A while back, Steve Kartalia wrote a post about going back to basics and liking the feel of fiberglass rods. He talked about overlining his 4wt rods with a 6wt line to achieve the feel of glass with the middle of the road IM6 blanks like the Forecast blanks. Well I too like that feel and just finished what should be the perfect panfish and light duty bass rod. I used a Cabelas Stowaway 8.5ft 3wt 5pc blank, and dropped the butt section, ending up with a 6' 10" 3-4wt in 4pc. I used a Pac Bay U5 chrome seat with walnut spacer, Amtak #10 and #8 holographic single foot guides as strippers, single foot wire running guides and an Amtak holo tip top. The blank is a very deep green and I used Gudebrod Maroon for the wraps with NCP white trim in the inscription and ferrules. The rod looks and casts absolutely fabulous. It has that old "bass bug" type of action............ stiffer tip with softer butt and loads extremely well with a DT3 or WF4 out to 40 feet. If anyone is looking for a travel rod for those small streams or likes a softer action you should really look at this blank. I think it sells for 39.99 and I would have paid $100 if i knew it would've turned out so well. Steve, you should especially check this blank out and try the butt drop with it.

Incidentally, I had tried the butt drop trick with the 7.5ft 4pc 4wt Stowaway and it turned out to be way too stiff. I hope everyone is getting those rods finished for spring, because I know I can't wait to get this rod on the water.

Lou

Thanks for the tip on that blank Lou. You never know what you are going to get when you drop a section. A lot of folks think it lightens things up, but that is not true. You might try a 4 1/2 piece rod next. The butt section ends at the grip so the rod looks like it is 4 pieces when assembled. A little less overall length.

Lou,

Thanks for the review. I would no doubt enjoy fishing with that rod but for mental health reasons I have made a couple decisions that will keep me from building it. I resolved to get rid of all my fly rods except 4 and I want to do a whole lot more fishing and a whole lot less rodbuilding. Here are the 4 rods I'm keeping:

7' 3/4wt. 3pc. Steffen Bros. S-glass 2.57/68
7'6" 4wt. 2pc. Fenwick Eagle Graphite 3.42/68 (first fly rod I ever owned; rebuilt to my liking)
8' 5/6wt. 3pc. Steffen Bros. S-glass 3.42/67
8'6" 7wt. 2pc. Fenwick Eagle Graphite 4.9/56 (second fly rod I ever owned; rebuilt to my liking)

As you can see, I have chosen rods that load easy and cast smoothly but aren't exactly on most people's list of high performers. I have realized that the quest for performance is not why I like flyfishing or rodbuilding and these rods do what I like them to do. I have had an unbelievable amount of fun in the last 5 or 6 years learning to build rods and experimenting with all kinds of blanks and components. But, when it comes right down to it, I only have so much free time and I want to spend as much as possible on the water. My kids are young but finally old enough for them to be around the water safely. I want to get them on the water as often as possible like my Dad did for me.

Cheers, tight wraps, and tight lines,

Steve

Steve- I can't believe the 4F864 didn't make your list!

Apropos your last comment, they just stocked below my house. Hope you see you and the kids down there soon.

If I went down to 1, that might be it except it's a little long for the tiniest streams and hard to travel with being 2pc. By going to 4, I have 4 different lengths and two of them will be easy to travel with. There's a method to the madness but it's madness just the same.

See you on the water. E-mail me if you want any of my stuff otherwise it's all gonna get dumped on @#$%& for pennies on the dollar.

Steve, you know what's funny......I've been feeling the same thing lately. I have built about 40 rods in the 4-5 years that I've been at it and sold most of them off on @#$%& to keep the learning going. I am finally getting to the point where I have a good quiver of personal rods and am about done with the building for a while. I have one more rod to finish this winter a 2 pc. 10ft 8wt H&H IM6 for the Jersey surf and that's it. Unless i need to rebuild a rod or replace one, I am done for a while. My current rods include:

Forecast SPG601 5ft 1pc 5wt (WF5 line)
PacBay Traditional 6.5ft 2pc 2wt (DT3 line)
Stowaway 6'10" 4pc 3/4 wt (DT3-DT4 lines)
Forecast 7.5ft 4pc 4wt (WF5-WF6 lines)
Forecast 9ft 4pc 6wt (WF7 line)
H&H IM6 10ft 2pc 8wt (WF9-10 lines)

I also have a few spinning rods both factory and custom, but they get very little use.

I may refinish a Fenwick 7.5ft 5wt if I can find one that i can strip for cheap or a steffen glass rod in 3/4 wt next winter. I am finally at a point where I am happy with the rods I have and want to spend the time wearing these rods out. Maybe I'll relegate myself to one project per winter to pass the time, but I am definitely turning a corner.

Good luck this coming season.

Lou

Good luck to you too Lou. For me it's as much a recovery from addiction as it is contentment with my gear arsenal. I need to take a break or I will literally go insane. I know it sounds like blasphemy but at this point I think I would be far better off "wearing out" a WalMart special than owning all the great rods I have built without fishing them much because I was busy at my workbench. I'm trying to restore the balance.

The rod I'm really looking forward to wearing out is that 8056-3 Steffen. It's a prototype that Mark made for me and as far as I know, he and I have the only two. The Fenwicks are special since they got me started flyfishing and the 7034-3 Steffen is just for sheer fun.

Take it easy and have fun,

Steve

you guys need more friends, pass the rods out , live some of the fishing vicariously!!!!! there's always the quiet hours to wrap and build between 11pm and 4am.... who needs sleep? ;-)

just kidding of course, this is only my first season wrapping and i hope to have about 6 fly rods completed by the official april opener, all but two are going out to friends and dad, but i too am feeling a bit worn out by the first year obsession and simply want to fish them now. i see a few more graphite blanks i'd like to have in various lengths and weights, and still would like to explore fiberglass, steffen, diamondglass. and different shaped cork grips. but then i cast my first fine bamboo fly rods over the weekend and perhaps that has contributed to my so recent brain drain towards graphite.

eric
fresno, ca.