WHY WE DO IT

Seems hard to believe that I'm 59 now and I have been building and messing about with fly rods since I was 6. Bit scary thinking about it! But I still love it.

I remember being given an old broken Hardy Wanless 7ft cane spinning rod by an uncle. I fixed the broken ferrule and used to use it on trips with my Dad - flounder fishing in the East Lothian Tyne estuary. This was a big step up from the hand lines we had used up to that point.

On one of the access points to the beach leading to the Tyne estuary - a long walk for my young legs over soft sand, we had to cross a wooden bridge over a small river. The Biel Water, ( called The Biel Burn locally) near Dunbar. Every time we crossed this bridge (a bit rickety - but still there after all this time) and looked into the water, I would see these dark shapes moving - darting for cover at the speed of light - it seemed to me at the time.

One day though there was a man* in the water upstream of the bridge swishing this long, close-whipped 10ft Hardy cane rod back and forwards, with this thick (it seemed to me) line going out so gracefully in tight loops - with a thread of nylon attached and what looked like a wisp of wool on the end. This landed so delicately on the water. It was like magic......... I had to watch this performance. "Dad I'll catch up". "Can I watch mister??? The man was very kind and told me all about the rod, the silk dressed line and what it did. How the trout rose to the floating fly. This was fascinating - I was hooked...........Got to make a fly rod!!!!...... buying one was not then an option ........The Wanless 7 footer soon had a 24 inch solid green fibre glass middle (remember rods made from this?) added to make it flex. This was sanded and scraped down carefully to match the cane taper. Ferrules were purchased at another little tackle shop come ironmongers just off Junction Street in Leith. Rings/guides (called eyes then) must have been acquired somewhere. Absolute rubbish compared with even the worst off the peg imported fly rods available these days...... but it did manage to just about cast the cheap level Gladding plastic coated line I bought from Ernie Foleys** pet shop/come tackle shop at the top of Leith Walk in Edinburgh.

Fate played it's hand that day. Strange thing is about this chance encounter is, that we did not always use that access point. We sometimes did not use this route. Sometimes we would walk the shorter route to the Tyne estuary along the "right of way" at Hedderwick Hill Farm and past Tommy Graigs race horse paddock. The farmer though was "sticky" about this - even though this was a recognized legal right of way, after yet another unnecessary confrontation on a past trips, we chose the Biel route that day.

Had I not seen the man* fly fishing..............who knows what I would be doing now?

The Biel Water gave up it's first Norwich fly caught undersize Brown Trout soon after. I was so excited with this capture that I killed it by banging it's head so hard against the toe of my welly boot, that I knocked one of it's eyes out! My tarnished prize was still taken home though on the bus - and was exhibited with pride to my Mother.

Thus started a lifetime of rod making and Fly fishing that has taken over my life and become an all consuming passion and my profession since 1978.

I still occasionally go back and cast a fly on The Biel. They are just as difficult to fool today as they were then.

From the first fumbling's with bamboo garden canes trying to make split cane rods as an early teenager to running a successful professional cane rod making business that started in 1978.

Bamboo rods and repairs were the mainstay of the business from 1978 though till early 1988. My LL "Long Lift" Bamboo dry fly rods became a great seller and were exported worldwide and are now quite a collectable I am told.

1982 - the year I first handled a carbon fibre rod. I knew immediately the fly fishing world had changed - this was the future of the fly fishing rod!

I vowed one day I would make these carbon fly rods from scratch - in exactly the same way I made my bamboo rods. The will was there but this option was an expensive multi thousands of pounds, technological pipe dream at the time, but luckily fate and chance played their hand once again.......

In 1996 Greys of Alnwick the north of England rod making company were looking for a new Managing Director and I was approached by the company Secretary and offered the opportunity. Exciting? You bet!

Well not so exciting when we got a look at the accounts. They were bankrupt! No job to take. There was too much in deficit to have any chance of a rescue from the receivers.

Fortune smiled on me with a phone call from the receiver. All Greys state of the art equipment was to be auction off. Friends and the bank found sufficient cash to send me off with a good chance of a successful bid on the equipment at the auction to be held in Alnwick.

Thus in early 1977 started another journey of discovery. Not quite as difficult a start as the bamboo rod making had been - as I had been involved in rod design with several well known rod making companies in Britain over the intervening years, I pretty much knew what was in store for me, but it was still fraught never the less...but I was happy I was in complete control at last.

And so the ambition was gradually realized and David Norwich became an "in house" carbon blank manufacturer.

Every rod blank used on David Norwich fly rods is now exclusively designed and rolled by hand here in my Scottish Borders workshop.

I am still dedicated to this fly fishing thing - indeed all types of fishing - this wonderful sport, all these years later and still searching for the perfect blend of material and taper - that will take fly rod performance to the limit..............................................................

**Many years later I was in a position to take the lease over on the Foley shop. I had planned to move the rodmaking into the shop and open a retail outlet in Edinburgh. On the way to shake hands on the deal one hot summers day, and stuck in a huge traffic jam enroute. I changed my mind on the spot! I just could not visualise me making the daily journey from the fresh air of the Border country to suffer the dreadful pollution from so many car exhausts to work in Edinburgh............

* In another amazing coincidence I found out much later, the "man" I met that day on the Biel turned out to be a cousin of Ernie Foley. The owner of the shop were I bought the fly line.......Strange things happen in this very small world of ours..........

ROD REPAIRS

I CAN SUPPLY REPLACEMENT SECTIONS FOR MOST CARBON FIBRE FLY AND SPIN RODS.

EITHER TO THE ORIGINAL SPECIFICATION OR SUPER-CHARGE YOUR ROD WITH A NORWICH HIGH PERFORMANCE UPGRADED TAPER AND THE LATEST AEROSPACE CARBON FIBRES.

PRICES FOR INDIVIDUAL CARBON SECTIONS FOR HOME FINISHING START AT £55.00 PLUS CARRIAGE.

CONTACT ME FOR AN EXACT QUOTATATION WITH DETAILS OF THE ROD YOU REQUIRE A SECTION FOR.

Email : davidnorwichrods@btinternet.com

OR TEL: 01578 760 310

At last a rod breakage warranty that actually offers you realistic cover to safeguard your investment. If you accidentally break or damage any

Norwich ev series fly rod or blank, I will repair or replace the broken section at my discretion on three separate occasions.

This original-owner limited lifetime warranty gives you the reassurance you are looking for, but unlike unconditional lifetime guarantees on cheap far eastern sourced products the "Three Breaks Warranty" acknowledges the true value of the investment of time and skill I have made in the manufacture of this U.K. produced product.

David Norwich. Hillside Works, Fountainhall, Nr. Galashiels, TD1 2SU, SCOTLAND