Brother in law is leaning hard again to build him a flyrod now. He fly fishes the creeks in middle PA for trout. He wants an 3 piece, 8 ft, 4 wt pole. Since I care about him, and also since its his money, my time, I want thim to have the best tool. Guys, give me your best advice, I'm not entirely sold on Gatti. I'd like to give CTS a try but Andy does'nt respond to my e mails. I'd probably have to wait many weeks anyway for a CTS. Thanks agin, Cap'n Fred

If Andy doesn't respond to your emails, then he's not getting them.

I can't comment on the Gatti's as I haven't used them. The CTS fly blanks I have are nice.

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check into CTS and dan craft first. talk your BIL out of a three piece, and into a dan craft FTL 8' 3wt (i fish mine with a 4wt). it's available as a 5 or 6 piece blank. very nice blank.

if he has to have a name brand, look at winston, sage, T&T, etc. and find others who fish the same creeks and see what they recommend.

personally, i never rely 100% on email for anything which is of importance to me. i find phone calls are always best. there are too many things which can unknowingly interrupt email delivery.

eric
fresno, ca.

On the other end of the spectrum, I would put a rainshadow RX8 up against any fly rod out there...Just my .02.

paul

For fishing the trout streams in PA I would focus less on the brand and more on the length and line weight your brother in law desires. You might want to check out the CCS data available through this site. I fish trout in similar waters and have personally found a true 4 weight ideal. For me that equates to CCS figures like: ERN = 4.2 - 4.5, and AA = 62 - 65. Most of the 4 weight rods I use and enjoy for small to mid size trout streams fall in this range. I tend to prefer 8'-6" rods though, because I find them better for nymphing, mending line and roll casting. I use SA Ultra 4 double taper lines and have found them to be right on as far as the AFTMA rating is concerned. The SA Supreme 2 lines are also good as far as the line ratings go. Anyway, if his stream trout fishing conditions are anything like mine (Minnesota spring creeks), he probably doesn't need to cast beyond 30 feet.

I've handled and fished a few Gattis, nice rods. The 8 wt 3PA blank is one of my all time favorites for salmon/steelhead. The 5 wt 3TA blank was a wonderful, light, lively, fast blank that still appeared to fish well in close. Had my hands on a 4 wt 3PA, but didn't fish it, looked like a dandy though.

I fish a lot with a 3&4 weight rods on SE Minnesota and W. Wisconsin streams. The Dan Craft Five Rivers Signature V 8'9", 3pc, 4wt has been my favorite although it looks like Dan has replaced that with a 9', 4pc, 4wt in the Signature V series (moderate fast). The Dan Craft 4wt I use works nicely with the Rio W4F Nymph line and SA Mastery Trout line W4F. I also recently built out a Lamiglas Perigee PFT108 3/4 (9', 3pc, 3/4 wt) blank and it is a beautiful blank and a nice casting rod. It's only seen a stream a couple of times as we're still in our early C&R season and have had a bit of snow recently. It looks like it will fish properly with a 3wt line or a 4wt close in. It's a moderately fast blank as well which is what I like to use up close. They make a 4/5wt which would probably work nice as a true 4wt. You have many fine choices out there and I'm sure that Gatti blank will make a nice rod I just don't see the need of building out a $300 blank for spring creeks.

I have a few Gatti rods. I have a FR 8'4wt that is too soft in the butt and sloppy for me. The FRHP 8'6" 4wt is the ultimate 4wt fly rod. Fishes well near and far, dead on accurate, and the lightest 4wt rod I've ever touched. I also have the Dan Craft 8'9" Sig V. Nice rod but doesn't fish as well for me, especially up close. It's gathering dust. At about 1/3 the price of the FRHP it was good deal. I also like the Sage TXL 7'10" #4 and #3. I cast them at the Somerset show and they are really sweet. I'm presently waitnig on Dan's 8' 5pc 3wt to arrive in the mail. Heard much praise for that one as well as most all of his blanks. Great guy to do buisness with too.

Tony

Hi.
out of the blanks i have built on,and i have built a few,i really like/love the feel and action of the CTS affinity one blanks i have recently built on,the line ratings are dead right for 30feet of the given line ratings they are for plus the after sales service is also 2nd to none.I can directly relate the action of my other favourite rod my 9ft 6in batson RX8 with my new sage z axis 9ft 6in both being #7 lines i find the batson reacts better to a wf8.

The only trouble is with the CTS is slow delivery,but hey i am a fly fisherman so patience is a virtue.

Bryan