Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021 - 37

rod. " I apply carbon fiber, a material used in the aerospace
industry, because it is strong and light, over the mandrel
that has been coated with a resin, and that is where the rod
begins, " said Belisle.
" The layers of carbon fiber determine how stiff you want
the rod to be, " said Belisle. " What we call in the fishing
industry, 'hoop strength.' " Hoop strength is the rod's ability
to stay round when under a load. When you put a rod
under load, you want it to oval a little, but you don't want it
to go overboard so that it fails, " said Belisle.
" Once the mandrels are laid up with a specific amount of
materials, they go into the oven at nearly 300-degrees F for
2 hours. Once that is done, the blank is extracted from the
mandrel and sanded. "
" For each rod, I have targeted diameters along the blank
from butt to tip. I use calipers to get to my tolerance, which
is within three-thousands of an inch or half the thickness of
a piece of paper, " said Belisle. " Then, it gets a couple of coats
of clear coat, and I continue building the rod. "
" A distinct difference between the baitcasting rods, and
spinning rods, and the fly rods is the blank construction.
With the spinning, casting conventional rods, I have what
is called the hybrid construction where I use carbon fiber
and fiberglass. So, you are getting the best of both worlds.
You are getting the carbon fiber's performance and a much
stiffer and lighter material, but you are also getting a little
of the fiberglass's durability. Production rods come with
traditional guides, " said Belisle. " But, I also offer AirWave
guides. My customers love them, and these guides allow
you to throw lighter lures further since the line is so much
freer flowing through the guide train. "
" With the fly rods, I have two distinct layers of carbon
fiber in the blank. There is the standard base layers of the
carbon, and overtop I have another type of carbon, so you are
getting two different types of carbon in a fly rod. These rods
are fast. But in my mid-flex 5-weight, I designed that to be a
little slower, so it has a slower taper. It is not as fast, but it is
nice for delicately laying in dry flies, " said Belisle.

A 7-weight, all-carbon-fiber production fly rod began on the
mandrels below it. Every rod in The Lehigh Fishing Company
inventory is built from its mandrels. This rod was designed for
big Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, and bass. Scott Belisle landed
several 30-pound Chinook Salmon using this rod.
www.fishandboat.com 		

A special thread is used to wrap the guides in place. Once
dressed, the thread is then covered with clear epoxy to hold the
thread in place and protect it.

" And, my little 7-foot, 3-weight is even softer yet. That
is more of a full flex and a slower taper on that mandrel to
allow that nice slow action on that fly when you are trying
to fish in tight quarters, " said Belisle. " I named that rod The
Mud Run, because that is tight quarters fishing. Like when
you got mountain laurel on both sides of that creek and
when you are not doing any false casting, you are doing a lot
of rolling and flipping, and that nice light full flex is easy to
get your fly out. "
" My fly rods come standard with the recoil guide, which
is nice for winter steelhead anglers like myself. When you
are out there in the wintertime and get ice buildup on your
guides, you can just pop the ice right off. I had both of my
shoulders rebuilt when I was in the Army. I do a lot of fly
fishing, and I cannot have a rod that I have to do a lot of the
work with, because it puts a lot of strain on
my shoulder, so I created rods that are user
friendly, " said Belisle.
" I am a passionate angler, " said Belisle. " I
have been an angler my whole life. I fish for
anything that swims. It does not matter what
it is, where it is, and even though I am sending
rods all over the country now, I still try to find
time to fish. I am making and selling between
150 and 200 rods a year. It took a while to get
my name out there, but as people are buying
and using my rods and telling their friends,
and with social media, it just made things
explode for me, " said Belisle.

The Lehigh Fishing Company
www.lehighfishing.com

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2021

37
http://www.dutchforkcustomlures.com http://www.lehighfishing.com http://www.fishandboat.com
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2021

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