First completed rod.

[bgreer]

Some of you may have followed the thread at the end of last year when I was wanting to try my hand at rod building.
Well, with the help of several people from this site, I've completed my first rod.

Special thanks to Jack Hise for the rod building stuff that I got from him.
And special thanks to Betty for tips to help get me started.

I made this rod for my girlfriend, Maegen. The colors are pretty bright, but that's what she wanted and they look pretty good.
The reel is a suprise for her that I bought a few months back. I'll spring it on here the first chance we get to fish.

Here are some pics:













Some things were easier than I thought. And some things more difficult.

I learned quite a few things while building it and will get better as I build more rods.
One thing I learned is to get (and keep) the rod *perfectly* level when finishing the wraps, that will help keep the finish more level.
I also learned to not finish off the guide wraps too close to the tunnel made by the foot of the guide. If you pull the thread through too close to the tunnel, it will come loose if at all possible, ending with having to do that wrap over.

I've already thought about more rods that I want to build, with the next one being a 10ft 4t for fishing the tailwaters and nymph fishing from a boat.

I'd like to thank everyone who helped me get started. Without you, I this never would have been possible!

Brian

[Betty Hiner]

Yaaaaaay, Brian!!!!!
Great job, especially as it's your first rod!!
Tell me about the sparkles! Thought it might be something added to the epoxy, but saw it didn't go over the thread wraps ... did you use a different epoxy on the blank first (with the sparkles) and a different one for the wraps?
Your lady is going to be blown away!!

[Uncle Jesse]

Very nice, I like the psychedelic hardware. Good job overall it would appear, everything looked level to me.

[bgreer]

Betty,

The sparkles were the easiest part!

.....they came that way on the blank.

The blank is a 8ft 5wt 3pc. It's moderately fast, which will work out well for Maegen.

She started fly fishing last year and she has a habit of too short of a pause in her casting stroke.
So far she loves the looks of it, but she doesn't know about the reel yet.
It's a Ross Vexsis limited edition with a tie dye anodization.

The weather is looking decent for this weekend so we are thinking about chasing some trout.

[Kaboom1]

Brian

Welcome to the Dark Side Nice build, especially for the first one! You will "need" the 10 ft 4 wt, then you will "need" a 7ft 3 wt for the smaller streams, then you will "need" a 9 ft 7 wt for swinging streamers....it will never end...trust me!

Brad

[melk]

Wahooo! Nice build, I noiw have even more mnotivation to get my project going.
Mike

[smij]

Your first? Excellent work!