I am going to build a steelhead fly rod using St. Croix V blank. The blank color is Gallatin Green and I would like to match that color.
I see a few seats that use rainforest green carbon inserts, but I do not know if this would be a close match.

Other options might be match the thread color, TICH Guides, or no insert bare blank (Durability ?).

Any suggestions?

Dennis Scott
dmsc0tt@charter.net

Why not match all hardware to TiCH, there are quite a few nice reel seats available.

My suggestion would be to get a greenish stabilised wood insert, custom made for some smart reel seat. Even if it is not exactly the same colour as the blank, it will be fine. Unless you absolutely must have a perfect colour match, such a set-up will look great in its own right. I would rather try to get the thread colour then, as close to the blank colour, as possible.

I have seen, though not used myself, beautiful stabilised wood inserts (and reel handles) coloured a bit like old, oxidised copper or unpolished jade. What a sight!

Cheers,
Michal

Do a google search for stabiized wood blanks and you will find sources for turning blanks that have high quality pictures of the specific blanks that you can buy. Not pictures that represent what you will get, but pictures of specific pieces of wood. Use them to turn your own insert, if you have a wood lathe. If not, maybe a friend has one? Not an easy solution, but for some it is possible.

You can compare the color on the computer screen to the blank. That's about as close as you are going to get to having both in hand, which is impractical.

The suggestion to match all the metal is the way I would go, with a woven graphite seat in gray, which would complement the TiCh. The woven seats are really classy. Since these seats are pipe type seats, I recommend you consider a size 17 or 18. Bigger sizes are probably ergonomically better than a 16 for all but the smallest hands.

Almost impossible to find woods that will match the blank color, most are much lighter. The green woven graphite reel seat inserts come pretty close. A bare blank on a fly rod reel seat would be very difficult to make work unless the blank is very large to start with, which is not normally the case. Matching all the metal items is quite simple, if you source them all from the same supplier and manufacturer. I do a lot of custom wood reel seat insert and green is one of the hardest to match up with! Also, the reel seat diameter does not matter on a fly rod as not where you grip. Use the reel seat size best suited for the blank butt diameter and reel used.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2011 06:48PM by Phil Erickson.

I am leaning towards woven graphite. Have you seen the gray colored? Would that match the TICH hardware and giuides?

Dennis Scott
dmsc0tt@charter.net

The gray woven comes close, it is actually a combination of a gray and black weave.