Reel seat of rod with skull engraved in 1935 Indian Head nickel. Tip and mid sections next laying beside.
Four rod sections lying diagonally. One features red agate stripping guide.
Grip of rod made of ebonized cottonwood bark.
Reel seat of rod with skull engraved in 1935 Indian Head nickel. Tip and mid sections next laying beside.
Four rod sections lying diagonally. One features red agate stripping guide.
Grip of rod made of ebonized cottonwood bark.

Black on Black 8053

$3,100.00

8’ 0” 5 weight

  • Three piece, two tip sections

  • Custom engraved 1935 Indian Head hobo nickel

  • Hand-turned ebonized cherry reel seat

  • Ebonized cottonwood bark grip

  • Heavily flamed rod with black on black details

  • Aluminum rod tube and custom rod bag

  • Premium Snake Brand dark nickel guides

  • Blood red European agate stripping guide

  • Blued nickel silver ferrules and reel seat hardware

Available for Immediate Shipping

8’ 0” 5 weight

  • Three piece, two tip sections

  • Custom engraved 1935 Indian Head hobo nickel

  • Hand-turned ebonized cherry reel seat

  • Ebonized cottonwood bark grip

  • Heavily flamed rod with black on black details

  • Aluminum rod tube and custom rod bag

  • Premium Snake Brand dark nickel guides

  • Blood red European agate stripping guide

  • Blued nickel silver ferrules and reel seat hardware

Available for Immediate Shipping

A Dark Art

When I got married, I gave each of my groomsmen an engraved hobo nickel. Years later, those nickels inspired a rod a bit darker than that day.

From the heavily flamed blank, to the blood red agate guide, and of course the engraved skull in the butt, this rod is mean and seductive. Hours of love went into designing every detail, hand-turning the ebonized cherry reel seat and cottonwood grip and wrapping in a jet black silk with multiple trim details.

As Hiram Hawes said of a bamboo rod, “It’s a useful thing, beautifully made.” And I didn’t build this rod just to be a wall-hanger. Crafted from my Four Horse Series convex taper and named after the outboard John Haywood kept in the trunk of his sedan, this rod is a medium-fast workhorse. The result is a rod that will load with less than 20 feet of line out of the tip but with enough backbone to reach far beyond. Of all our rods, these feel the most like a natural extension of your arm and make the casts at the end of the day as effortless as the first

And to make an already special rod even more unique, this rod won first place in the Southern Rodmakers Gathering’s Challenge Rod competition in 2025.

A handcrafted bamboo fly rod reel seat featuring an embedded hobo nickel coin carved with a Native American skull motif, displayed alongside rod sections and rod sack on a leather surface
Three sections of a bamboo fly rod with nickel silver ferrules and snake guides, displayed beside a dark cottonwood grip and ebonized turned cherry reel seat on a leather surface
Two bamboo fly rod tip sections and a mid section with snake guides wrapped in black silk next to an ebonized cottonwood grip on a butt section, resting on a rich leather background
xtreme close-up of a stripping guide on a bamboo fly rod, featuring a dark metal frame with a red agate insert and black thread wraps over warm cane.
Butt section of a bamboo fly rod with an elegant turned wooden reel seat and grip, displayed alongside three rod sections on an olive canvas rod bag
Three sections of a bamboo fly rod arranged beside a butt section featuring a dark cottonwood grip on a canvas background, showing metal ferrules and black-wrapped snake guides.
Close-up of four bamboo fly rod sections displayed on a canvas surface, highlighting the warm honey-brown cane tones, black thread wraps, and snake line guides.
Four sections of a split-cane bamboo fly rod laid out on an olive canvas rod bag, showing snake guides with black thread wraps and metal ferrules.