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Creating Works of Art You Can Fish WithBy Allan C. Kimball, Hill Country SunCaptain Pete Smith creates works of art that catch fish. He does it with the world's best cork, sturdy yet supple rods, thread, and patience. Lots of thread and lots of patience. "I'm creating heirlooms for people," he says with pride. What he creates are exquisite fishing rods adorned with intricately woven thread art. These rods are handmade and hand-fitted to each individual. Their materials are determined by their use. Captain Pete can go on for hours explaining how this kind of rod will produce that kind of cast, how that type will catch this fish. His expertise comes from years of guiding fisher folk on Canyon Lake, Lake Rayburn in East Texas, and in Hawaii.  Handcrafting rods decorated with thread is a dying art. Only a handful of such artists practice the craft anymore and getting started is difficult. "Ever since I was a kid I've fished and I always wanted a custom rod but I never had the money to buy one," Pete explains. "About 15 years ago, a guy I knew shows up with a new rod he just made and I said to myself, well, if he can do it I can do it better." |
| "When I started I had nothing. I talked to folks, read a book and started practicing. I bought a minimum of supplies. Today you can find high-tech stuff to do what I do by hand, but none of that will help me work faster or better. You still have to work a quarter-turn at a time." Although he found information about rod building, he found nothing on thread art. "So that was all trial and error. I just figured it out," he says. Watching Pete work is astonishing. The rod is placed in brackets on his work desk, he takes a thread and wraps it around, then turns the rod. A different color thread is wrapped, the rod turned. This thread must go under that thread, that thread under another color altogether. Slowly, slowly, a pattern or design emerges. The work is tedious and so intricate that the average person can't make out the weaving except under a magnifying glass. Pete does it with the naked eye. Each piece must be perfectly placed, then tamped down with a dental tool. If he makes one mistake early in the week-long process, it will show up later and he must begin all over again. "I use only the finest materials," Pete says. He uses Portuguese cork for the grip. He uses graphite for the rods. He uses graphite or hard woods for the reel seat. He uses only Fuji brand guides – the finest in the world made of stainless steel, silver, gold, or titanium – and lines them up perfectly straight. That grip isn't just some slab of cork wrapped around the rod. He carefully cuts rings of varying sizes from the cork, drills them, slips them on a ring at a time and tapers them so they form one unit. A flexible coat of epoxy goes over that, then he works the grip on a lathe to fit a specific customer's hand. Once Pete is finished with the thread art-making fish designs, perhaps, or fiery diamonds-he coats the thread with epoxy on a slow-turning lathe so that the epoxy levels itself. He uses three coats and two different lathes. The last coat must turn on a very slow moving lathe for hours. Don't think these custom rods are fragile, though. Captain Pete will replace a rod at only the cost of materials if one ever breaks. These days, he's had to concentrate on rod building more than he did at the same time last year because his Canyon Lake guide business was nearly dried up by the September 11 terrorist attack. "It shut me down for six months because you couldn't get a boat near the dam," he explains. "Then the lake got hammered by that July storm, so I still can't do much of anything yet. It's kind of amazing how those terrorists affect this little ol' fishing guide from the Hill Country. In the meantime, I'll be happy creating these heirloom rods." And the nice thing about having a custom rod be such a work of art is that if the fish aren't biting, you can settle back and admire the rod. "My only problem," Captain Pete says, "is that I've got to build them perfect." For more information , call 512-847-5000 Reprinted Courtesy of the Hill Country Sun, September 2002 Photograph by Allan C. Kimball |