OK, it seems that Murphys Law kicks into overdrive whenever a deadline looms. I'm trying to put together a fly rod for a friends graduation present on the 18th of this month. I had to order parts from several different suppliers to get the setup I wanted (not unusual). Unfortunately, the St. Croix Blank I ordered showed up unacceptably crooked. When I called the distributor, I was informed that that particular blank was now out of stock. Bob at Hook and Hackle was great about having St Croix ship a replacement out 2 day air, and the new blank, while not totally straight, is within acceptable limits.

The tip top that I odered also happened to be on back order. I ended up going to another distributor to get the tip and paying an additional $4.00 for shipping.

Now here's the reel kicker. All the catalogues (including the St Croix website) list the tip size for this rod (SCIV 4pc4wt) as a 4.0. The replacement blank got here, and the tip top finally arrived from the alternate supplier, only now I find that the rod DOES NOT HAVE A SIZE 4 TIP AND IS NOT A 4WT!!!! Even though the sticker on the butt clearly says 4F-904.4, the tip is at least a 4.5 (the tip I ordered won't fit it and neither will the other size 4s I have lying around), and the ERN of the blank came in at 5.79. Even taking into account a .3 drop in ERN with components and a slop factor in my system, it still comes out over 5.0. Of course everbody is probably closed on Saturday so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this. Even if I have the tip of the blank overnighted, it's going to be close.

I've never built on a St. Croix before, and I'm begininng to wonder if I ever will again. Anybody got any suggestions? Am I just cursed?

Okay, it is a 4-weight according to St. Croix. And since there are no rod number standards, remember that any blank the maker lists as a 4-weight is indeed a 4-weight. So you do, in fact, have a St. Croix 4-weight blank and it will cast a 4-weight line nicely, at some distance. With an ERN of 5.79 you'd be looking a rod that casts a 4-weight line very well at longer distances, which may be exactly what St. Croix designed it to do with that line weight. Expect it to really come into its own with about 40 to 45 feet of line past the rod tip. I wouldn't be surprised if you can throw the whole line with that blank.

Never order one tip-top. The specs you see in the catalog are blank target specs and the actual blank may vary in tip diameter by at least 1/2-64th on either side of the target spec. Considering what a blank costs, to order 3 tops, one on the target, and then one over and under by a half 64th each ends up being more economical that having to re-order and pay new shipping charges on a single top.

None of this helps you at this very moment, but you're still not out of luck. Take a look at the rod builders directory here on this site. Maybe you'll get lucky and find that there is a fellow rod builder within a few miles of you. Perhaps he can swap you for a tip-top that will fit.

Or, use a single foot guide wrapped on the tip to suffice for a regular tube tip-top. It works very well.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2005 10:37PM by Tom Kirkman.

I see your point on the line wt of the rod. I was intending that it be more of a small creek rod, but if I had looked at the CC numbers for this blank, I would have seen that St Croixs tend to come in on the high end. My bad. I'm sure it will make a fine rod.

As for the tip top, I would normally order more than one, but this was a titanium SiC top that runs 11 bucks. I've never run into the tip size problem before, but I really haven't built that many rods I guess. Live and learn.

Anybody near Eugene, OR have a TLST tip top in a 4.5 or 5.0?

The shorter St. Crox's don't come in on the high end - that's the problem in the fly fishing industry. Even the 4-weights from the same company will vary in power depending on length. That shouldn't be, but again, there are no standards to adhere to.

I'll assume you don't have an extra TLSG guide. But if you do, you can wrap that on as a top. Good luck.

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This does not help now, but call your suppliers next time and find out if they carry, and have what you need in stock. Also maybe change who you are using now???

You may also try to take the finish off the tip Not the graphite. ( gently )

Brian,
I am in Beaverton and have lots of 4.5s but unfortunately no TLSG. I would be more than happy to let you have any one that I have though. Anglers Workshop in Woodland will have them but that will be a pretty good drive for you from Eugene.

St. Croix should take note. This is the 3rd crooked blank post I have seen about their blanks in the last couple of weeks.

Considering that they probably sold many hundreds and hundreds of blanks in that same time period, 3 crooked ones isn't bad at all.

I don't mean to defend anybody's crooked blanks, they shouldn't get past QC, but it doesn't appear to be a major problem for St. Croix.

They'll have about 400 blanks on hand in Charlotte. We'll see how straight those are.

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