WHO ARE WE

In the early 1980's, Joe Graves needed to have an eye replaced on one of his rods. A school friend of their son's said his dad could fix the eye. Sure enough, Alton Bell went to their home and showed Joe how to replace the damaged eye.

Joe became intrigued with the mechanics of how a fishing rod was made. Then he began looking for someone who could show him how to build a rod from start to finish.

Through several months of searching, he was introduced to Mr. John Grady of Austin, Texas who had been a professional rod builder for nearly 50 years. Mr. Grady took the time to teach Joe the fine art of rod wrapping and eventually taught him the "Spiral Wrap".

In September of 2000, I invited Joe to Broaddus Texas because I too had an urge to learn how build rods. He brought the tools and everything I needed and with much patience over a week's time, taught me the art of building a fishing rod from start to finish. I then spent the next three years practicing building fishing rods. During this time Joe had two major surgeries and after the last one in the fall of 2003, he decided to retire and fish more (Lucky Him). He is doing great by the way. When he told me about retiring, we struck up a conversation about what he intended to do with the business. Of all the people to whom he had taught rod building, I was one of the ones that he would consider selling it to. His goal was to find someone who took as much pride in their work as he did, and well, here I am.

As Mr. Grady was so gracious to teach Joe this art, I have continued the tradition of passing the art on to others. I have taught several people, young and not so young, how to make rods and have made many new friends in the process.