DONE! Well, for now anyway

I haven't embellished the rod with any feather inlay or marbeling, nor have I signed it, but the rod is essentially done.

It saw it's first sunlight yesterday and cast very nicely (it's a gatti 2pc 4wt). It didn't catch any fish, though. My spice got me a 6wt to replace one an Alberta trout helped me break and he was fishing with that one and catching fish, so I tied on a similar fly. Nothin. He let me into his spot. Nothin. Then he traded me rods and I caught one and hooked another.

Do you need to do any special ritual with your new builds to get the skunk off them?

Photo later when the new reel comes in.

the ritual is an obvious one...

catch a fish (or several) w/ it.

good luck, you shouldn't need it.

mgj

My new 4 wt lost its virginity yesterday -- 3 nice browns. I know for the first couple rods you feel better when you have caught a couple fish and nothing fell apart.

Yes JC I DID suspect it was the rod, not me that was at fault, regardless of my husband's opinion on the matter.

It is a lovely stick, though. I'm glad to hear that I don't have to rub it in the mud or wee on it or something. I'm willing to give it another chance very soon.

Rituals?........hmmm, that's a new one. Isn't funny how we take to certain things? I would guess that if it makes one feel better to go thru some sort of ritual to achieve total satisfaction, then so be it. Like a ball player doing his little thing each time he stands at home plate preparing to swing at a pitch. I certainly have to agree with JC on the mud thing though. I personally cast each rod that I build, not to catch a fish per say, but to see the results of my recent project. I have learned many things over the years by doing this and was surprised at some of the results that I wasn't expecting. For my own personal rods though, I never give up on any of them. To me they are a labour of love and deserve the chance to catch fish. Funny......they usually do over time.

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New rod caught it's first few dozen fish on Tuesday. Guess I won't be sending it back to Sandro.

Congratulations!

Kat