Colt Johnson

Here is a regular 690 SP (not the SP+) 3pc. (not the 2pc.) that may end up going for a reasonable price. *Not my auction and no affiliation with the seller* http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAGE-SP-FLY-ROD-690-3-/321201686591?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac91cc83f

ROD IS SOLD. Thanks for looking! Colt

For sale is my Larry Kenney 8'0" 5pc. 6wt. rod. This rod is simply awesome. I am asking $400 shipped to the lower 48 states including an REC rod bag (No Tube). The rod will be shipped in a PVC tube for protection. Paypal preferred. Email me at coltrane45@hotmail.com if interested. The rod has a bronzed uplocking Lemke seat with a gunstock walnut insert. All snake brand black nickel guides and an REC black pearl Recoil stripper. YLI silk thread wraps and a Flor grade full wells grip. Larry described this rod as a moderate actioned 6wt., and I would whole heartedly agree. I am clenching my teeth selling this one as I know it is a one of a kind. Larry doesn't make many of his blanks in a 5pc. configuration. The rod has been lawn cast and cast on the water one time. Never fished and in excellent condition. See my earlier posting for more information: http://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=41696 Thanks! Colt

Jim, I think you are right that a 6 or 7wt. would be a nice first rod. There's not a lot of difference between the two line weights. If allowing smaller fish to show off a bit more is more important to you, go with the 6wt. If having a slightly increased capacity for casting larger flies is more important to you, go with the 7wt. Or to split the difference, I might suggest looking for a more moderate actioned 7wt. rod so that you can get some benefits of both. Colt

For Sale is a lightly used Steffen 6/7wt. 8'6" 4pc. fly rod. I am asking $350 plus $10 shipping to the lower 48 states. Paypal preferred. Email me at coltrane45@hotmail.com if interested. This rod is my favorite light bass rod I've ever used...any material. It sets a new standard. Plenty of power for turning over medium sized bass flies (streamers and poppers) while still providing plenty of fun for 12" to 20" bass! GRIP: Full Wells Flor Grade Cork SEAT: Uplocking Lemke w/hidden threads WRAPS: YLI Rust Silk STRIPPING GUIDE: REC Black Pearl Recoil GUIDES: Snake Brand (darkened nickel) ***Since taking the below photos I added a hook keeper*** I will DEFINITELY be building another one of these!

Thanks fellas. I don't think this rod could handle the large swim jig type lures that I've seen people throwing from time to time. But it's not meant for that. Similarly it wouldn't toss large deer hair poppers very well. For that, you'd need a stiffer rod. But I think this rod would easily handle throwing smaller 1/4 oz. spinner baits or buzz baits, smaller rapalas and poppers, float and fly type combinations, and other light tackle spinning lures. Similarly, I think it could handle size 8 clousers and buggers with smaller dumbell eyes, size 8 to 12 poppers and sliders, most any terrestrials, unweighted wooly buggers of a variety of sizes, and the like. This rod is going to seem like a finesse type rod with a deep bending action....and would be excellent for those streams where 8 to 10" smallies are the norm and a 14" is a trophy! It could certainly handle larger fish, but those fish typically like larger lures/baits/flies which would be difficult to cast with this type of rod. But for those that don't know, I'm an ultralight fan so a rod like this seems "heavy" to me.

I decided to take this one in a new direction. I have not previously seen a McFarland Spin/Fly rod (although there may be a few out there) and having previously built and fished the 7'2" 5wt., I thought it would be a wonderful blank to use. Originally, I have/had in mind a light bass spin/fly rod. But I also thought that a spin/fly rod is a very utilitarian setup and such a rod needs to be able to "do it all." The 7'2" length is not too long and not too short. It can still be fished on pretty small water with just enough length to feel comfortable on medium sized water as well. The 5wt. line is not too heavy and not too light. I can cast most dries with some smaller streamers and medium sized poppers as well. The rod can present a fly pretty delicately, but still has enough power to handle a medium breeze. And if things get too tight or too windy to cast a fly line, a spinning reel can be attached. It's kind of a "jack of all trades" type of rod. As for the build, I went with American Tackle's single foot spinning guides with a darkened nickel frame and a gold insert. The gold inserts look really nice with the orange colored ferrules. The wraps are YLI silk and I turned the grip using flor grade cork rings with rubberized cork and burl cork rings on both ends. It's actually a pretty simple build. Let me know what you think. Colt

I've been there. It's a beautiful lake.....very strange though. I could only think of what it would be like if there were "lakes" on the moon. The lake had risen 40 ft. in 30 days when I arrived but the fishing was still pretty good. Yes.....40 ft! I caught smallies and carp in the day time and I hooked into quite a few walleyes off the dock at night.

