Jonathan's fly rod and fishing with the kids!

There it was. Leaning up against the corner of where the door frame met the side of the house was a long triangular shaped box. Shipping labels and stickers covered its length, but the one that was most important read JP Ross Fly Rods & Co. It was Jonathan's new fly rod, built especially for him by Jordan Ross, the owner of a small custom fly rod company out of Whitesboro, NY.

Jonathan could hardly wait to get the package open, and when he did, his big smile said enough. He was so excited to get his new rod, and spent a good part of that afternoon admiring the craftsmanship and testing out the action out in the front yard. The eight foot five weight Blue Line series rod looked great, but the one thing that stood out to me right away was the beautiful cork handle. It was amazing and was a perfect fit for the hands of a nine year old with room to grow. But the part of the rod that put it over the top, was the name inscribed on the blank above the handle, and it read – “Jonathan Bradfield.” This meant that it was his fly rod, not Dad’s or anyone else’s…His!

I have known Jordan for a while now, and have had the privilege of working with him for a number of years. And the one thing that sets him apart from other major rod manufacturers is his ability to create a rod for the individual that is incredibly unique. Sure you can get a run of the mill rod with all the industry standards, but that would be like telling Rembrandt to paint stick figures. The point is his talents are best used when he is creating a rod for the client, not building one!

You can get pretty much anything you want from Jordan, from a custom nine foot salt water stick for striped bass on the coast to a small stream five foot two weight for catching those native Adirondack brookies and everything in between, including fiberglass! And even though you could spend as much as you would ever want to on a custom fly rod many of his choices are surprisingly affordable. Make sure to check out the website here www.jprossflyrods.com and enjoy looking through the many choices that are available. And when you are done with building your own dream rod, make sure to jump over to the staff web logs where you will find plenty of great stories and tips on fly fishing all around New York State and points beyond.

So what do you do with a new fly rod? You fish with it of course! And on that Sunday afternoon, all three kids and I took a trip to some local water in search of bass and panfish. It didn’t take Jonathan long to hook and land his first fish on his new fly rod. And as the afternoon wore on everyone caught a few nice fish. Jonathan now keeps his rod in his room patiently waiting for the next outing when he can add another species to the list of fish caught on his JP Ross fly rod.

Thanks Jordan!