I shot this image for Mudhole’s 2010 Calendar photo contest. Mudhole (www.mudhole.com) is one of the largest fishing rod building supply stores in the country and it just happens to be in Oviedo (just outside of Orlando).

The table is actually just a ping pong table that I do all of my rod building on top of. I lit the scene with an Alienbee ABR800 ring flash as the key light and an Elinchrom d-lite2 for fill. The scene really needed the 200 watt elinchrom just to throw in those highlights on the black ring of the guide. Without it, almost the entire guide was lost in the darkness of the background.

For the tackle junkies, this is my tarpon rod. It’s a Lamiglas TEX-96-1ML with titanium coated Fuji SiC guides. I bought the blank rod as soon as it came out and was actually one of first people in the Tampa area to even own it. It is the same rod that some of the best tarpon guides in the bay now personally use. I know because my mentor builds their rods. What makes this rod so special is the pictured portion of the rod itself. It’s made of a material called Texalium (aluminum impregnated carbon fiber). This rod is rated for 12-20# line but easily fishes up to 50#, which makes it such a popular choice for tarpon.