For those that have not seen these videos....they may offer a bit of justice. : )

Are these the Rio Trout Avid lines or the Rio Trout LT lines? I recall that the LT lines are dual tone, albeit I'm not sure how old your lines are. The older LT's may have been a solid color. I may be interested in the 4wt. line.

I just finished a build on a McFarland Sanded Brown Glass blank last night. It is a 7'6" 3wt. 3pc. rod. Mike's sanded brown glass is probably the best looking glass I've seen. It truly has this "flamed bamboo" like look to it. It is very classy and definitely eye catching. Here are the specs: Seat: Lemke Cap and Ring hardware in bronze. I turned the insert from a piece of golden spalted maple. Grip: 1/2" Flor Grade rings. Overall length is 6". I really enjoy this miniaturized full wells style grip. It is very comfortable and my preferred grip for these ultralight rods. Guides: Snake brand black nickel running guides. REC black recoil stripping guide size #8. Thread: YLI 50wt. Silk. Color is copper (#183). Finished with a single coat of 2 part epoxy finish (regular build). I haven't had a chance to cast this one yet, but I have a strong suspicion that it will like both a 2wt. line and/or a 3wt. line. It balances perfectly at the front end of the grip with the fully loaded Abel Creek LA I. I am headed to the driftless area in about a week and a half, and I anticipate that this will be my "go-to" rod for most of that trip. If anyone has any good recommendations for the driftless area, please feel free to chime in! I've been doing LOTS of research. I hope everyone enjoys the photos, and I will be updating my thoughts on the rod after I get to spend some time casting and fishing the rod in the coming weeks! Colt

Rob, I should also note that Tom Morgan has a guide spacing chart that he put together in conjunction with Snake Brand Guides particularly for fiberglass fly rods of varying lengths. I've never used his chart, but I know a lot people who do use his chart. I've emailed snake brand guide company for clarification, and it seems (as I suspected) that Tom Morgan's chart measures to the front foot of the guide whereas Sage measures to the back foot of the guide. After you make that adjustment, the two spacing charts are much more in line with one another. Colt

Rob G. : I'm sure that Mark Steffen or Mike McFarland, respectively, would be able to recommend a guide spacing scheme for each of their blanks. But from my experiences working with both of these guys, I would say that you need to ask them to provide a spacing scheme. I've never received a recommended spacing chart from either blank roller automatically. My approach for any blank (even if they have a guide spacing chart provided) is usually to find a corresponding Sage rod in similar length/weight/action/#sections that I can look up on the Sage Manufacturers website. I'll use that as a starting point and make adjustments as needed. I like to start with the Sage spacings because I've found that more times than not their recommended spacing lands guides at or very near ferrule wraps. I try (if possible) to combine ferrule reinforcement wraps with guide wraps to eliminate the number of wraps I put onto the blank. I'm sure it's pretty minor, but my thinking is that eliminating a few wraps saves 1. Time; 2. Weight; and 3. Prevents unnecessary restrictions to the blank's flex profile. But I always run a line through the guides to check my spacing and make final adjustments before applying finish. Particularly, for the McFarland 8'3" 6wt. if I recall correctly, the closest thing I could find was a Sage SPL 8'3" 3wt. 3pc. which I mirrored at first. I don't recall if I made any major changes, other than I may have moved the stripping guide back a inch or so. For the Steffen 6/7wt. I followed the spacing for a Sage ZXL or a Sage SLT 8'6" 5wt. 4pc. blank. The guide spacing for the medium fast actioned ZXL and SLT is slightly different than the spacing for the faster action Z Axis and "One" rods. I opted to follow the spacing for the medium fast actioned rods since I was building a glass rod. Again, I don't particularly recall making any major changes to that spacing either. Right now, I'm building a McFarland 7'6" 3wt. 3pc. For that rod, I'm using the spacing for a Sage SP 7'6" 3wt. 3pc. blank. The only thing that I changed on this rod is that I moved the stripping guide one inch closer to the grip to allow the guide to land right on a ferrule wrap. I just did a flex profile last night and it was perfect. I plan on finishing the rod tonight or tomorrow. It's going to be a beautiful rod. I have a really unique piece of spalted golden big leaf maple that I turned for the insert w/bronzed hardware, snake brand dark nickel guides, copper wraps, and the blank is a really cool sanded brown glass.

