On the Advice of Stella
Hey everyone! Sorry it’s been a little quiet around here. I’ve been working hard to catch up on orders since taking a pause on new orders back in October in the year of ’21. It’s been quite a wild ride these past few months with all kinds of delays. I sincerely appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding with these delays. With all these major world events going on, I will be making some changes to how the Rod Co. rolls for a little while.
For now, I will not be taking custom orders of any kind. Rods will be built and listed for sale on my website and there will be very little styling variation from my normal minimal styling.
I will be scaling back on some models and adding more. I’ll be raising my prices. I have always been hesitant to do this because I want as many “regular” people as possible to be able to fish C. Barclay fly rods. I’m a working man, and I believe fly fishing also is – or should be – a “working class” pastime. Bottom line: I realize that I’ll be pricing my rods out of reach for some people, but … damnit, I design and build really good rods. And if I am to continue doing that, the hours and effort that go into each fly rod have to earn a living wage.
Alongside this, for the first time and as a lower-cost option, II will offer all my blanks available for anyone to buy. I’d like to see what other folks will do with my blanks that I’ve worked to develop over the years. I’ll be listing these on my website soon as pre-orders so I can gauge how many blanks we’ll need to make.
Speaking of new rod models, I have been working on a few ideas in the background and have a new series of rods that I am very pleased with (that’s an understatement). I actually got to physically roll a few of them, and that’s pretty awesome. I am quite possibly more excited about these than any other rod series I’ve done. These rods have a true parabolic bend to them with a slow and smooth casting stroke.
A friend recently accused me of ‘bringing sexy back’ with these rods. They will not be everyone’s preference; some would say these rods are an acquired taste. They might be too slow, or too heavy or too whatever it is … these rods are for those who love the process and enjoy learning from the experience that fly fishing brings. These are the kind of rods you use when you go fish and say ‘nah, it doesn’t really matter if I catch a fish, I just want the experience’ out loud but secretly inside you hope you catch a beautiful monster. And when you do sight-fish, fool and miss, then fool again and, slow motion sip, you actually catch that beauty, it's the most memorable few minutes of fishing you have had in a long long time. Then you say, ‘yay fishing!’ for all the world to hear.
The story will get better each time you retell it.
I’m offering the following Parabolic models in 3 piece configurations made of mango colored yellow E-Glass (black material on the way as well as dyed blanks):
7’ 4wt - Close range slowness, short casts, short leader, long leader, no matter. Find the rhythm and enjoy the ride.
7’9” 3wt - A sticky action kind of slow. The rod for long slow pools and Spooky fish.
8’ 4wt - Sexiness defined.
8’ 2” 5wt - Stop. Hopper time.
E-Glass (yellow, and black later on)
The finished Parabolic series will be $915 and the finished Synthesis series will range from $775-$875
Rods on the way to their new homes, waiting for tubes and about to hit the website.
Another bit of news is that I’ve moved the international headquarters of CBFRCo to a new shop location here in central Winston-Salem, NC. I am slowly working to get everything set-up and running like before. The new shop is a bit rustic and ‘airy’ so it’s taking a while (that’s also an understatement). If you’re in the Winston-Salem area holler at me and we’ll arrange a time to stop by!
In the meantime, check out the web store in the coming days for new rods and blank sales.
Yay fishing!
cb