I’ve been fishing for over 60 years, and have been fortunate enough to have fished in almost every state, Mexico, Canada, most of the Caribbean and parts of Europe. In doing so, there aren’t many kinds of fishing rods that I haven’t had my hands on at one time or another.

Five years ago my brother-in- law and myself attended a rod building class at the local Vocational School and I have been” hooked” ever since. The instructor, Dick Herb is a Charter Boat Captain in the summer and like us, is bored in the winter.

We started off building simple rods and over the last couple of years things have progressed to where I converted part of my den to Rudy’s Rod Building Studio.

The rods have also progressed to where most of my free time is now collecting and clipping feathers. Feathers? What do feathers have to do with building fishing rods?

Well, after I saw most of the designs that were done with thread wrapping, I wanted something different and unique.

I got it!

No two rods alike. No matter how hard you try, it isn’t going to happen.

If worked properly, and you take your time, you can have the feathers on the rod looking as good as they did on the birds. Its not just slap them on, as it sometimes take 30 small feathers to make one inch on a wrap. The different designs and colors are unlimited.

I started with feathers that you can purchase at most tackle and fly shops. Mostly Ringneck and Golden Pheasant, but I now have a good collection of some exotic birds from all over the world.

I now have rods being used by several guides in Alaska, and many being used by professional fishermen on the Walleye Trail

Check out some of the pictures and you will see what I mean.