If I may customize my above review towards us Illinois Smallmouth Fisherman, I would strongly suggest the Steffen 6/7wt. 8'6" 4pc. rod!!! The McFarland is also an excellent choice, but I believe the Steffen 6/7 wt. would be the better all around smallmouth rod. It is my new "go to" rod for bass fishing in IL. The McFarland will serve as a nice backup rod for these same purposes, but the Steffen does so much so well. And I did not find that it was too heavy for my liking. The swing weight was very comparable to my Sage SP 9'0" 8wt. 3pc, but not nearly as stiff. I would much rather catch 12" to 16" smallmouth on the Steffen 6/7 wt. than my Sage SP 8wt. The Sage SP 8wt. would certainly be better if I were fishing in high winds all day. And for those that prefer to fish road sized streams and creeks, you may actually prefer the McFarland 6wt. over the Steffen 6/7wt. The McFarland is a fabulous taper for fishing in closer making casts ranging from 20' to upwards of 50'. The McFarland is probably going to present a fly more delicately if your water is very intimate and the fish are nervous. I decided to sell the McFarland 8' 5wt. 3pc. blank to a friend of mine who really wanted it, so I will not be building the McFarland 805. I was so content with the 8'3" 6wt. McFarland and the 8'6" 6/7 wt. Steffen that I was fine with not having the 805 McFarland in my lineup. Instead I bought a 7'6" 3wt. 3pc. McFarland blank that I'm currently building. I'm planning a trip to the driftless area at the end of this month where I hope to put the new 7'6" 3wt. McFarland, my Kabuto 7'0" 3wt. 3pc., and my TXL-F 2wt. 7'10" 4pc. to good use! Hopefully these reviews and photos have helped some of you learn a little more about glass fly rods for bass fishing. I'll likely post a few more comments of my McFarland 6wt. and Steffen 6/7 wt. as I continue to fish both of these rods this season. And hopefully I will be able to make it to a gathering of some sort in the coming months so those that are interested can test cast both of these rods. The best, Colt

