Kevin Little

Kevin was born and raised in western West Virginia near the Kentucky State line. He explains his introduction into fly fishing this way. “I started fly fishing when an uncle observed, ‘Your old enough to learn how to fish properly and promptly proceeded to teach me to fly fish.’”

In 1983, Kevin was a student at Marshall University located in Huntington, West Virginia. While a student there, he first began guiding on fishing trips. He did a tour of eleven and a half years in the United States Air Force after college, but his love of the sport has kept him guiding since the college days.

He has guided several places and has had opportunities to fly fish in many parts of the world. He has guided in West Virginia, Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Montana, Idaho and now in Maine. His fishing experiences has led him to places around the world like Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Austria, Greece, Turkey, the Low Counties and Northern Italy as well as nearly all 50 of the United States.

Kevin began making fly rods in 2000 and selling them in 2002. To date, he has finely crafted 50 custom bamboo rods. The labor and pain staking attention that goes into each rod, combined with curing and drying times, allows him to produce only about 10 – 12 rods per year. He has also taken in some older rods for restoration.

The process of making each rod is involved and requires the patience of Job. First, he meets with the person who orders the custom rod. From his time spent gathering information, he attempts to determine the style of the fly fisherman. This also helps in determining how long that individual’s rod should be as well as what kind of a taper to achieve with the finished product. He has constructed anywhere from 6’ – 3 weights, for the small “brookies” to 13’ Spey rods used often for Atlantic salmon fishing.

From “getting a feel” for the type of rod to build, he then selects a culm of bamboo. A culm is a stalk. This is what most of us see when we think of bamboo. The work begins and it is time consuming. It is difficult for Kevin to say exactly how many specific hours goes into each rod but he says actual hands-on time is about 60 – 70 hours per rod. When you factor in drying time for glues and varnishes, on average you’re looking at about 3 months from start to finish.

This is what Kevin has to say about customizing each rod to his customers:

“I prefer to personally meet each customer and evaluate their casting style, since this helps me choose a taper that will blend well with their casting style. Each rod is a true custom, and the customer chooses the finish, wrap colors, reel seat, and whether the metal is left bright or blued.”

As Kevin describes it, “The Other Side of the House”, he guides fishing trips. Mostly in search of trout and salmon for his customers, he guides to The Forks region, including the Dead River, East Outlet of the Kennebec, The Roach River, and Cold Stream. He has also led trips to Grand Stream Lake and the West Branch of the Penobscot River.

When the season changes, so does Kevin’s guiding. He leads hunting trips for moose, deer and upland birds out of C. Moxie Gore Outfitters in The Forks.