Finally finished my 5th rod. It is on a Rainshadow RX7+ blank, a beatiful chestnut brown blank from Batson, I was fortunate enough to have found it at a discount.



I used green wraps and gold trim. With no color preserver, the wraps turned an emerald green after the finish was applied, perfectly matching the green woven graphite Batson reel seat. The striping guides have gold inserts to match the gold trim bands.



The reel in the picture is an Elkhorn CL2 in antique gold, I won in the monthly drawing here on FAOL. Although the classic design of the reel doesn't really match the woven graphite reel seat, it still looks great on the rod. I also won the 5wt GLX fly line on an FAOL drawing, so keep entering each month.



With all the luck, something was bound to go wrong. Opps, whats wrong with this picture.



I carefully marked where the reel seat was and where the lettering and drawing of the fish went. Only, I forgot to turn the rod over. I didn't notice it until I had finished the rod and put the reel on to test cast it.