Richard Bowers built his first fishing rod over 50 years ago at the age of 17.
He had walked into Shoff’s Sporting Goods store in Kent, Washington, where a barrel of “little black sticks” first caught Bowers’ attention, he recalled.
The blanks, not ammunition, but the starts to a fishing pole served as a blank canvas for building his own fishing rod. After purchasing a blank, cork, a book titled “Fiberglass Rod Building” by Dale Clemens and other essentials, Bowers built his own rod, and used it for over 30 years before it fell victim to the Deschutes River in Oregon.
For the last 20 years, the fishing-rod builder has shared his craft with youth and adults to help build their own creations.
Now, in his 57th year of building his own fishing rods, Bowers is sharing the craft with youth and adults and inspiring them to develop a deeper connection with their own creations. Last week, he watched as kids applied epoxy and personalized touches to their own fishing rods in one of his classes at the newly opened Battle Ground Rod n Reel.
“It’s such a kick to see a grandpa with his grandson, both building rods together and the trash talking about their color choices. It’s priceless,” Bowers said. “And to see a kid catch a fish on the rod that he’s built, it’s a huge revelation. And even though they don’t look professional, they actually work better than a store-bought rod because it does exactly what they wanted it to do. You can’t get that out of the store-bought rod.”
In last week’s class, Bowers taught a group of three “youngins,” including a brother and sister duo, produce their own fishing rods with blanks, adding their choice of thread colors, decals and more to create their own custom-built, self-assembled rods.
Thomas Hatcher, owner of Rod n Reel and Salty’s Spinners, is pleased to have his store host the classes, especially to the local youth.
Hatcher said the classes will hopefully pass a skill to a younger generation and possibly inspire the next Gary Loomis or great rod builder.
The rod building is started with a blank, and the builders add their choice of thread color, decals and more during the class.
“So it’s great to buy a rod, but it is much more satisfying when you catch a fish on a rod that you built,” Hatcher said.
The blanks used for last week’s class come with some historic significance to the Northwest fishing gear scene, Bowers said.
“These blanks are the last of their kind,” Bowers added. “These are blanks that were made by Rogue Rods out of Eugene, Oregon. They went out of business about five years ago. These blanks, I picked them up from Stryker Rods, who bought all the inventory from Rogue Rods. So, this is the last of them. There won’t be another blank exactly like this, so they’ve got a piece of history. Of course, they don’t know that. It’s an excellent, excellent blank, and they will have a lot of fun with it.”
Up next will be classes for building bass fishing rods with a group of seven teenagers in August, Hatcher and Bowers said. Due to the limited size of the classes, a set schedule for youth and adult rod building classes is not available as of yet, but is in the works, Hatcher said.
For more information about Battle Ground Rod n Reel, visit bgrodnreel.com. The store, 713 W. Main St. in Battle Ground, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
