Colson Cane Rods

16/12/2025

Jim Adams and I have shared a booth for many years at the Edison Fly Fishing Show. Our purpose was primarily to be able to see and chat with many friends that otherwise we would not ever see. As with all good things, our show booth has now come to an end. We will not be at the 2026 show. We'll miss our time there but mostly we will miss those friendly faces from the past that come by the booth. We wish those of you that would come by to sit for a bit, look at some reels and rods, and enthrall us with your adventures all the best that life, especially the angling life, has to offer. Fare thee well!

14/03/2024

Jim and Kitty Vincent's new book covers their pursuit of Atlantic salmon and steelhead. It's well worth the read to.understand their adaptations of AHE Wood and Anthony Crossley's greased line angling methods. You can get the book at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=fishing+bum+vincent&crid=PH8JURMZ1ISG&sprefix=fishing+bum+vincent%2Caps%2C108&ref=nb_sb_noss.

Reading their book led me to revise the five Notes on Greased Line Fishing on my website at https://www.colsoncanerods.com/shop-talk.

Like many things in angling, these notes are a work in progress. I already see things I'd change. Maybe soon ...

You can also follow my Colson Cane Rods page on Facebook.

Note (4) on Greased Line Fishing

14/03/2024

Jim and Kitty Vincent's new publication about Atlantic salmon and steelhead fishing is now available at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=fishing+bum+vincent&crid=PH8JURMZ1ISG&sprefix=fishing+bum+vincent%2Caps%2C108&ref=nb_sb_noss.

Jim's adaptations of AHE Wood and Anthony Crossley's greased line techniques are worth the read! It'll compel you to get out on the river to try your own adaptations!

Reading the book also motivated me to revise and expand my five Notes on Greased Line Fishing at www.colsoncanerods.com under Shop Talk (More).

Wood has motivated many of the best anglers for Atlantic salmon and steelhead to explore line handling and experiment with smaller (and larger) flies high (and low) in the layers of the water column.

Colson Cane Rods on Facebook

24/01/2024

Looking forward to seeing long-time friends and acquaintances and meeting new devotees at the Edison Fly Fishing Show Looking forward to seeing long-time friends and acquaintances and meeting new devotees at the Edison Fly Fishing Show Thursday through Sunday. Jim Adams and I will have a booth near the bottom of the secondary casting pond (a move from our previous location). I'll have a few rods to show this year, including some two-handers and some one-handers for light lines. Jim has some very nice, collectible rods and reels for sale. As always it will be fun to visit -- we have extra chairs and no goals for customer turnover! Come hang out with us for a while!!

09/11/2023

I'm about to reopen the rod shop after having closed it about a year ago while we were moving. It will take about 18 months to clear the backlog, even though I've not taken new orders since late 2021. I'll attend the New Jersey Fly Fishing Show in Edison, NJ (last weekend in January) with a few demo rods. Jim Adams of Adams Angling and I share a booth, normally situated at the bottom of one of the casting ponds. Hope to see you there!

15/01/2023

I’ll be at the Fly Fishing Show in Edison, NJ January 27 - 29, sharing a booth with Adams Angling. I’ll have some trout rods and Spey rods with me. Jim will have some classic rods and reels. Hope to see you!!

20/01/2022

Planing is on the work plan for today! My grandfather gave me the Stanley knuckle plane in the foreground in 1958 when he asked me to plane out two 5' bait-casting rods on a Herter's shooting board (hex on one side, penta on the other). The plane came from his family's hardware store, but it was already well used in 1958. He also gave me the analog micrometer, which he mail-ordered from Sears; the hardware store only stocked measurement devices to 100ths. I still use the plane, but have opted for calipers for bamboo measurement and a digital micrometer for making ferrules.

19/01/2022

I updated this morning my second piece on Arthur Wood's greased line fishing for Atlantic salmon to include Edward R. Hewitt's assessments of Wood's innovations. Hewitt was already a highly experienced Atlantic salmon angler by the time he fished with Wood at Cairnton. See the post at https://www.colsoncanerods.com/shop-talk or access it directly https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V8Gmcxap5nUZhhu1RbVnIZKmgwFGYgLXUmKUJ3oYB9k/edit?usp=sharing.

Note (2) on Greased Line Fishing A long-time angling companion and I were talking with an acquaintance we met when he was floating the Kispiox. Later, he passed us and called out that he’d taken one where we first met him “grease lining.” I asked my companion what he meant, because his fly and...

19/01/2022

Binding with heat treating to follow. Always a sign of getting closer to the end!

18/01/2022

Pressing nodes for a what will become a Trout Spey.