Christmas Present for a friend

It has been a while since I have had the chance to post. Here is a rod that the wife of a friend ordered for Christmas. Here are the specs.

Blank: Dan Craft FT 9' 8wt 4 piece
Guides: Fuji Titanium Sic
Reel Seat: American Tackle AW12 w/ Coralwood
Grip: Regular and Green Burl Cork
Thread: Olive with Tan
Feathers: Guinea, Turkey and Jungle Cock

Wading the Flats 9-20-09

I got to get out with a friend of mine last Wednesday for an evening of flood tide fishing.

We had been talking about it for sometime as both of us love to fly fish. The day started rather slow and the sun was still high in the sky. The first flat didn't show any tails so we moved to the next spot where we were rewarded with waving tails. I shut the engine off about 50 yards away from the flat and pole up to it. The whole time you could see 4 or 5 fish working the air. I dropped my buddy off and moved the boat to where we would end up.

Both of us had our chances but the fish were not very cooperative. I haven't seen reds with lock jaw like this before. We had good presentations but the fish didn't seem interested. My friend had a fish take the fly but it proceeded to spit it right back out. Very strange as I have not seen to many reds do this. Oh well...I was able to get this one picture. The tides should be good in about a week and I plan on hitting the flats again.

Redfish on the Flats

Finally got to head out for some tailing redfish. With the tide and weather were just right, I was so excited that I left all of my flies in the car. No big deal...my plan was to go out and just look for fish. I am taking a friend out in a couple of days and just want to make sure I put him on something.

Well, the best laid plans can sometimes go awry. After seeing several really nice reds go cruising by, I couldn't take it anymore. An average size red came swimming by and I decided to give it a shot. He was starting to go away from me and I made the cast of my life. I dropped the fly right where it needed to be and on the first strip....BAM...he slammed it!

What I thought was an average redfish turned out to be a really nice one and he proceeded to make a strong run and break me off. There went my only fly and I spent the rest of the time executing the original plan which was finding fish and taking pictures. Here are a few of them.

The Gadsen Rod - Finished

It took me a lot longer that I usually spend on a rod. With changes in my day job and changes in the design of the rod, I didn't get this one out like I usually do.

Below are the parts for this rod. Here is the list:

Blank: Dan Craft Sig V 9' 5wt 4 piece
Guides: Fuji Titanium Sics
Reel Seat: Amboyna Burl with Gatti Nickel Silver Hardware
Grip: combination of regular and burnt cork with a twist.
Feathers: Grizzly Hackle for guide alignment
Inlays: Rattlesnake Skin
Threads: Green, Black, White for the guide wraps. Yellow to border the snakeskin.




I have spent some time casting this rod and I really like. It has a nice, light feel to it and like all Sig V's it has a great recovery. Even though this rod took awhile, it was a lot of fun to build. Doing the snakeskin and the black/white twist on the guides really sets this one apart from any other rod. I also think the Gadsen Flag theme really makes a nice looking rod. Now all we need to do is get some fish slime on it!

The Gadsen Flag Rod - Part 3

Here is the grip and reel seat attached to the blank. I used regular and burnt cork and did a pattern with the burnt so that it would wrap around the grip......kind of like a snake! The reel seat is Nickle Silver with an Amboyna Burl wood insert.

The Clemson Rod - Revisited

William sent me this picture of this red he recently caught using the "Clemson Rod". It measure over 30" and 10lbs. That is a nice redfish!!

The Gadsen Flag Rod - Part 2

Below are a couple of pictures of the wraps and the the feather that I will be using guide alignment. The black and white thread twisting around the green represents the snake in the flag.


I hope to have the reel seat and grip posted soon.

Jeff's 7' 1wt Fly Rod - Finished

Here are the details for this rod.

Blank: Dan Craft Sig III 7' 1wt 2 piece
Guides: Fuji Titanium Sics with Recoil Guides
Reel Seat: Black Ash Burl with Brushed Aluminum Hardware
Grip: combination of regular, burnt and burl cork.
Feathers: Blue with Peacock accent
Threads: Dark Grey wraps with a Dark Blue Twist

This is with out question the lightest rod I have ever built. Luckily, I was able to cast this rod on last weekend at Troutfest. Jeff and I met there several years ago where we first started talking about this rod....and what a sweet rod it is. It is so light that it takes a minute to get use to. I walked off the Elk River after casting my 5wt all day and I really had to stop and remind myself that this is not a 5wt. After that, it was a real pleasure to cast.

This is by no means a noodle rod. It has a medium fast to fast action....and we were casting a 2wt line. This rod could easily handle a 3wt line if you really wanted to work in close quarters. Here are a few pictures that Jeff sent me b/c I didn't have time to photograph it. To me, the show piece on this rod is the reel seat. It really brings this rod together. Les Freidborg did an excellent job with it. The black ash burl with the Adams Fly burnt in is just awesome. Thanks Les!!

This rod has just been added to my "must have" list.

The Gadsen Flag Rod - Part 1

The next project is a 5wt rod that will have a theme of the Gadsen Flag. Will from Anderson, SC is the future owner of the rod and he wants to base the design on this flag.