NEXT UP is the 6/7 wt. Steffen 8'6" 4pc. build I just completed. Here is the review of the Steffen and comparison with the 6wt. McFarland that I did on the fiberglass fly rod forum. I hope you enjoy! After reading Lugan's review of his 6/7 Steffen 8' (see here http://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38721 ), I thought I would post some photos and comments about my 8'6" 6/7 wt. 4pc. build I'm working on. I will start with saying that everything that Lugan says about his 8' 6/7 carries over to the 8'6" as well. I was one of the people who contacted Lugan shortly before he received his rod and I received my blank voicing my concerns about whether this was going to be "too much" rod for me. Before I received the blank I started second guessing my decision and wondering if the swing weight of this rod was going to be too much. In short, I can say that it is NOT too heavy for me and it is a JOY to cast! I'm not 100% finished with this rod, as I need to touch up the finish work on my tip top wrap which was had some inconsistencies that I sanded down and I want to add a hook keeper. So in the coming weeks I will likely wrap a hook keeper and when I finish that wrap I will also refinish the tiptop wrap. But the rod is definitely fishable and I spent some time casting it alongside my recently built McFarland 8'3" 6wt. 3pc. yellow glass rod this weekend. (see here for the McFarland 6wt photos: http://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=38622 ) Here are the specs on my build: Seat: Lemke black anodized uplocking all metal seat with hidden screw locks Grip: Flor Grade 1/2" rings. 7" Full Wells with mild flares on either end Guides: Snake Brand Traditional in Black Nickel ***see bottom of post*** Stripping Guide: REC Recoil #12 Black Pearl Wraps: YLI 50wt. Copper (#183) w/ YLI 50wt. Black tipping Finish: Two-Part Epoxy Finish. 1 coat. I'll first make a few comments about the Steffen 6/7 wt. 8'6" rod. I paired an Orvis MidArbor V reel with the rod. The reel weighs 6.5 oz. empty and I have about 100 yds. of backing and a Sage 230 Grain Bass Taper Fly line rigged. Even though the 230 grain head is the equivalent on the cusp of being a 9wt. line, I believe it is considered by sage to be an extreme front tapered 7wt. line for turning over large bass bugs. The reel balanced perfectly, and the line/rod combo was so magnificent, I have yet to try another line on the rod. It was absolutely perfect! I spent most of my time casting the #8 dumbell eyed wooly bugger shown in this shot: Seventy foot casts were easily made with this rod/line combo. As long as I had 30 feet of line in the air and my loose line was unobstructed, I could shoot casts out to 70' or more very consistently. The rod was extremely accurate from 30' to 50' and still fairly accurate out to 70'. My loops were insanely tight and I was able to accomplish these distances casting into a mild breeze (probably 5 to 10 mph) although it was mostly a nice day for testing the rod. Even though I spent most of my time concentrating on casting and testing the capacities of the rod, I did manage to hook into and land a nice 12" crappie. The fish put a respectable bend in the rod which I was glad to see as I was hoping for a rod that was not overly stiff. This rod is not. The action is very progressive and even the crappie was a lot of fun on this rod. The fact that my rod is a 4pc. did not seem to affect the action in the least. I would go so far as to say that this is the best casting rod (Glass or Graphite) that I've ever handled in this weight class. It seems like it is going to perfectly handle the conditions that I encounter fishing for bass in Central Illinois: Streamer fishing mostly in sizes #2 to #10, dries and poppers in size #4 to #10, and still allowing a 1-2 lb. bass show off and put a nice bend in the rod! Just an all around AMAZING rod! To offer another perspective, I decided to spend about an hour casting the 6/7 wt. 8'6" Steffen next to the 6wt. 8'3" McFarland. Going into this, I can say that the 6wt. McFarland is an excellent rod as well. But there are some subtle differences that I will note here. I had the 6wt. McFarland paired up with an Abel TR3 which weighs 4.6 oz. empty. However, that weight is certainly increased as I have about 140 yds. of backing and a 6wt. Ridgeline Airflo WF line spooled up. The reel balances very nicely on the rod: As a general statement, I think if I were a trout fisherman trying to choose between these two rods, I would favor the McFarland 6wt. It has a bit more delicacy and I think that it would open the door for casting and fishing some smaller dries in addition to medium sized weighted wooly buggers. But if I were a bass fisherman, I would hands down pick the Steffen 6/7 wt. The steffen might not be able to present a #12 Stimulator as nicely as the McFarland, but it broadens the spectrum of larger streamers and larger poppers that could easily be presented. The Steffen has that extra reserve of power that helps turn over those harder to cast flies for a 6/7 wt. rod. Nevertheless, both of these rods still seem to flex about the same. The McFarland probably flexes a bit deeper than the Steffen but it was hardly noticeable. For those that have read Lugan's report of his 6/7 wt. Steffen, he makes a comment about disliking that "thud" that occurs on the back cast of the rod. I know exactly what he is talking about and he is absolutely correct that the Steffen is SUPER smooth and virtually "thudless". The McFarland on the other hand, when I was casting the same #8 dumbell eyed wooly bugger, I felt a mild thud on the back cast. I was still able to reach out to 65' to 70' but my accuracy was much less with the McFarland. However, the McFarland was just as accurate if not more so at shorter distances from 20' to 45'. While I have not tried this yet, it is my assumption that the McFarland 6wt. could not handle the Sage 230 grain bass taper fly line that I was using on the Steffen 6/7 wt. rod. Likewise, I have a feeling that the 8'6" 6/7 wt. Steffen would likely feel a bit underlined with the 6wt. Airflo Rigdeline WF line that I was using on the McFarland 6wt. I completely intend on hanging onto and fishing the McFarland 6wt. as it is a very fine rod. I foresee favoring my McFarland 6wt. when I am chasing spooky carp on the Fox River, as it is a bit more capable of gently placing the fly. But I must say that the Steffen 6/7 wt. 8'6" rod is my favorite of the two rods for most of my warm-water purposes. The Steffen 6/7 wt. is a perfect all around warm-water rod for me! And I'm extremely pleased that I ended up getting the 4pc. design as I fully intend to make the Steffen 6/7 wt. my go-to travel rod. I've made the seat saltwater friendly, and I think the rod ought to handle everything from trout on big western rivers, light steelhead, bass, carp, bonefish, redfish, and other light saltwater, and etc., etc., etc. I built about 20 plus rods last year (mostly ultralight) and the Steffen 6/7 wt. is certainly one of the most impressive casting rod I've come across to date. FIVE STARS! ***The Snake Guides were given to me FREE by Mike at Snake Brand Guides. For those interested go to his website and see the link to request a free set of guides. I did this and Mike called me personally about an hour later. He asked about my rods and my builds and he sent me a free set of guides which arrived about a week later! What a great guy and some of the best guides I've worked with!*** http://www.snakeguides.com/

