I had to share this. First, because it made my day to receive this report from my friend. Second, in case any of you are contemplating a Great Lakes steelhead fly rod, you may want to consider this project. Below is the feedback first, then the rod specs below that in case you want to build one. The friend is a very experienced and successful steelhead angler and has used a wide variety of rods for this purpose. That's why his feedback makes me so happy. This rod project was inspired and modeled after the rod described by John Nagy, the steelhead guide and author. Thanks to him for the idea.

Feedback: We went to one of our favorite spots and ended up catching 4 and losing about 5 really nice fish (fishing in a log jam will do that). The flyrod worked great. It took a little getting used to while fishing the brush pile because of hanging limbs. I’m used to the 9 foot rod, so I kept hitting the tree limbs (amazing what an extra 1.5 feet will do to you). Once I got used to the thing, it worked great. I could not believe how sensitive that rod is. I was fishing a tandem fly combo with one BB size splitshot. I could feel that split shot bounce along the bottom with ease. When a fish would take the fly, I knew instantly (not using any indicators…just feel). I hooked three really large males and had them on briefly until they bit the hook off. It was really fun. I can’t wait to get to fish open water with this rod. Its going to be a lot of fun.

Thanks again for building it. I really like it (its definitely going to be my favorite big rod) and how it looks!! Like you said at your house, its not your typical fly rod but it does have a purpose and I found what that purpose is….fishing for steelhead. I sure hope the weather is warm at Christmas so I can really put it to use.

Rod Specs:
St. Croix spinning noodle blank, model 2S106ULS2 (CC's at 4.16/60) - satin black
2" removable fighting butt
PacBay A10 black seat recessed into grip
7.5" reverse half wells grip
regular u-shaped black hookkeep in front of grip
#20 stripper black
#16 stripper black
#12 stripper black
black snakes in 6-6-5-5-5-4-4-4-4
black large loop tip top
black thread wraps
Rod built without any trimming so that assembled length with butt attached is 10' 9" total. Cork treated with cork seal.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2005 10:25AM by Steve Kartalia.

Oh, by the way he was fishing it with a 6wt. Triangle Taper line on a Harris Solitude Large Arbor IV reel.

Nice one Steve!
Its one thing to fish a rod we build and enjoy our great work, but to get feedback like that from a customer/friend is gravy!
I too enjoy coming up with new setups to fit unique fishing situations.
Around the NW there is some really great dry-fly steelheading in the fall. Most of the fish are in the 6-10lb range.
Skating #2 bombers at dawn and dusk is a thrill.
Using a pontoon to float much of my home waters got to be tiring when sitting and throwing a standard 8wt line on a 9' stick all day.
My goal was to create a 'ultralight', spey-style rod, to cover as much water as possible, and use a standard WF line, preferrably in the WF5-7 range.
These lines are no way near close to loading the 6-7wt spey blanks out there.
And besides, these rods are more that what is really needed to fish these fish.

Here's my recepie.
PacBay RF2SH1382-2(green) 11'6" 2pc
PacBay 14" casting rear grip, used as a foregrip, with butt-cap end section cutt off.
PacBay 7" rear cork, butt cap end cutt off, cut down to 5", add 1" rubber-cork burl butt end. Turned down to shape
PacBay A8 Black seat with Woven graphite insert
PacBay Model T stripper #16,#12,#10 (tich frame, gold rings)
PacBay Model F #8's (tich frame, gold rings) out to a lg loop fly top
Black thread with gold trims.

I had to play around with lines to get it to load well, but a standard WF7F line seemed to get the job done.
The length keeps line off the water, and casting 60''+ overhead while sitting is effortless.
I took it on a guided day trip to break it in. Landed 2 hatchery, 3 natives, and several cutts up to 16"
I'll post some pictures....
RB