The Spey Rod Continues

I have been slowly working on my first spey rod. I have always liked the idea of alternative material ferrules. So I am going to make my first spey rod with fiberglass ferrules. Right now the design is an overlapping style. After I test this method if it holds up I will go with that or insert a spigot and try that method. I know of at least one other builder that does this so I will give it a try. I have went with a natural fiberglass color. I thought it would be interesting to hold it up to light and be able to tell if you have it securely in place.

With all of that being said I might still change my mind and go with Carbon Fiber. It looks better with the darker flamed rod, but it makes the rod so dang fast. Right now the blank weight of this rod with the fiberglass ferrules is 8.1 oz. I am not sure what a good weight of a Spey rod should be, but hopefully this is in the bottom tier.

I "HOPE" to have a ferrule system that I am happy with by this summer. I can use that on my trout rods and be able to produce longer and very light rods. My goal is still to produce a 5 weight rod that is at least 8' 6" and weigh under 3 oz.

I am also nearly done with a demo rod for my 8' 2 weight rod. I have had several questions about it being a true 2 weight. I wanted to get a demo complete so I could give people a chance to try it out and see what they think. I know that a lot of builders don't build 2 weight rods, but I really like this taper and think there is a future for it. I should have it ready in about 2 weeks if anyone wants to try it out.

Introducing the 8' 2 weight

After several prototype rods I have finally come up with a taper that I really like. In the pics below you will see an 8' 2 weight rod. With the cork grip it comes in right at 3 oz. One is able to cast 50-60 ft easily with this rod. It has a bigger tip size (.062) so that you can fish close in as well and keep control of the line with the tip of the rod. Right now I am working on a 8'3" 2 weight version. This rod is based off the 8'4" 3 weight taper platform.

I am still working on my first spey rod. I hope to have an update soon. I can see why builders charge so much for spey/salmon rods! On the next few orders I have I will be returning to dipping the rods. I believe that bigger rods = bigger flies should probably be dipped in order to preserve the cane against wear and tear. I stopped dipping some time ago because it added weight to the fly rod. However, in the case of bigger rods I think that longevity trumps saving a few tenths of an ounce.

New Year's Day fishing

I just got back from a trip to Colorado. I was anxious to do some winter fishing while taking the family on a ski trip. I was probably a little too anxious! The only real place to fish this time of year in the Taylor River area was at the DNR or what others call "The Hog Trough". The morning that we arrived to fish the temp was -5 degrees, by the time we left it had made it all the way up to 10 degrees. Talk about feeling warm.

In summer time you can sight fish to very large fish at this location. However, this time of year produces very low water flow so most of the fish move up into the area just below the tailwater and you are not allowed to fish to them. I was still able to catch some nice browns ranging from 16" to 20".

I got to test out my rod that I had recently built for myself in some pretty harsh conditions. As the eyelets froze up I would have to dip my rod in the water to get the line through. So my rod spent a lot of time submerged in the water. I had left my rod in the car for the three previous days with temps around -25 in Crested Butte. The rod held up fine and looks great. The guy I went fishing with kept asking me if I was sure I wanted to fish with bamboo. He really thought that I was going to break my rod.

Merry Christmas

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! The Carpenter Bros. will turn 6 yrs. old on their birthday in one week. This is a big time around our house. They have randomly asked to go fishing with me. They periodically ask to help me in my workshop. The most frequent request I get is to watch TV in the workshop while I work on rods. I have a lot to be thankful for this year!

Tomorrow I will be giving my father-in-law a new rod. He previously used the second rod that I ever made. However, after breaking it three times and losing one of the tips there wasn't much I could do anymore. I will say this rod is a lot stronger and thicker than his first rod. So this rod in the pics will go to him. Its not quite finished, but I can bring it home after tomorrow and put the finishing touches to it. I normally don't do wraps throughout the rod, but he saw a Bradford rod I sold about a month ago and he really liked it. The last pic is of the Carpenter Bros.

Nodes and Flaming

Today I worked on an order for a rod that was lightly flamed. When you look at the culms of bamboo you will see light and dark spots. When you sand off the enamel of the bamboo most of the real differences will come off. This will give the rod a more balanced color. This rod should end up as a light caramel color. This bamboo is currently at 6' long. I will cut it down to around 55" in order to line up the nodes correctly. 

There are two sets of culms in this picture. The one on the right will only have two sets of nodes on the finished sections. I will use this pair for tips. Since tips take most of the bending with the rod, I prefer to use the stronger pieces for that. When you are talking about a rod that is 8'4" long and only have two sets of nodes in the tip section that is pretty good. 

The second pair of culms (on the left) has more nodes and will be used for the butt sections. Since the butt sections have more material I prefer to use the pieces with the most nodes for these. I will be able to get two completed rods out of these four culms if all goes as planned. 

Right after Christmas I will be heading up to the Taylor River in Colorado to do some winter fishing. I have fished here quite a bit in the summer and this will be the first in the winter. It should be interesting. 

Two New Rods (Update)

I have been working hard in the shop lately. I have had a good month with orders and can safely say I now have at least an 8 month wait. Remember if you have ever thought about ordering a rod the time is now. I will be raising my prices come Jan. 1.

In the pics you will see the two rods I first spoke about on Thanksgiving. One is a 8' 2 weight and the other is a hollow built spey rod. The 2 weight is turning out to be a great little rod. The weight is going to be right around 2.8 oz. The new grip shape is very comfortable. Its funny because I had never done that shape before, but it just took that shape from glueing the rings on. I like it so much that I am sure that I will do more like that.

The spey rod is coming along nicely. You can see that I have a great looking reel seat in mind for this rod. Also, the black rings that I will use as end caps on the grip. In the pic as well you can see one of the Carbon Fiber ferrules that I am going to use. This rod will be somewhat of a prototype, since I have never built one before. I hope to make a couple more this spring when I get my winter orders completed. I would like to get them out in the hands of spey fisherman so they can give them a going through and see what needs to be changed. If your interested give me a shout!

Happy Thanksgiving

I would like to give thanks for all the support and orders that I have had this year. I have been very busy with orders and considering the economy I feel very fortunate for that. I am up to about an 8 month wait right now.

The pics below are of a rod that is about to go out. It is a 8'2" 4 weight. This taper is based on a Leonard I found once. I made it for a customer and he really liked it. Sometime after that he broke the rod. In order to make sure that he always had one with him he ordered two of them. This rod has a beautiful Koa reel seat insert. I am going to start offering this insert as a choice. I still feel that $750 for a one tip rod is a great deal.