Now that the wraps are fully dry, here are a few more delectable shots!

Second up is the unsanded yellow glass McFarland 8'3" 6wt. 3pc. rod. For this build, I used Joel Lemke's LC1 down locking (screw lock) black anodized seat and the insert is turned from a nice piece of maple burl. It's a bit tough to see in these photos as the down locking cap is covering half of the insert since the blank is standing up right. I just finished the guides last night, so I was reluctant to allow the wraps to touch anything yet. I will get a few better photos either tonight or tomorrow once the wraps have more time to dry. The guides are all REC black pearl Recoil guides. I've used the black pearl recoil stripping guides before, but never the running snake guides. They were a bit difficult to wrap due to their wiry and flexible characteristics. I've heard horror stories about trying to "prep" the guide feet, but these came preground and did not need much work. Albeit, I bought them directly from REC, which probably helped. They were not as neatly ground/finished as the snake brand guides, but in all a decent guide. I'll probably stick with snake brand guides or PacBay light wire guides for the future though. The grip is made of all flor grade rings turned to a moderate sized full wells grip. I kept the flared ends somewhat subdued (especially the rear flare so it would blend into the reel seat diameter better) as this rod is only a 6wt. rod and I didn't want the grip to seem overly large. The length of the grip is about 7". The wraps are all YLI silk, color Antique Gold w/no color preserver. The silk thread goes somewhat translucent and it darkens to a rich golden brown color that nicely compliments the color of the blank. I'm looking forward to test casting this one this weekend! I'll get some more photos of this rod up in a couple days after the wraps are fully dry. Let me know what you think!

