Our Story
Doug and Dan Daufel
Hello, we (Dan & Doug Daufel) would like to thank you for checking out our website and considering one of our fly rods. We are identical twins living with our wives Annabel and Brandy in Bozeman, Montana. We have been fly fishers, rod builders, and fly tiers for almost 40 years.
We grew up in Ohio and spent many summers camping and fishing Pennsylvania’s cherished freestone and limestone streams. In our younger years, we also were commercial fly tyers and were invited to perform fly tying demonstrations at many of the Eastern fly fishing shows.
Jim Corbin with a nice crappie caught on his 800th built rod which just happen to be a MBR 904
We built our first rods at the age of 16 under the tutelage of Dr. Jim Corbin of Yellow Springs, Ohio. We really learned a lot from Jim and were very fortunate to meet him through a local fishing club, Miami Valley Fly Fishers. Jim was very gracious to put up with two rambunctious rod builders.
We moved to Montana in 2001 after developing a love of the area from working for Craig and Jackie Mathews and John Juracek of Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, Montana during our summer breaks from college. They graciously opened our eyes to the angling opportunities in the Yellowstone area.
We are classically oriented anglers and prefer to spend our time chasing hatches. One of our patterns, the Improved X-Caddis or X2 Caddis has been a popular patten at the shop and is carried by Umpqua Feather Merchants.
Dan, Brandy, Bella, Dave “Dutch” Schultz
We established Montana Brothers Rodworks in 2021 after a lengthy design process to develop the perfect 4 weight rod. We have had considerable help from our friends Bob Giannoni, Dave Schultz, and in particular, John Juracek. We could not have done this without their generous help and guidance.
John Juracek
We started our journey inspired by the rod designs of the late Paul Brown of West Yellowstone. Paul favored long, light, and slow actioned graphite rods for pursuing the rising fish in the Yellowstone area. His designs were among the softest rods ever made in any material. After fishing some of Paul’s rods, we too began to favor this action.
We started this undertaking with the goal to build something like what Paul and the rest of small group of Yellowstone anglers that we are part of would like to fish in case we broke our Paul Brown rods. After a while, we thought that maybe we could improve on Paul’s designs. After 10 years of design work, we ended up with two exceptional 9 foot, 4 weight rods that we are really proud of.
Paul Brown on the Henry’s Fork
We realize that our rods may not appeal to everyone. And that’s ok. Especially, in the current fly rod market where very fast rods are the norm. For some anglers that are used to very fast rods, our rods will be stark departure from what they are used to. But, if you are an angler who enjoys the feeling of the rod loading and unloading or is looking for a dry fly rod for technical situations, our rods may appeal to you. For us, if we are able to add enjoyment to your fishing the way that Paul’s rods did for us, it makes this whole endeavor worthwhile to us.
In closing, thank you for considering Montana Brothers Rodworks for your next fly rod. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at mbrflyrods@yahoo.com. Please keep in mind that we have day jobs and this is a fun, side project for us. So, we have to juggle building rods with work, family commitments, and fishing. Thankfully, we have very understanding and gracious wives. We would also like to thank Dale Spartas, John Juracek, Ken Takata, Yuki Bando, and Joe Nagel whose images grace our website. Links to their websites can be found on our Links page.