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.