I think it was the third rod I built which was probably about 3 years ago, a 0wt. Dan Craft 7'10" 6pc, that was somewhat of a benchmark rod for me. At that time I wanted the slowest, deepest bending rod I could possibly get my hands on. This is it. At the time, I called Dan and inquired about a rod that was lighter than the Sage TXL 000wt. He went off on a 20 minute tangent about the impossibilities of the entire concept of a rod that was lighter than a 0wt., which at the time went right over my head. But having built dozens of light line fly rods since having that conversation, I now fully understand what he was trying to highlight. Before I go any further in that regard, I will say that I fished this rod quite a bit for about a full year following its completion. Then I sold it to a close friend who has had it ever since. Last night I met up with my buddy and we worked out a trade, so the rod is now in my possession again. I special ordered an Abel TR Light reel a few weeks ago from Stillwater Fly Shop. I had my Dan Craft in mind when I ordered the TR Light knowing full well that I would likely keep the TR Light rigged with a 1wt. line most of the time. Here are the specs on the reel: The diameter is 2.55" It weighs 3.1 oz. empty and it holds approximately 90 yds. of 20# backing with a 1wt. line. I think I have mine spooled with about 65 to 70 yds. of 20# backing and a Sage QDT 1wt. line. The backing creates a fairly large arbor, so line coiling should be minimized, but the reel is quite tiny. I ordered my reel in matte black (just like the color of the Dan Craft blank). I opted for the zebra wood handle and an ebony insert on the rear hub. I tried to keep all of the features (minus the handle) as "stealthy" as I possibly could. I recall that when I initially built the Dan Craft, my theme was "stealth". I used black anodized hardware, black wraps on the matte black blank, TiCh (titanium colored) snakes and tip top, and the rod as a whole was very stealthy. So pairing this reel with the Dan Craft just felt right. I took a ton of photos. I happened to receive the Abel TR light in the mail yesterday as well. Here are a few photos as I eagerly pulled the Abel reel from the gold sealed box. And these are a few photos of the TR Light reel next to its big brother, the largest reel in the TR series, the TR 3 (which is now discontinued). Here are some photos of the TR Light on a few of my ultralight rods. I was initially very shocked by the smallness of this reel, but it is really growing on me. I was previously accustomed to fishing all large arbor reels with a diameter of 3" or larger, so it was a bit of a shock seeing the proportions of the tiny Abel TR light. But I'm really enjoying the disparity it brings to my ultralight reel lineup. The reel balanced absolutely perfect on my Kabuto 7033. I haven't tried it yet, but I have a feeling that I could fit a 1/2 DT 3wt. line on this reel without removing any backing. From my experiences changing lines on my Sage 3100 reels, I have noticed that a 1/2 DT 3wt. line uses approximately the same capacity as a full 1wt. Sage QDT line. So I could foresee switching out the line from time to time and using a 1/2 DT 3wt. line so I could pair the Abel TR light with my Kabuto. And here it is on my Sage TXL-F 2wt. Balance wise, for me, I prefer the 3100 on the TXL-F 2wt. But the TR light is not too bad. I have thought about reducing my older 2wt. Silver label line to about 65' to 70' so that it could be used on the Abel TR light without removing any backing. That way I could potentially rig it up to be used on the TXL-F from time to time. The advantage here is that I would have available LOTS more backing if I opted to REALLY push the TXL-F 2wt. and go after a fish that could significantly get me into my backing. As I stated, earlier, I probably have around 70 yds. of backing on the reel right now. Perhaps this would make a good reel to pair with my TXL-F if I were to chase carp. Going back to the Dan Craft 0wt. and Dan's comments about the impossibility of producing a rod lighter than a 0wt., I decided to do an ERN of the Dan Craft rod. It took 8 pennies to deflect the Dan Craft rod 1/3 of its' length. I've been trying to pull the Common Cents charts but the webpage seems to be down. I do recall MakoML testing the same (or similar) rod and his result was 6.5 pennies which did not even register on the ERN charts. By contrast my Sage TXL 0wt. required 20 pennies (which equated to an ERN of 1.92). So you can see that the Dan Craft 0wt. (which only required 8 pennies or in Mako's case 6.5 pennies) is significantly softer and deeper bending than the Sage TXL 0wt. Having tested a number of my rods, I'm fairly certain that what Dan Craft was alluding to was that a rod any lighter than these could not support their own weight....let alone be capable of swinging a fly line and fly through the air. At some point you cannot even make a cast. Nonetheless, the Dan Craft has its place in my ultralight arsenal once again. The rod can be a lot of fun if there is NO wind. I took it down to my dock this morning and hammered out some 35' to 40' casts using a #14 bead head copper john. The rhythm is slow and the rod does not respond well to being pushed. It's a tad fussy if you don't conform to its timing. But all of that is forgotten when you get a fish on the rod! Colt

