I have an old Phillipson fiberglass that I enjoy fishing form time to time and recently while visiting one of the local fly shops, I happened across a diamondglass rod that had a spectacular feel too it, really got me thinking about a post on here some time back by Rich Margiotta on a fiberglass rod made in Pennsylvania by Mike McFarland. Then some few days later, someone actually posted a picture of one of Mike's rod in a thread I had started on agate stripper guides, and I knew then that I had to see one of these rods, or get a blank and build one.

I contacted Rich and he gave me a lot of information on Mikes rods and the next thing I knew, I had a McFarland Spruce Creek blank on my bench. Well, to make a long story short, I have to admit that after building this rod and casting it, I may have stumbled onto one of the best feeling rods I have had the pleasure to cast. Hopefully, I will get to fish it next week when I take a few very badly needed days off and hit the streams of East Tennessee. Thought I would share a couple of pictures of a nearly finished 8' 5 wt, 3 pc. McFarland Spruce Creek blank, and built using Mikes presentation reel seat, cigar grip, and a nice agate stripper guide. I built it using more bamboo building techniques and it is turning out pretty nice. I can see plenty more of these in my rod building future.