Hi All,

Anyone ever build one of these in either a 8'6" 5wt or 9' 5wt ?
If so, how would you describe the action and would you reccomend building one ?
This will be used as a large water trout rod - both nymphing and dries.

I have not quite gotten to them but have 2 in my shop. I know a friend that test casted a 9 foot 5 wt three pice and bought one on the spot. thought it was incredibly smooth.

Gatti is getting an increasingly bad reputation for warranty claims that go unfilled or are unsatisfactory. I have built one and had no trouble with it but don't really see it as anything special. You might want to check around some of the fly fishing websites to see what experiences Gatti fly rod owners have had. There are more of them than rod builders and you could maybe guage the overall consumer outlook that way?

I have not tried the g4's however I own three Gatti rods and would buy or build another in an instant. (soon) The FRHP is the best rod I've ever fished with. As far as bad reputations, I'd take that with a grain of salt. The FRHP has a bad reputation for breaking. I've stepped on this rod, hit it with bead heads, bent it backwards many times in the brush on trails, and generally not treated this rod with the respect it deserves. I've fished it hard for 3 years and landed many nice fish with it and it has not broken yet (knock on wood!)

As for as warranty goes, many people don't send the cards in when the rod is purchased as required. Check @#$%& and see all the used rods for sale with unfilled warranty cards. Brian from Gatti-USA is a great guy to do business with.

Check the search engine for Christian Brink as an Author and e mail him. He has been using/building them for a long time. His wife's 5 wt is one sweet rod. Use all dates as it's been a while since I seen him here.