Hi,

My name is Mark Shamburg, and this is my first post.

I'm doing some foot work for building my first fly rod right now. I'm looking to build a rod that I'll primarily use for dry fly fishing for trout on small to medium sized Colorado streams.

I've never built a rod before, but I've ordered a few books on it including Tom Kirkman's book. I'm a mechanical engineering student and I work in a machine shop and I have a lot of experience building things, using epoxy, etc. so I immagine I'll take to this hobby fairly well. I'm actually building my own reel currently and I've planned this rod for my next project. I've just finished machining the frame and have started machining the spool for the reel so it won't be too much longer before I'll have a chance to start on the rod. I also plan on building my own reel seat with a titanium skeleton for this rod.

I've decided on a 3 weight, 4 piece rod in the 8' range, although I wouldn't mind stepping up or down a little in length. I've been doing some searching for blanks, but I need some help as I haven't found exactly what I'm looking for yet.

My list of priorities for this rod starts with the action, I would like a rod with a moderate to moderate-fast action. (I really like the action of the St. Croix Avid series but I haven't been able to find the travel series of that rod in a 3 weight.) Next on my priorities list is the line weight. I'm fairly set in a 3 weight, although a 4 weight might be acceptable if I can't find what I want in a 3. Slightly lower on my list of priorities is the number of pieces. I would realy prefer a 4 piece, but 3 would be OK.

Further still down the list would be spigot/plug style ferrules. I think these create much more aesthetically pleasing rods, but that's certainly not a requirement.

I'm also hoping to keep the price of the blank down to a maximum of about 125 USD. Does anyone know who might have a nice 4 piece 3 weight blank or have any other resources for blanks that might help me find what I'm looking for?

I'd appriciate any help that I can get.


Thanks.

Mark

Try Dan Craft in the sponsors column to the right.His blanks come highly recommended, almost everybody I talk to loves them and the service seems to be excellent.

I second the an raft suggestion, might look at the FRSIII8035 for your purposes.

Sorry that's Dan Craft, Thought this computer was smarter than that.

Dan Craft for sure. Get the blank with the thin walled ferrules. If you wrap a guide on the ferrule , you can't even tell it was joined at that spot.

Thanks,

I emailed Dan last night and he replied with excatly what I was looking for. He said he had an 8'0" 4 piece 3 weight in the signature III series that hadn't been added to the catalog yet.

That's probably the blank I'll go with.

Mark

Mark , you have made a wise choice !! John