Below are the parts for this rod. Here is the list:

Blank: Dan Craft Sig V 9' 5wt 4 piece
Guides: Fuji Titanium Sics
Reel Seat: Amboyna Burl with Gatti Nickel Silver Hardware
Grip: combination of regular, burnt and burl cork. Wait to you see what I do with the strips of cork!
Feathers: to be determined
Inlays: Rattlesnake Skin - how cool is this!
Threads: Green, Black, White and Yellow will be mixed in. The guide wraps will be green with a black/white twist


I had to take a close up of this reel seat. How awesome is this!!

Will and I have been going back and forth on the thread design and I think we have come up with something really cool. It will be very unique. I have already started putting the pieces together and should have an update soon.

Elk River - Troutfest 2009

I was fortunate enough to be able to go fish the Elk River in West Virginia this past weekend. It was tough fishing as there had been some rain earlier in the week and the river was still getting some snow runoff. This made the water a little murky and swift. It also made the holes a lot deeper as I found myself using a 15' leader just to get to try and get to the bottom. I was able to get 4 on Friday and 9 on Saturday. We fished the catch and release section the whole time and the most productive pattern was a size 12 bead-head pheasant tail with a quill gordon wet fly dropper. The pictures below are of the better fish. The last brown is probably the prettiest brown I have ever caught.

I was a great time as I got to see some friends and deliver Jeff's 1wt rod to him. I am kicking myself b/c I forgot to take pictures of it. I did get to cast it and that was a neat experience. The rod is so light that it takes some getting use too.....esp. when you have been throwing a 5wt all day into the wind. It is a nice little rod and Jeff got to break it in this weekend. I will try and get some pictures up.

Zac's 9' 8wt 4 piece Matrix

I made this rod for a co-worker who wants to chase tailing redfish. Here are the particulars:

Blank: American Tackle Matrix 9' 8wt 4 piece
Guides: Fuji Stainless Steel Ceramic Inserts
Reel Seat: American Tackle AW12 Window with Burl Rosewood Insert
Grip: combination of regular, burnt and black burl cork
Feathers: combination of red turkey and grizzly hackle
Threads: light blue with red and silver accents

This was a fun rod to build b/c Zac was very involved in the design from the colors to the reel seat. The rod is fast action and we found this rod to cast better with a 9wt line. The blank has a really cool weave look to it. The real seat is also very unique and I thought it worked well with the colors chosen. This rod was also one of the first feather inlays I had ever attempted. I tried to combine all of the colors.

This blank with the ceramic insert guides can really shoot some line!!

Weekend in Bryson City

Got the chance to spend the weekend in Bryson City with some friends of mine for a weekend of fly fishing. We hit the Nantahala, West Fork of the Pigeon, Deep Creek and the Tuckaseegee. We were fortunate to have great weather and great fishing. The hot flies for the weekend were a white woolly bugger and the Y2K. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Above is a brown that I caught on the Nantahala and below is the fish being released.


Here is Jacob with a nice brown on the Nantahala....it was a white woolly bugger weekend for Jacob as he caught almost all of his fish on it.

Here is a close-up of Jacob's fish and his WVU Rod that I built for him.

Here is Jeff's first fish on a fly rod....a special moment

Here is an action shot of Steve with a really nice brook trout on the Tuckaseegee.

Here is the brook trout. It was a nice fish and a fun fight to watch. He also caught a nice rainbow out of the same hole.

Was lucky enough to have some trout rising on the Tuck. Most of them were feeding on a small midge that I did not have in my box, but a few were kind enough to hit an adams for me. It was a great weekend overall and I look forward to going back.

Jeff's Grip and Guide Wrap

I got the first coat of epoxy on Jeff's Rod and the grip has been turned. I will be gluing the grip and reel seat to the blank this weekend.

Jeff's 7' 1wt Fly Rod

Here are a couple of pictures of my current build for a friend in West Virginia. He fishes a lot of small streams and needs a shorter. The blank is a Dan Craft Sig III 7' 1wt but Jeff is going to use a 2wt line to give it a little more bend for close up fishing. Check out the reel seat....(Thanks Les!) and guide wraps. I also added the cork grip before I turn it. I got a little creative with the grip.

Jason's First Fly Rod - Finished

Well, here is Jason's rod and below are the particulars:

Blank: Sevier Tiger Eye 8'6" 5wt 4 piece
Guides: Fuji Alconites and Pac Bay Single Foot Wire
Reel Seat: American Tackle U5 Nickle Silver
Grip: combination of regular, burnt and black burl cork
Feathers: combination of Guinea, Peacock, Red Partridge and Grizzly Hackle
Threads: Garnet w/ Black accents

I tried to put a lot of feathers into this one to make this a special rod. There is nothing like the first fly rod. There is the combination of feathers in front of the grip as well as the rod alignment feathers (Peacock & Grizzly). This is definitely not the way to crank ir out, but it does make it unique which is what I try to do on every rod.

I did get it out to the side yard for a little casting and I was very happy with it. I would say that it has a medium action with a nice recovery to it. Perfect for someone just starting out. I really enjoyed it as the extra bend allowed me to pinpoint the fly to where I wanted it. Well, pinpoint might be a bit strong as I am not THAT good of a caster but hopefully you know what I mean.

One other thing, the pictures do not fully bring out the beauty of these blanks. They really pop in the sun light. I wanted to get pictures of it outside but time got away from me.

Jason....I hope you enjoy it as much as I did building it. All I want know is to see you with fly rod in one hand and a large trout in the other!



Thanks for looking!