Snake Brand Guides

09/06/2017

Check out these truly gorgeous rods by Kabuto!

Read more here: https://www.facebook.com/kabutorods

Hand crafted fly rod maker in Japan

09/06/2017

06/16/2017

Where do we get the fantastic wood that's used in our reel seats? Read on to find out!

When Snake Brand decided to offer reel seats we recognized that it was important to offer inserts of the highest quality. We soon found out that wood of the quality that we wanted was not to be found from most sources, and if we wanted only the best wood we would have to find the trees and cut it ourselves. It just so happened that Bobby Morris, the fellow who is my right arm, had been a logger in his younger years in Alaska, and that our endeavor was a natural extension of his vast knowledge.

Some of the photos that we’ll share with you show some of the beauty that Mother Nature is sharing with us. Bobby will soon be offering beautiful tables, raw slabs, knife scales for custom knife makers and pistol grips and, of course, thousands of reel seat inserts for me.

One of the saws we use is made by Stihl and it’s a real power house. Last week we cut a maple burl and log that was 27 feet in circumference. Most of the trees we use come from the Pacific Northwest as some of this nation’s finest woods can be found here. Check out the photo gallery of some of our recent finds. And stay tuned, some of the wood you see here will soon find its way into our store as extraordinary reel seats.

Mike McCoy

05/01/2017

Just a taste of some of the beautiful and exotic woods used in our reel seats.

04/17/2017

36th World Fly Championships, Part 2

While we were in Colorado for the 36th World Fly Fishing Competition Scott and I had the opportunity to catch up and visit with Vladi Trezbunia. Scott had met Vladi during his time as a member of Team USA and I had met him at a fly shop in Jackson Wyoming while he was giving a demonstration on Weaving Polish Nymphs.

Vladi came onto the scene in 1989 when the Polish Team took the 1st place in the World and Vladi took the individual Gold. Vladi comes from the town of Zakopane on the Polish/Slovakian border, in 1998 Walter Ungerman hired Vladi to be a guide, consultant and translator for our team. As the result, Jay Buchner of Jackson Wyoming struck up a friendship and Vladi shared his technique of weaving bodies, and Jay was the first person outside of Poland to learn this technique. Jay has been a part of our team since 1996 and continues to assist in any manner that he can. Jay has had the opportunity to fish on two of Poland’s top rivers: the San and the Dunijek.

Without a doubt Vladi Trezbunia and his Euro Style Nymphing Techniques have contributed to the successes of all of the teams that compete in the World Fly Fishing Competitions. He is a very humble fellow and a great ambassador for the fly fishing community. It was such a pleasure to see his fly boxes and see his works of art. For all of us who have had the opportunity to meet Vladi, of our lives have been enriched.

04/11/2017

36th World Fly Championships - Part I

Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Vail Colorado with my fly fishing buddy and good friend Scott Robertson of Bend Oregon. Scott had been a member of Team USA for 5 years and collected 5 medals during that time. Scott had also been a guide for 6 years in the Bend Oregon area and is a signature fly tyer for Umpqua Feather Merchants.

All of the fly fishing community can be proud of Team USA this year as they took the Bronze for 3rd place in the World. Spain won the Gold for the second year in a row. France took 2nd place for the Silver. Our team was led by Brett Bishop as our Team Captain. Team members were Josh Graffam, Lance Egan, Norm Maktima, Pat Weiss and Devin Olsen, Russ Miller was our teams alternate. Lance had an amazing finish, Scott and I were headed to the airport and stopped to watch Lance for the last 40 minutes of the competition. When we arrived he had bagged 6 fish and in the next 40 minutes Lance landed and additional 8 fish and lost one. This was an amazing finish and as a result of that effort Lance won Individual Bronze, and without a doubt helped our USA Team to win Bronze. The gallery of on-lookers had watched every cast for 3 hours and we all took such pride in his performance. I happened to be standing next to beautiful ladies, both Lances’ mother and lovely wife.

Scott and I were asked by Brett Bishop if we could assist as controllers. The waters fished in the competition were Blue River, Colorado River, Eagle River and Sylvan Lake. Team USA did an amazing job. We had the pleasure to interact with fly fishers from 23 countries. One day I was on the Blue River as a controller for the team captain of the Canadian Team, Todd Oishi, who is an amazing fly fisher and terrific fly tyer, we were at the bottom of his beat and next to the upper end of beat for Spanish fly fisher Jordi Cortina Oliveras, during a brief moment I observed Jordi Oliveras Cortina of Spain make the greatest catch I have seen in over 60 years of fly fishing. He hooked a nice brown in heavy water, held his rod high and made 5-6 leaps down stream and launched his upper body under the water and came up with the fish in his net. I commented to Jordi the next day at lunch that my only regret was that ESPN was not there to capture on film the catch of a lifetime!

03/28/2017

Irish Loch Style Competition and Team USA

This last June my friend and fly fishing buddy Scott Robertson flew to Ireland and represented the United States in an Irish Loch Style competition for our Team USA, when the competition ended Team USA came in 5th in the World. Team members were Joe Humphries, Jeff Currier, Jay Buchner and Scott Robertson. In preparation for the competition Scott put together in excess of 700 flies many of which were patterns known to be effective for that type of fishery. Some of the patterns were Goslings, Dabblers, Bumbles. Furs and feathers were dyed by Dave McNeese and Steve Gobin to match colors found in these traditional patterns. Weather and water conditions were tough and fishing was slow, the mayfly hatch didn’t happen, surface water temperatures were in the 70’s and all of the fish were hugging the bottom. Because of the aforementioned conditions Scott and other team members would cast a surface fly as far as they could and strip these offerings at high rates of speed to encourage aggressive takes.

05/16/2016

Looking for a one-of-a-kind rod rack, handcrafted with a vintage outboard motor integrated into the design? Currently there are TWO for sale in the Vancouver, WA area:

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/spo/5628957413.html
http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/spo/5628957472.html

03/23/2016

David Cunningham of Marshfly Rods explains why they choose Snake Brand Guides for their rods.

01/01/2016

Happy New Year from Snake Brand! May 2016 bless you with opportunities to enjoy friends, family, nature... and plenty of fish on your line!

10/13/2015

Planning on building a rod or two this winter? With tapered ends, self-orienting and concave-radius feet, precision manufacturing and seven sizes to choose from, you can't do better than our world-class Universal Guides. Pick some up for your fall or winter project today.

www.snakeguides.com/

Snake Brand Guides. World Class Fishing Rods Deserve World Class Guides.

06/08/2015

After years of research, design and manufacturing, naturally we think our new ECOated Universal Guides are the best fly rod guides available on the market today. But don't just take our word for it: Winston’s top selling Boron series will soon feature our new ECOated guides, and Loop has chosen to use our guides on 24 rod models.

Learn more about why these and other top manufacturers are increasingly choosing Snake Brand for their rods.

http://www.snakeguides.com/news-a-updates-14/47-why-universal-guides-are-the-best-flyrod-guides-available.html

Snake Brand Guides. World Class Fishing Rods Deserve World Class Guides.