A Labor of Love - The Art of Custom Rod Building

When Wayne Fowlkes was 14-years old he crafted his first surf rod from a length of Calcutta bamboo. The reel was held fast to the butt section by some components that were pretty swanky by teenage standards: two radiator hose clamps.

Over the next 54 years, the methods and materials of rod construction evolved: bamboo to fiberglass, fiberglass to graphite, and now, to Boron/graphite composites. What didn’t change was Wayne’s love of angling and his commitment to constructing hard-core, high-end rods. He has a broad repertoire, so using the best available materials, Wayne will happily and expertly build burley Hatteras Heavers, bass sticks, and fly rods for both fresh and saltwater angling.

Wayne’s rods are undeniably gorgeous, and his well-appointed shop is loaded with blanks of all sizes in various stages of construction. Rods recently commissioned for a local charter boat are being fitted with guides; handsome surf rods await coats of deeply delicious, lacquer-like finish coats; delicate fly rods are slid into aluminum tubes, their proud new owners itching to cast that Murray’s Mr. Rapidan Special to a hungry bass or trout.

Finely fashioned, responsive rods that are technically unrivaled are a joy to fish; what elevates them to an altogether higher standard is the meticulous threadwork that transforms those rods into works of sporting art. Wayne explains his approach, “Whether I’m inventing a new pattern or refining an exciting design, I’m always looking for new techniques to advance the art of thread work.”

As a ‘new product tester’ for companies like Gudebrod and Flexcoat, Wayne gets to see some of the newest materials before anyone else, and he puts them through their paces. Anything slipshod or tacky goes straight into the round file. His work and reputation is so highly thought of that for 20 years Gudebrod has featured his butt wraps and thread designs on the front cover of their catalogs.

Various luminaries own or have commissioned Wayne’s custom rods. George Bush Sr. owns a rod decorated with an intricate American flag motif with the Presidential Seal embedded above the grip. Loretta Lynn picked up the phone and ordered two simple, green and gold bass rods for her husband Doolittle. Curtis Strange ordered rods for use on his boat. Wayne even fulfilled a very special order from the Blue Angels for a blue and yellow presentation fly rod.

Wayne is especially proud of his own Fishnet design that anglers won’t find anywhere else. Other dazzling patterns include a St. John’s Cross with a star radiating from the center, a series of Native American thunderbirds emerging from red flames, and blue holographic threadwork reminiscent of ocean waves.

Some designs are Escher-like in their complexity and elusiveness. For example, the hard-wearing, black and gold Predator design Wayne employs appears at first glance to be a simple succession of diamond shapes… a closer look reveals a school of larger fish, charging after smaller bait fish. He also designs colorful custom mosaic work on rods with foam grips.

In an age of mass-production, nothing beats the mojo that resides in a handcrafted fishing rod. From Wayne’s first cane pole to his latest custom graphite wonder, each rod is as individual as its creator.