Flyfishing

My first attempt was, as might be expected, a working disaster. It stunk, but I actually could cast with it, and I actually caught fish with it.

I used a kit from Cabela's; it was a nine-foot, nine-weight fiberglass rod blank, medium brown in color. I chose dark green thread for the guide wraps, and it came with a set of guides, a reel seat, epoxy glue, the whole thing.

This one, I called my "Calvin and Hobbes" rod. Anyone who has followed Sam Waterson's first-rate comic strip about a six year old boy will completely understand.

There are some really nice jigs and things one can buy, which allow the rod builder to have a great deal of control over the thread that is wrapped over the guide feet. Some builders use what those directions in the Cabela's kit called for: passing the thread through a book, to give some tension, and just hold the rod in your hands as you wrap.

Well, I'm nowhere near that coordinated; I tried that and it was bad. Moreover, having no advice to guide me, I was at the mercy of my own impatience. :-)

Go get yourself all of the Calvin and Hobbes comic books; you'll be glad you did. Then, in your perusal, take particular note of the comics wherein Calvin attempts to build a plastic model airplane, specifically, an F-4 Phantom II fighter jet.

Just imagine what a clumsy, impatient six-year-old would produce from that fine plastic kit, and apply that to a fly rod. The guides weren't lined up; there were tag ends of thread sticking up through the final epoxy; I didn't know that the blank at the reel seat had to be built up with masking take or cork rings, so the reel seat was glued, off-center, right to the blank; and finally, I didn't know that a fiberglass blank usually called for a foam handle, so I reamed out a cork one pretty much all the way to the skin. Off-center, of course.

OK, the second attempt went much better. I used another kit from Cabela's, this time a 7'6" graphite blank in gloss dark green; it was a beautiful blank. It was for a 5 weight line.

I chose yellow thread for the guide wraps, thinking it would offset the dark green rather well; it did, but it was still too bright. Overall, though, it made a very nice fly rod.

I was able to make the wraps very much nicer this time, because I had also purchased a rod wrapping jig from Cabela's along with my kit. It held both the rod blank and the thread, so that it was vastly easier to wrap the guides.

I still have that rod, and I use it extensively.

My third rod was a 9' 5wt blank, chestnut brown, with matching brown wraps. Everything went very well on this one, too, and it turned out to be a really nice rod.

Unfortunately, I lost this one during a backpacking trip into the Lost Creek Wilderness Area. We were coming out, in the rain; in my haste to throw all our stuff in the back of the Jeep, I forgot that the rod was set against the side of the vehicle; I drove off without it. My wife went back a few days later to see if it was still there, but it was gone. Someone got a really nice rod and an Orvis Battenkill 5/6 disc drag reel.

My fourth was a 6' ultralight spinning rod for my father. It was a medium grey blank, with garnet wraps and a single trim wrap of goldenrod -- a beautiful little rod.

He still has it and still uses it.

This one was for Pike fishing, and perhaps some saltwater as well. I used a Diamondback Backwater blank, 9' 10wt. While 10wt is probably too stiff for the fish, I'm not at all convinced that it is too stiff for the flies. Ever cast one of those six-inch rabbit fur pike flies? It's like casting a wet sock. So, I went with the 10wt to be able to turn over the big flies.

Anyway, I used dark blue on the wraps, with a single turn of silver for a trim on each guide. Moreover, instead of using epoxy, I used urethane over the wraps. It turned out so well, without the problems of bubbles, that I've gone completely to urathane for the wraps. It also doesn't build up as much, and I like the low profile.

This one is for brookie bashing, and it's currently under construction. I've chosen a St. Croix SC IV blank, in matte green, at 3wt (2 piece). The wraps are using silk thread in deep purple, with a goldenrod trim.

It is now almost complete; it is autographed. I just have to put some urethane over the autograph and I'll be done.

I'll get some pictures up here sometime soon.