OK, so I am pretty excited about my new blog! So I woke up this morning and thought ‘what shall I write about today?’ then I also thought OK guys let’s not make this a habit, don’t know if I can post something ever day, but I will try to post something on a somewhat regular basis! You would think that at some point I would run out of things to say, or not!

So back to that first rod… I have always admired Winston rods and the company of old. I was quite heart broken when I heard some noise about the break up of the Bamboo rod shop, seems that like so many companies driven either by greed or necessity they decided to outsource some of the rod building off shore! Seems that this is the way of the world, same thing seems to be happening at Hardy or has already happened! Sigh…But then there is the bright side…The beginning of the Sweetgrass Rod Company… good job guys! You know what they say… “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything” I respect people that don’t sell out for the almighty dollar! Ok enough of that, this is getting into politics.

Ok, well that is why I decided to built a Winston taper, at that time I ‘knew’ that it would probably not do the name justice (I was pleasantly surprised) How I agonized over every single detail of that build! Plane a bit… measure … plane a bit more… measure… reset the forms… plane … How the hell do you hold this scraper plane, what a piece of … OK, I’m starting to drive myself crazier just thinking about it! Oh and I did learn how to hold that scraper and use it all the time now… come to think about it I learned a lot on that first rod, a whole lot!

So I made reference in my last post that the first rod belonged to my Son, Leon. How did that happen? Well Leon and a couple of his friends decided to move to California in search of a music career, or at least that is what they told me. He was crazy about playing his guitar and still does so I guess that was as good a reason as any. While he was here we used to fish quite a bit. Anyway his birthday came around and as I was getting ready to write a check to put in his birthday card, I thought I would call him up and see if there was anything he would rather have than money! Imagine that, like the new commercial on TV now a days the question that jumps out is “Who wouldn’t want more money?” Well, he didn’t answer the phone, and it was quite some time before he answered my ‘call me’ message, to the point that his birthday came and went! I thought I would teach him a lesson and tell him I was gonna… but! I was lying in the bushes in wait! Then he called and I sprung into action… well I was gonna send you a check in the card you got (minus one check! he he) but since you didn’t answer my call I didn’t know what you wanted, so now your present is gonna be late! he he… That’s OK dad, he said, but remember a while back you asked me what I wanted for my birthday? Well, ‘I have been thinking’… I want the first Bamboo rod you built!

I should have known at ‘I have been thinking’ that I was gonna get the short end of that deal! Kinda like the time we were on our way home from a fishing trip and he said ‘Dad I’ve been thinking’…What’s that? I asked. “I’ll trade you my spinning rod for that old bamboo rod you have in the closet at home!” Hummmm, seems to me that I owned both those rods, and the bamboo rod in question was the first decent rod I ever owned! An Ed M. Hunter approved! Still have it! Though I think he got to use it for some time! Gotta watch that boy when he says “I’ve been thinking!” Usually doesn’t work out so well for Dad!

And that is how Leon wound up owning the first J.E. Arguello bamboo rod ever built!

Thanks for listening,

Joe E. Arguello