Here's Jon with rod number 2, a 6' 3" 4 wt, on the St Vrain north branch a week ago... skittish fish but a beautiful day and great to be out!
Jon St Vrain rod 2.jpg
Here's Jon with rod number 2, a 6' 3" 4 wt, on the St Vrain north branch a week ago... skittish fish but a beautiful day and great to be out!
Jon St Vrain rod 2.jpg
Finally! Jon's first fish on his Christmas present - a St Vrain Brookie.
I was beginning to think I made him a rod that couldn't catch fish...
IMG_1214.jpg
Well, rod 3 is finished for our oldest son, my verison of the Driggs River Special - here's a quick video, really quick, highlighting a few aspects of making it. The reel seat is made from a 12" Ponderosa Pine log I brought back from Arizona's high country when we moved to Michigan. We lived in AZ for 10 years and I camped and hiked the high country with our sons. That piece of pine was from the aftermath of the Rodeo-Chedaski forest fire that decimated the high country...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=98-4-Q0TfVc
Nice video. Great work on the rod.
Bob
Thank you, Bob. This rod making business is addictive!
I just got back from a quick trip to Colorado and fished the St Vrain with our son Jon - he was using rod #2, the 6' 3", 4 wt made for him for Christmas.
He hooked a really nice fish while standing on a boulder running a zebra midge down the creek when it hit right under his feet. I took this picture just two seconds after he lost it - it was priceless seeing that rod bend!
Jon St Vrain May 2013.jpg
Very nice!! Great rod and great video.Originally Posted by K7zb
Well, since last posting I finished a 7' 5wt PHY Princess for our daughter-in-law which we will give her this weekend for her birthday. We are headed to The Hungry Trout Lodge on the Ausable River in the Adirondack's and will fish this weekend.
Here is how it turned out:
Laura's Princess2.jpg
But we found out our little granddaughter Emily would be making the trip with us, too, and her graphite rod was packed away. So....
With just a few weeks before we leave I decided to try and make a Quad - but a two strip version, or, a PMQ - Poor Man's Quad. I had seen Kaboom's latest quad Driggs up at Grayrock in late June and it cast very nicely. I thought, hey, I'll just give it a shot and see what happens.
What I discovered is that I might as well go ahead and make hex rods - about the only difference in the process is the amount of strips and planing work involved. And, the way I made this rod I had no planing form - all free hand planing. Wow... now THAT is a learning curve. And straightening these blanks is an exercise in patience. Or futility. Whichever...
But - the rod is done, it casts remarkably well - somewhere between a hex bamboo rod and a graphite rod, at least with a 5 wt line.
We will see what it can do in the Ausable this weekend... meanwhile, here's a quick video showing how it went:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLHK8v0y0jQ
Bob
Love the first part of that video!
Bob
You're turning out some great looking rods! Nice work.
-Kidder
What I discovered is that I might as well go ahead and make hex rods - about the only difference in the process is the amount of strips and planing work involved. And, the way I made this rod I had no planing form - all free hand planing. Wow... now THAT is a learning curve. And straightening these blanks is an exercise in patience. Or futility. Whichever...
Bob
I believe we had this discussion at Grayrock. Its the constant measuring that will get you every time. Still think that making a PMQ is a good way for a beginner to get started in this addition?
By the way, it is amazing how they cast when they are completed.
Tight Lines!!
Brad
"A woman drove me to drink and I didn't even have the decency to thank her."
-W.C. Fields
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote