Sunday, October 30, 2016

What Reels Do I Use

I get that question a lot. What reels do I use to fish with? My standard answer is light weight reels. I generally look for the lightest reels I can find. Right now I use Hardy Bougle Lightweights. They were made for the Japanese market and are thought of as some of the nicest reels that Hardy has ever made. They also have an Agate version.

These reels weigh in at the low 3 oz. range. It has taken me several years to collect the few that I have, mostly from Japan. Since so few of these reels where made you will only see one or two come for sale each year.

The main reason I use light weight reels is the performance of the rod. I personally like the feel of the bamboo rod when it has a light weight reel on it. I think you can feel the action much better when the lever and spring are allowed to work properly.




Monday, October 24, 2016

Customer Pic

This weeks post has another customer photo. This one is of a pretty 20" brown trout caught on one of my 8'4" 3 weights. You will also notice that this rod has one of my lightweight reel seats. This rod generally weighs around 3.1 oz. This taper is a faster taper and can easily cast a 3 weight line 50-60 feet if you want.

Please check back every week as I will be posting something new each Sunday/Monday.




Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Weekly Posts

I have been pretty busy with rod making and my kids baseball. There hasn't been a lot of time for posts on this page. However, I am going to start putting a new post every Monday. So come back every week for an update on fishing and bamboo fly rods. As you can see I am one day late already.

One thing I will be talking about and showing is an upgrade to some of the components I am using. For instance, I have upgraded my rod tubes. I have went with a mineral bronze tube and gold caps. They are about $25 more than the standard tubes I was using, but I think they look really nice.

This weeks post is a customer pic from back east. The rod in the pic is a 7'3" 4 weight. Its a great little rod. I can count on three fingers how many rods I have made under 8'. For some reason 8' seems to be the magic number for me. I just really don't want to go below that. However, sometimes I get a wild hair and build one.