first fly rod build

[tnpondmanager]

I completed my first fly rod build today. Here are a couple photos of the handle:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5493/9369027138_f20e9bae0e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87205953@N05/9369027138/) fly-rod-handle (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87205953@N05/9369027138/) by tnpondmanager (http://www.flickr.com/people/87205953@N05/), on Flickr

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5455/9366249101_893e9b0727.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87205953@N05/9366249101/)
fly-rod-handle-2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/87205953@N05/9366249101/) by tnpondmanager (http://www.flickr.com/people/87205953@N05/), on Flickr

[banjopkr]

Man,that is some very nice work:)

[tnpondmanager]

Thanks, Banjopkr! I worked on this rod, and the rod I posted photos of a few days ago, for seven months. At times it seemed like I would never finish either one.

[tacklemake]

Back in 64 we wood take a fly rod and make a spinning rod out of it because of the sensitivity of the rod in witch it made a great pickerel or better known as a pike rod...............woody

[tnpondmanager]

Tacklemake, I still make spinning rods from fly rod blanks, on a regular basis. The rod photo I posted a couple weeks ago was just such a rod. They make great live bait rods, better than any factory rod by far.

[geckel]

Man that is nice! Well done.

[tcintn]

That is beautiful work on the rod.
The 9' rod we sell at TM is made from a fly rod blank.

[tnpondmanager]

Thanks for the compliments, guys! Much appreciated!

[Travis C.]

Tacklemake, I still make spinning rods from fly rod blanks, on a regular basis. The rod photo I posted a couple weeks ago was just such a rod. They make great live bait rods, better than any factory rod by far.

Great looking rod. All that time put in really paid off.

Speaking of fly rod spinning rod combinations that is how Gary Loomis started out his rod building legacy. There is a great interview with him about how he got started by Zach Matthews. I will post it and link it below once I find it. Very funny character and truly ahead of his time.

http://www.itinerantangler.com/blog/podcasts/2009/12/20/podcast_ground_zero_with_gary/

[tnpondmanager]

Thanks, Travis! That particular rod is a straight fly rod as you may have guessed. The spinning rods I mentioned that I build were not made as spin/fly combos, but they would work for that. The spinning rods I have been making on fly blanks are specifically for fishing live bait with little to no added weight; I use them for my bluegill fishing. My main bluegill rod is 8', built on a Lamiglas fiberglass 5-wt. blank (the same blank this fly rod was built on), with a 20" cork handle and Fuji spinning guides. It will cast nothing but a Gapen panfish float (super-sensitive, best bluegill float I've found by far) and a single red wiggler halfway into next week.

[FloatNFish]

Speaking of fly rod spinning rod combinations that is how Gary Loomis started out his rod building legacy. There is a great interview with him about how he got started by Zach Matthews. I will post it and link it below once I find it. Very funny character and truly ahead of his time.

http://www.itinerantangler.com/blog/podcasts/2009/12/20/podcast_ground_zero_with_gary/

That podcast was great! What a cool guy. Thanks Travis.

-Alex