Davidson River Trip

I was able to get out on the Davidson River this past Saturday and even though the fishing was slow and the river was VERY crowded, I was able to get this 17" Rainbow. Sorry for the poor picture...I only had a my cell phone. I hooked a larger one put he jumped and threw the hook. I was able to get a few other small trout but nothing near as nice as this one. Hard to fish when there is someone in every hole. Still...better than sitting on the couch!

I am still using a 5 wt Sage rod my wife gave me almost 10 years ago. I can't wait to build a 3 or 4 wt to fish with the Davidson. I definitely need another fly rod!!

Matrix (Green) 9' 8wt 4 Piece

A buddy of mine from work asked me to build a rod so that he can chase tailing redfish. If you have never done this, you are missing out!!! After going back and forth on the blank, guides and colors....here is what we came up with:

Blank: American Tackle Matrix (Green) 9' 8wt 4 Piece
Guides: Fuji Stainless Steel w/ Ceramic Inserts
Reel Seat: Batson A8L2
Grip: combination of regular, rubberize and copano cork w/ blank accents
Thread: Garnet w/ no CP and silver accents

The garnet with the green blank really looks good and the silver gives it a nice pop. I think this blank is one of the best in its price range. It is on the faster side and has good power. I think you could easily over line this blank with a 9wt line. I am a fan of ceramic guides for this size rod. The line really shoots through these guides. Overall, I think this rod is a great way to get into saltwater fly fishing.

The WVU Rod

This is a rod I did a year ago.

I received a call from the wife of a good friend of mine. She wanted to surprise her husband (Jacob) with a rod for his birthday. Jacob and I have done a lot of fishing together so I had a good idea of what he wanted. Being a WVU grad, I knew he would love a rod with WVU colors. Here are the particulars:

Blank: Gatti G4 9' 5wt 2 piece
Guides - Fuji Titanium Sic's
Reel Seat - Inserts by Les
Grip - combination of regular cork and blue burl cork
Feather - yellow Guinea feather inlay
Threads - Dark Blue and Yellow....of course!

I was really happy with the way this rod turned out. This was the first time I have used a Gatti G4 and I am very impressed!! I plan to build one for myself soon. It is very light but has a crisp feel to it. Plus, I love the Fuji's titaniums. These are my favorite guides and if you can afford them I say go for it. Not only do they look good but I think they offer some great performance. The Gatti with the titaniums is so smooth.

The reel seat was also the first time I have been able to use a Les Freidborg seat. I put a link to his site under my favorite links. I love his work and can't wait to use more. The pictures do not do this rod justice. It came out darker and closer to WVU colors than the pictures represent.

Now...if only I can convince my better half that I need another rod....hhmmm....need to work on that!'

Thanks for looking,

Chris

First Blog

Hello....my name is Chris Donato and I have been building custom rods for several years now. It has become my passion. I strive to build the best rod possible for my friends and an occasional customer. I have built mostly fly rods but that is not to say I don't enjoy working with spinning, casting or even offshore rods.

I will be adding more to this page soon!

Thanks,
Chris