Does anyone have any experience with Gatti fly rod blanks? I have a friend that wants me to build him a rod using one. I ran a search on the forum and found nothing. They are not in the catalogs that I have and they use an ID system that does not tell me much about the blanks other than length and line weight.

Bryce Abbott
Go & Do Likewise

I built a 7'6 4wt g5 and love it. it is fast with a soft tip.

Bob

I just built 5-6 of them. What do you want to know and what models are you int'd in.
Herb

Mud Hole offered them for several years but problems with the devaluation of the US Dollar verse the Euro we discontinued carrying them. Customers who built on them liked them, they tended to be fast blanks with light tips. We still have several in stock, call us for details and close out pricing.

Regards.
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My friend is a co-worker who goes to Alaska one week a year to fish for Salmon. He says its mostly in smaller streams and not big water. He thinks he wants a 9 foot, 8wt. I am new at this. I can build them. I don't know enough to recommend anything for that purpose. I looked at products that I am familiar with and the Gatti is in the same price range but I am used to IM6-IM8 designation and not G5 so I don't know what he'd be getting. For no more that he is going to use it I would think that one of the MHX or Rainshadow II blanks with a fighting butt would be a good choice. It would need to be 3 or 4 pieces to get there from Kansas.

Bryce Abbott
Go & Do Likewise

Bryce,
If it is an 8wt that your co-worker wants, and a Gatti - the Gatti FR-Master FRM) #8 3pc is the best 8wt I have ever built or casted. Not a fast rod in any sense except that it has a very fast recovery and fantastic line speed. Because it is not overly fast it is very easy to load with a #8 line. Very light in the hand. This is their most expensive blank in that category.

The FR-P (progressive action) comes in #7 and #9. Gatti skips consecutive blank weights model by model. The #7 FRP feels as though it would handle bigger fish than the FRM #8, but it feels much heavier and is faster (stiffer throughout) than the FR-master (FRM). Also - heavier in the hand than the FRM #8. This is their next expensive blank. If money is not that much of an issue I would go with the FRM.

The G5 blanks are too heavy for my taste and do not perform as well as the FRM. It is obvious why there is a price break at that level.

My email if you want it - hladen@hotmail.com

Just a note - the Gatti blanks are pretty much right-on re line/blank weights. Also - their claim that their blanks have no spine was abandoned a long time ago - They do have spines.

Also -very important - the blanks come to you with tape wrapped around the female ferrules. That is not enough to protect them from cracking when spining or even just assembling the sections. The manufacturers instx is to wrap the ferrules 15mm. Do that even before you assemble sections. Use some old thread and do-over when you start to wrap for real.

Regards,
Herb



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2011 11:26AM by Herb Ladenheim.