for instructional material on reelsmithing.
3. PHASE 3 – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: My original idea was to set-up a reelsmithing discussion forum and share information there. I had not considered how I would monetize the forum feeling “if I built it, they would come”. Several very large fly fishing forums have developed in to money makers from simple grass roots efforts. I should also say, it was not really my goal to get rich from this effort! It was more about creating a community, sharing knowledge, setting up the technical infrastructure to support it, and leveraging social media like Facebook, Twitter, and this blog to promote it. Really, more as a learning experience for me in “putting it all together”. I started by quickly creating a set of tutorial emails I could send to interested people. Rather than just send the entire set of tutorials at once, I sent them one at a time to make sure the receiving party actually had some skin in the game and would build a reel. I did this by sending out an introductory email that listed and described the materials and tools that would be needed. I provided sources for these as well and asked the reader to assemble their materials and then request the next tutorial. The goal was to get 5 reelsmiths to complete reels using my instructions and techniques. I required that these early adopters provide their feedback on the process in order to get the next email in the series.This was remarkably successful. With just a little up-front product development investment (the emails) I was able to engage 20 individuals. Closing the loop with their feedback was essential. So many how-to books read like the author never tested the instructions with anyone. As the feedback came in, I iterated on the tutorials to clarify tricky areas and incorporate improvements I and others developed. When the user base reached 20, it became too large to manage via email, so I investigated options to start the forum and develop a community. I wanted to leverage open source software whenever possible, as part of my learning. I chose phpBB for The Reelsmithing Forum. The forum has been a great venue and a great little community is starting to develop. Folks are sharing their ideas and photographs, asking questions, and providing input. Out of the forum came several requests for a package with all of the materials needed to build a reel. That led in to a new opportunity. I now assemble the materials and sell them on my Web store www.EclecticAngler.com (more about how that was put together in a future post). It is a natural fit – readers of the book will need materials to build their reels, the materials can be sourced from several vendors or the a convenient material package can be purchased. As things progress, I will offer some materials a la carte also. The “product” (book) is now complete, so I am entering the next phase.
4. PHASE 4 – MARKETING: To some degree, the marketing is more my publisher’s domain, but we are in this together and I intend to use my knowledge of marketing and social media to help promote sales of the book (and materials packages). This phase is really just starting since the book is not printed yet, but pre-orders are being taken by my publisher (The Whitefish Press) with a target of early March for availability.

I’ll be blogging more as things evolve. For now, it is very exciting to have the book at the printer and getting started on the next phase!

I also took this photo of my most recent reel.

This reel is brass and Delrin. The spool is fabricated from Delrin sheet (1/8″) and rod (1″). The pouch is one of my custom-designed deerskin pouches and the tall skinny thing is an antique reel oiler from the late 1800s.