10ft 3wt 4pc My new toy!

Well here is a rod for myself I have been collecting parts for and been building in my mind while I worked on customer rods. Finally got a chance to sneak it into the work rotation a few days ago while I was waiting for some customer parts to come in.

Blank is a 10ft 3wt (will cast a 3wt or 4wt line nicely) and is a 4pc Olive green in color. Since this is a 10ft rod normally a 10'er will have a bit more tip weight to it than your average 8'6" -9" rod. So to offset that I did two things. One was to use a Down locking Struble reel seat. The other was to insert 1oz of lead weight directly into the butt of the rod in the rear of the reel seat. With the 1oz of weight in the reel seat this rod will sit dead level on one finger if you rest the rod on your finger 1" in front of the grip (i.e- balances out perfect) and because the extra 1oz is right in your hand you don't even feel the extra weight. It actually feel lighter then my CTS 8'6" 4wt simply because it is balanced so well in my hand.

On to the parts- The reel seat hardware is a Struble down locking D1 set of hardware. The insert is a piece of dyed green Big Leaf Maple from Rob at "Bad Dog Burl Source". On the seat hardware I decided to spend some time dressing it up in matching wraps on both the front and rear hoods as well as the front of the barrel. Some of those trim wraps on the thin parts of the hardware were a bit tricky and took some extra time, but I think it was worth the extra effort.

The grip is all dark mix cork with rubberized ends and black trim between the two. The guides are a Green Agate and single foot chrome guides. Wraps were really time consuming but came out exactly how I wanted them. They are Gudebrod classic twist green & black, with black trim, silver a bunch of single and double silver metallic trim bands as well as a bunch of single metallic green trim. This rod has over 100 single turn trim bands on it.

So this is my new baby I will be putting to use in about a week and a half. Should make a great dry fly rod as well as a good long nymphing rod.



http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/9932/10ft3wt1.jpg

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3419/10ft3wt2.jpg

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/4479/10ft3wt6.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6181/10ft3wt3.jpg

http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/8404/10ft3wt4.jpg

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6868/10ft3wt5.jpg

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/7726/10ft3wt7.jpg

Steve

Nice looking rod. I look at most of your posts and admire your work, it shows some real experience behind it.

I find it interesting what you say about balancing the longer rod with the lighter line. An ounce in the reel seat really makes sense. I used to cast with some old bamboo rod builders, they swore by the Pflueger Medalist reels because you could put lead shot in the center to balance the heavier (and sometimes longer) bamboo rods to the lighter lines. They would state the balance point though should be on the rod where if you closed your hand while balancing on the index finger you should have the rod gripped ready to cast.

I have found this to be true 100% of the time - Don't know that there is any science behind it, but it has always worked for me. :)

Thanks PanFisher.

I always like the heavier reels on my cane rods as well. It really does help to make them feel a bit lighter in the tip than they do if you were to put on a new hi tech light weight reel thats for sure. I've found as trying to get the blance point anywhere on the grip or directly in front of it works to get a very good balanced casting rod that doesn't feel too heavy in your hand. As long as it's on the grip or very close to it is good, because your balance point will actually move slightly depending on how much line your carrying in the air and off the reel.

Steve

Steve,

That's a beaut! I LOVE the colors. I'll have a 10 foot rod in 3 or 4wt someday. Maybe after building rods for my brother and wife I'll have to treat myself to building one for me, lol.

Thanks for sharing, it is a really beautiful rod.

TT.

That's a beauty.

Thats a sweet stick. Thanks for sharing.

Steve,

Your not gonna like that rod, and to save you the disappointment, I'm willing to take it off your hands - cuz that's just the nice kinda guy I am. No need to thank me, I can alway find SOME use for a 10' 3wt! Heck, I'll even pay the postage! Just tryin to help you out of your dilemma tis all! LOL! Dang Steve! That sure is purtty! Enjoy!!

Best regards, Dave S.