Mike Anderson
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I ‘m almost ashamed to post these pictures I took after looking at Zach’s work. Here are some fish Zach missed because he was too busy catching. I had a great time with you two and that trip will be etched in my memory for a long time. The real big Browns were nowhere to be seen but all things considered, I think we did alright.
Mike Anderson
You are very welcome Zach, I had a great time. It is easy to “guide” someone with your casting skills.
seems they don’t use leeches or blood letting any more
Well maybe not up there, but if you go deep enough into the Mtns around here that’s cutting edge stuff. A shot of Granny hooch’s cure all, three shoots of Penicillin, or some good old fashioned blood letting, your choice $20. I keep going back for Granny’s Hooch fire water. 😮
I sat at my tying bench through the whole thing. The storm died rapidly as it approached Rutherford County. When it hit our place it was just some rain and a few lightning strikes. There was lots of damage to our west but I haven’t heard of any fatalities. We’ll keep those people in our thoughts and prayers.
I think we got good conditions for a trip.
Good to see you didn’t get in too much trouble for neglecting your boxes of books and papers Doc. Hope the wife didn’t hit you too hard with the frying pan :P.
How did you do?
Mike
I guess I only answered part of your question.
A lot of the things that are important to me you really can’t see on a rod anyway. Things like what type of arbor was used to fill the space between the reel seat and the blank. Masking tape does a poor job of transmitting vibration but is still considered a viable option by many builders. What type of adhesive was used to glue the seat in place? There are products out there now that can be removed with a little work. The clear 5 and 20 min epoxy is almost impossible to remove, rod bond works much better. Was the cork sealed? Most likely not if it’s a factory rod. Were the guide feet prepped? This can cause blank failure if not done properly.
Things I notice on the outside are the wraps of course. Those damned cheap chromed snake guides that eat fly line! The finish,, is it too thick, football shaped, sloppy, etc. I like a minimal amount of epoxy that extends very slightly beyond the wraps. What kind of winding check was used. If you paid $500 for the rod it better have a nice metal one. Is the blank straight! Most all blanks have some curve, some have a lot of curve and that’s bad. This can be hard to see once the guidesfinish has been applied. Where is the spine located. I like mine up but everybody has an opinion on where it should be. I build em the way I like em but the main thing is that it isn’t on the right or left. Also I like to use what is called a Forhan locking wrap on all single footed guides. This is several wraps around the guide and the blank that prevent the guide from ever being pulled out. Tests have shown guide failure before the guide will come loose from the blank.
I have looked at several high end factory rods and I think you get pretty good quality with most of them. Orvis and Sage seem to stand out the most when I think of a nice well put together factory rod. I hate to say it but some Loomis rods I have seen had some obvious flaws that shouldn’t be on a $500 rod, mainly sloppy wraps. Let me follow that up with, I LOVE G Loomis blanks.
Hey BD, welcome!
I think the pic points out that the reel seat used is one that cost about $1 to a company like Winston. They are $7 where I buy my supplies. The label or butt cap looks like it’s not aligned right also. Not sure but I think this rod sells for over $500.
Build them yourself. It’s cheaper, you will use better quality components, and you can build them to suit your own style. I really like to build mine with the Fuji Titanium SiC fly guides. You can’t come close to that with a factory rod.
Great job on the video Zach, Thanks! I tied a bunch of them last night but they didn’t work to good today… Come to think of it nothing worked to good today. Going back to Cland tomorrow maybe the KY fish will have a better attitude.
Thanks again, you da man!
Mikehttp://www.rodbuilding.org/list.php?2
Look at the sponsors list on the left for Dan Craft Ent. Dans blanks have a cult like following.
Went to Fly South and fondled ax Xi2 And I must say that the little blue rod has the same effect as a certain little blue pill. I can’t wait to build this one!
In the meantime I just got another Dancraft to build. It’s a Signature V,
Scud I wasn’t sure if there was any natural reproduction or not. I do know they are going through the motion however. Let me start off by saying I did not catch this fish. I was busy untangling my leader and cussing 30 mph winds. My friend BD caught this one. Anyway here’s the story.
I normally fish big streamers from a boat. This day we were drifting downriver when we noticed some large fish making a commotion in one of the best gravel bars I have found for big Browns on the CL. We have taken several nice fish from this 200 yard stretch so it always gets special attention. Knowing these fish should be in the mood I suspected they were Browns but in the back of my head I thought naa couldn’t be… Well it kept going on so we parked the boat and went in with 5 wt’s. The fish were rolling around and cruising just under the surface leaving big V’s all around us. BD was using a Nymph and indicator when he caught this fish. I managed a couple of smaller Browns and he also caught a 19” Bow and broke off two other good fish. I have to admit that the strong winds coming from my right side pretty much shut me down with a 5 wt. Fishing in that kind of wind with 5 wt floating line is not something I am used to.This is the first time I have seen Browns behaving this way and just watching it was an awesome experience. It’s kinda like a lot of things in fly fishing. The first time you experience it is so overwhelming that catching fish becomes secondary. Sound crazy but it makes me feel better about it anyway.
Mike
Will do Zach. If I had your setup I wouldn’t go near the water without a case…
Under water pics are tough since your shooting blind. That shoot took 10 try’s for one shot that still did not turn out the way I want it.
Give me some pointers. What would you try in a shot with a UW camera?
It seems that you can’t do a lot of editing on these shots either which makes for a dull but different photo. Feel free to play with it and see what you can do. Post the results if you do.250 on a five wt???? Man that thing must be a real meat stick. I think the Xi2 will win over this time and then the SLT maybe for Christmas.
Zach, once word gets out that a rank amateur like me is using Sage then the whole image thing will be shattered :P. As for Abel, there’s quality at an affordable price i.e. Ross, and then there’s I paid the most you can pay for my equipment because I can i.e. Abel. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just can’t afford it. Only reason I can do a Sage rod is because I have a friend who owns a rod building supply house.I have used ZipCast on Orvis Wonderline for little over year so far with no ill effects. When these lines first came out they supposedly didn’t ever need anything but soap and water. Now they sell a conditioner just for Wonderline???? I finally got tired of cleaning my line all the time and chanced it. I mean if your not happy with the line because it stays dirty and sounds like a violin when you cast then what have you got to lose? Zipcast is extremely easy to use. You simply apply it to a piece of cloth and run your line through it, no buffing. It cleans and lubes the line in one shot. In my case the trolling motor is usually my lines worst enemy… ;D
I love this stuff!