Agreed. I've owned only a few 7wt. and 8wt. glass rods and they were each put up for sale within a week or so. : ) However, I do have high expectations for the McFarland 6wt. I'm hoping for a rod that is capable of casting a 6wt. line and slightly heavier/larger flies than my 4wt. and 5wt. rods, but with the deeper bending fish on fun that I get from my ultralights. Hook sets are probably going to be more difficult at times. But I'm sure practice (like anything) will help me master that skill. I've landed decent smallmouth on the lightest rod I've ever handled, a Dan Craft 0wt. I did an ERN test of that rod last night...and it didn't even register on the charts. It only took 8 pennies hung from the tip to deflect the rod 1/3 of its length! (By comparison my Sage TXL 0wt. required 20 pennies). Yet I was able to get a good hook set and land this decent smallmouth. Which may be one of the most memorable fish I've ever caught considering the size of the creek I caught him in and the unbelievably soft rod I caught him with!

I ordered five reel seat blanks to turn as potential inserts for the McFarland 5wt. and 6wt. I'm strongly leaning towards an all aluminum black anodized seat for the 6/7 wt. steffen so it is saltwater safe.....but I will reserve my final decision until after I get a few of these inserts turned.

SOLD.

For sale is my McFarland S-Glass 8wt. 8'6" 2pc. rod. I am asking $250 (OBO) plus $10 shipping to the lower 48. Paypal preferred. Lemke reel seat. Mike did a very limited run of these blanks. A great steelhead or big bass rod. Email me at coltrane45@hotmail.com if interested. Very good condition.

I was able to spend some time on the water this weekend with the McFarland 8wt. I tried both a Sage Performance Taper 8wt. line and a Sage Bass Taper 230 grain line. My preference was for the 230 grain Bass Taper line which can be found on clearance for as little as $20. I started with the longest and heaviest fly that I would regularly fish for bass. It was a size 1 Wilson's Bass bully. The fly has dumbell eyes and a longer zonker strip tail. There was about a 15 mph breeze. The rod cast the fly without issue directly into the headwind. about 65' was my upper limit, but it was not difficult to attain 50' to 60'. With about 20' of line out initially I was regularly able to shoot about 30' of line to make 50' casts (wind or no wind). Just for kicks, I tied on a few topwater hair bugs including but not limited to a couple dahlberg divers. Same results. No hick ups or bogs. On the down side, this rod is a bit too powerful for my preferences. While I didn't have one available, I think this rod could handle a 9wt. WF line, or possibly even Sage's 290 grain bass line. I didn't have flies large enough in my collection to trip this rod up. It cast all of my largest flies with ease. By comparison, my only other 8wt. rod is a Sage SP 9' 8wt. My SP is capable of reaching out further (closer to 80' or 90' with smaller flies) but seems to bog down a little faster with the largest of my flies. I honestly think that I was just starting to tap into the reserve power in the butt section of the McFarland. Had I been using a heavier fly line, I could have possibly utilized a bit more power from the butt section. I know it is there as the McFarland rod was loading in the tip/mid section only when casting. Even thought the McFarland 8wt. was lighter than I expected for an 8'6" glass rod, the swing weight was much higher than my 8wt. SP. I could more easily cast the SP 8wt. for long periods of time without tiring. I might call the McFarland an 8/9 wt. rod, even though I didn't get to cast the rod with a 9wt. line. For me, the rod is a bit too powerful. If I were bass fishing in Texas, Florida or California, then I would LOVE this rod. Similarly, if I were looking for a saltwater glass rod or a nice glass rod for steelhead, this rod would be at the top of my list. But for my purposes, fly fishing for 1 to 3 lb. bass in Illinois, I think I would prefer more of a 6wt. version of this rod. I'm hoping that the McFarland blanks arrive this week. If so, I will be starting the 6wt. McFarland right away. I have high expectations for that rod.

