If he wants to fish pike with it as well, go with the 8 wt. The flies we use for Northerns are much more problematic to cast on windy days in open water when you're shooting for distance than the poppers we use for largemouth. The 7 wt would be fine for most large mouth poppers. For smallies I like something lighter but it depends on the average fish size that you will be encountering. Just r
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A new project here for an inlaw, I know I know foolish move. He wants a fairly fast or at least a true moderate fast 3 wt. rod about 8' in length. He's cheap, I do hope he doesn't find this forum. We've considered a Pac Bay Rainforest 7' 9" 2 piece 3 wt and an AmTac Matrix 8' 3wt. Has anybody had any experience building either of these blanks? His main emphasis is that it's not a wet no
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What Don said has usually worked for me in the past if St. Croix's ferrule wax doesn't do the trick.
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Stan, about how many seconds would you leave it there and then about how long do you let it sit before applying? I've never gone about it that way but this old dawg is always eager to learn new tricks. Thanks. Rob
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I feel an 8 1/2 or 9 ft 6 wt is excellent for smallies, one of my favorite targets. I, like Tom K., also use a 5 wt if I can get away with it, if the flies won't to be large, wind resistant, heavy or not much wind. I feel if I go larger than a 6wt, then yes, casting is easier in rough conditions but playing the fish is not as enjoyable. As far as the steelies go, can't really help you there
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Billy V. too funny but too true, LMAO
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Tom, my favorite moderately priced smallie fly rod that I have built (and I've built a bunch) is a Loomis GL3 8'6" 5 wt. It is pretty fast and handles a 5 or 6 wt line well in case your wooly buggers and clousers are size 6 and larger. Unless your casting technique is really excellent, when you start throwing those larger weighted flies, a six weight line really makes the day go easier, e
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My two favorites and I've used a bunch, the SA lines- Ultra 4 and the Mastery series with their AST coating and the RIO lines (the exact series and taper in accordance with what I'm doing) Least favorite or most overated I would say, Cortland 444 Lazer line, Cortland 555, and the Wonderline by Orvis.
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This still didn't work for me but using the Home XP edition.
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Greg, I built that exact rod not that long ago, RX7 8'6" 5 wt. in the olive green. In fact I also built the same rod only in an 8'6" 4 wt as well. Excellent moderate fast actions and well done blanks. The only raniforest blank that I handled was not of the same exact size and weight so it may be like comparing apples to oranges but I feel the Rainshadow may have been a touch faster, b
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Our business ships everyday and I can tell you that I think that most vendors use this as a way to pad the profit, no new revelation. Again, we only charge the actual cost of shipping and figure the handling is already priced into the markup of the item. I can send a one pound package almost anywhere in the US for $3.45 and they pick up. I am so tired of the shipping cost being deternimed by
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I will add one more point if I may and that is, when I build a nice fly rod, I will often be much less expensive or more competitive than what even some of the large outfits like Bass Pro will charge and I stand to make a reasonable profit for my time and effort. But with basic spinning rods and casting rods, it's super tough to beat the likes of Bass Pro. I would think about specialty rods and
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Just curious, a friend and I are talking about going down to the Smokies this spring or summer and wonder if a 7' 9" 3 wt. with a fairly fast tip would be advisable to build. I've heard the creeks are rather small but what do you feel would work out well.? Also got any ideas of flies that I should start tying if we venture down there in Arpril or May? Something about a Chattacoochie (sp
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Bill, am I right that you no longer will have a two piece RX8 fly rod blanks available? If not, are there several dealers sitting on some 7'9" 3 wts and 8'6" 4 wts. hint hint Thanks, nice improvent on the site
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Jon, I built the exact rod that you speak of gl3 9ft 5 wt this spring and fished it all summer/fall. Very light weight and I agree with the rest that it is a moderate fast rod. Nice blank but there are equal rods for much less cash. I also built the gl3 8'6" 5 wt and like it a lot, but I fished it one day going back and forth between it and a rainshadow rx7 8'6" 5 wt that I had built
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I think the reaction between the resin and hardner often releases aromatic sulfur which is what you are smelling. Very common with many 5 minute epoxies.
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Mike, actually Loomis GL3 blanks are often very light weight. Check out the 8'6" 5 wt at about 1.3 oz if I remember right. Never a knock on GL3 weight only the fact that using the very thin walls they tend to split of break more easily then some. The xcel blank is very nice and overall pretty fast.
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A gentleman on this board had mentioned to me earlier that he thought for sure the Fuji Alconite guides weighed much less than the similar designed Forecast Black chrome VS guides with the TIO Blue zirconium ring so I sat down with a grain scale and found that wasn't always the case. I don't know how this will show up on the actual thread but I will try this as a table: size/ Alcon
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Tom, actually there is a rather complete line up of SCII spinning blanks which are suprisingly fast and light, with really very little difference in performance from the SCIII blanks and priced a little lower.
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Peggy, the truth is that we were afraid to let your husband anywhere near this new site since we were afraid he might try and marbleize it. ha
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Bill, are you running the ad blocker in the Norton package? If so, turn it off only not the firewall or your anti-virus and see if they (the sponsors) come up. If so then go into the norton ad blocker configure setting and allow only this site to run pop up ads.
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