First up is the LILLY POND 8WT. 8'6" 2PC. BASS ROD BUILT ON A BLACK S-GLASS MCFARLAND BLANK Awhile back I was reviewing Cameron's Manifesto and happened upon this post: http://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com/2011/11/introducing-lilly-pond-fly-rods.html The maker of these rods is Brian Ebert who has a blog called Relax The Cast which can be found here: http://relaxthecast.blogspot.com/2011/10/lilly-pond-bass-bug-rod.html My understanding is that Brian was looking for a powerful glass rod capable of casting even the largest of bass flies. I found out after the fact that Brian is from Illinois and lives only about 4 hrs. north of me. Talking with Brian was like talking with myself to some extent. Without ever knowing each other, he had tackled many of the same ideas and projects that I have as he whittled his way through quite a few different rod designs and makers. It is quite logical that he would ultimately wind up with a series of blanks built by Mike McFarland, whom most of us would consider a fly rod "GENIUS" whether Mike will admit it or not! The post intrigued me as one of the reasons I was initially fascinated with fiberglass fly rods is its usefulness as a good bass rod. Keeping in mind that I am an ultralight fly fisherman at heart, the dilemma I continually faced is that while I mostly enjoyed catching the 1 to 3 lb bass on my 1wt., 2wt. and 3wt. rods, I was forced to set aside any of my larger deer hair poppers, heavily weighted streamers and any other fly larger than a size #8 as even a 3wt. line lacks the mass to turn over medium sized flies....let alone the largest frog and shad imitations. So I was essentially trying to catch bass on trout sized flies. When I finally realized that a 6wt. glass rod bends as deep as most of my 3wt. graphite rods I was literally hooked. Having a 6wt. line mass allowed me to greatly broaden my spectrum of castable flies, yet the characteristics of the glass maintained that quasi-ultralight, deep bending, "fish on" feel that brings a smile to my face even with a 1lb. bass. Months had passed since I read the Manifesto post about the Lilly Pond rod series, but the underlying idea of a fiberglass rod designed around bass fishing was so in line with what I was after that the idea lie dormant in the back of my mind. Winding this introduction up, I happened upon an ebay listing a few days ago for one of Brian's rods. This prompted me to finally contact Brian directly. We worked out a deal, and he mailed me one of his rods to try out. Yesterday it arrived. I didn't get home until late and I found the rod tube in my daughters room (She's 3 years old). Grabbing the rod tube with a slight concern as to what kinds of activities the rod tube endured spending the day with my three year old daughter, I immediately knew that the rod was unaffected. Brian wrapped this rod so well that it literally took me 20 minutes to figure out how to open the damn thing! Ha. It was as if Brian knew that my daughter would be dragging the packaged tube around the house for 8 hrs before I could get to it! Once I finally opened the tube and removed the rod, I was pleasantly surprised. Brian's wraps and finish work are simple and clean. In fact the entire build was extremely utilitarian. The sleek and simple Lemke reel seat gave the rod a streamlined appeal. The olive green wraps were subtle. The grip was well built and of a fairly high quality. In all, my initial impression was, "this looks like a bass rod." Having never owned an 8wt. glass rod, I was concerned about the physical weight of the 8'6" 8wt. beast. Again, noting my preferences for ultralight rods, this is a completely different animal. It has some weight to it, and even my 6.5 oz. Orvis Mid Arbor V reel could probably use an extra .5 ounces to balance the rod where I would prefer. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised that Mike's black S-Glass blank was a tad thinner and a bit lighter than I expected. Perhaps Brian's and/or Mike's idea to keep this blank a simple 2pc. design was partly motivated to keeping the number of ferrules to a minimum thus also keeping the weight to a minimum. I would also wager that these guys likely went with Mike's S-Glass so they could create a thinner and lighter 8wt. blank. In all, I am excited to get this rod on the water. I'm hoping to be able to do some test casting this weekend on my lake (ice or no ice). I have my Orvis Mid Arbor V reel currently lined with Sage's 230 grain bass taper line. My thought is that the 230 grain line (which is on the cusp of being the equivalent grain weight of a 9wt. line) will help to load this rod at short/medium distances. I also have a standard WF 8wt. Sage Performance Taper line that I plan on casting with this rod. Without even casting this rod, I can already tell that it is going to be powerful! I will be following up with a more detailed review of this rod as soon as I get to spend some time casting it. But for anyone looking for the "ultimate" fiberglass bass rod, I would highly recommend contacting Brian Ebert at Relax the Cast to inquire about his Lilly Pond rod series!

This rod blank is SOLD. Thanks.