Colt Johnson

For sale is my Dan Craft 9’6” 4pc. 6wt. blank. This is his Signature V series. The original price on these was $265. I bought the blank for $59 plus $10 shipping when Dan was closing them out at the end of last year. I decided not to build it out as I have several other builds I’m working on. I’m asking $50 shipped to the lower 48. The blank is in perfect condition. I did do a test wrap about 3” from the butt of the rod which could easily be removed. The test wrap would eventually be covered by the reel seat and/or grip. (See photos). Paypal preferred. Email me at coltrane45@hotmail.com if interested. Thanks, Colt

For sale is my Orvis Superfine Touch 8'0" 4pc. 4wt. INCLUDING a barely fished spool of Scientific Anglers Supra DT 4wt. line. I am asking $285 shipped to the lower 48. The uplocking reel seat hardware is from Joel Lemke and I turned the insert from a nice piece of spalted box elder burl. The insert has some very cool patterns. Pacbay light wire chrome snakes and a solid titanium stripping guide. The rod and line have been fished once and test cast a handful of times but are otherwise in perfect condition. The wraps and finish are some of the best I've done. The cork quality is practically perfect. Paypal preferred. Email me at coltrane45@hotmail.com if interested. Here is a link to Tom Chandler's review of the rod: http://troutunderground.com/2011/10/underground-review-the-orvis-superfine-touch-8-4wt-small-stream-fly-rod/

John, I would be up for doing a cast and compare later this year. I'm just going to need a few months to assemble these rods. : ) Hopefully by this summer though they will all be completed. I received an email from Mike McFarland last night and he is sending me his best taper/length 5wt. configuration in his original sanded and painted brown glass series. I'm pretty sure it is going to be an 8' 5wt. 3pc. I'm planning on finishing it out very similar to how he finished these rods.....like this (this was one that Mike built): Mike is supposed to be sending me the brown glass 5wt. blank and the yellow glass 6wt. blank today. So I will hopefully be able to start putting some of these together in the coming weeks. Colt

A cool discussion unraveled in the wanted section when someone was inquiring about fiberglass fly rods. http://illinoissmallmouthalliance.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9040 Mike G. pointed out some of the historical distinctions between what he called classic glass and neo glass. While classic glass is very foreign to me, I have been spending a decent amount of time building rods on several of the "neo" glass rod builder's blanks. To date, most of my experience has been with ultralight glass rods as 3wt. rods and under have been my main passion. However, I have recently had an idea that I will be working on this year. Two of the leading men in rolling glass blanks in the united states are Mark Steffen and Mike McFarland. Mike being located on the East Coast and Mark being located closer to the West coast. I am planning on building and doing some reviews of a few of their 6wt., 7wt. and 8wt. rods for those that are interested. The first rod I will likely be reviewing I did not build. A fellow IL glass enthusiast with a blog called, Relax the Cast, built a small production of rods using Mike McFarland's S-Glass blanks. http://relaxthecast.blogspot.com/ He built his rod series in an 8'6" 8wt. 2pc. configuration. I bought one of his rods last week and I'm expecting its arrival today or tomorrow. Given the weather and my schedule, it might be a few weeks before I get to spend adequate time with the rod to complete the review. But I will be posting photos and comments under this thread in the future. I have an order with Mike McFarland for a yellow E-Glass 8'3" 6wt. 3pc. blank. I'm expecting Mike to ship me that blank any day now. I actually placed this order a few months ago. I talked with Mike just yesterday and he indicated that he would try to ship me the blank sometime this week. Obviously I will need to build this one before I can do a review. But I hope to have it built within a month or two of receiving the blank and I will again be posting photos and comments under this thread in the future. Today I spoke with Mark Steffen for a bit. Mark is sending me an 8'6" 6/7 wt. 4pc. blank to build. This will be another S-Glass rod. He told me that he would be shipping this blank at or around the last week in February. It is another blank that I will be building and reviewing. I will post future comments and photos under this thread. This overall project will likely take me a few months to fully complete. Maybe longer as I am scheduled to begin building our new home in May. So my goal is to have these rods completed before I get too busy building our house. Regardless, I will be updating this thread as I continue to make progress with these rods. I hope to learn even more about the capabilities of fishing glass fly rods for bass. And perhaps those that are interested may be able to gather some criteria for distinguishing the different options available for a modern glass fly rods. Others may see fit trying to incorporate a modern glass fly rod into their current lineup. And best of all, I will have lots of fun along the way! I look forward to hearing everyone's comments in the future. The best, Colt

Ryan, since you mention poppers or divers, I'm thinking that you are referring to flies tied with body hair not tails. You will notice that the hair on a deer tail is longer, uneven and wavy. As Mike G points out, the tails are perfect for streamers like clousers and the like. If you are going to stack deer hair to create that thickly packed body shape you see on deer hair poppers and divers, you will need the shorter more uniform body hair. It pays to get quality body hair when doing these in my opinion. I would recommend checking out some youtube videos as spinning deer hair takes some practice.

Ryan, I don't think you will be disappointed with the 4wt. CGR. Your rod will be more capable of handling a variety of conditions as opposed to the shorter 3wt. which is really more of a specialty rod at that length. The conditions in which a sub 6' 3wt. glass rod performs well is limited. If you decide to fish some terrestrials (probably an important consideration when fishing the driftless area in the summer) the 4wt. will do a much better job than the short 3wt. Same goes for small nymphs or battling a slight breeze (again a possibility if the stream is exposed in an open field). Compared to your graphite 3wt. (I'm not sure which graphite rod you have/had) you will likely notice how slow the glass rod seems. It will likely bend deeper and feel much more like a willowy tree branch than a rigid walking stick. Will it be more fun???? That will be up to you to decide. Graphite has its merits....but I know that I like to fish a good glass rod from time to time as well. Colt

Ryan, I was just about to post on here that Cabelas was offering their glass rods on sale (on line only) for $74.99 each. See Here: http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Fly-Fishing/Fly-Fishing-Rods|/pc/104793480/c/104721480/sc/105573780/Cabelas-50th-Anniversary-Custom-Glass-Rods/1167634.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ffishing-fly-fishing-fly-fishing-rods%2F_%2FN-1102568%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_105573780%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253BMMcat104793480%253Bcat104721480&WTz_l=SBC%3BMMcat104793480%3Bcat104721480%3Bcat105573780 Here are some great resources (and reading material) for you to digest and help you make a more informed decision as to which CGR rod you may prefer: http://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=15602&hilit=cabelas http://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38168&hilit=Cabelas+CGR http://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com/2011/06/cabelas-cgr-series-review.html There are some great reviews on the above referenced links. Hopefully these will give you some further insight as to the differences between the models and the capacities of the different weights. To answer some of your questions (keeping in mind that I have not cast the CGR rods) I think that generally glass tends to be more durable than graphite. Someone may be able to correct me, but my understanding of low modulus glass (say 10 million modulus) vs. high modulus graphite (say 80 million modulus) is that the lower modulus materials are less brittle yet less sensitive. Whereas the really high modulus graphite rods far exceed the sensitivity of a low modulus glass rod...but the sacrifice is brittleness. Also, those ugly stick commercials that show people shoving a rod into the garbage compactor....well those rods are glass rods. On another note, I have found that glass is more prone to taking a set than graphite. So in that sense, glass is not more durable than graphite. I would not recommend leaving your glass rod fully assembled in your car on a summer day (even a spring day for that matter) unless you want a curved rod. Similarly I would not leave your glass rod fully assembled and leaning against the wall in the corner of a room. Over time, a glass rod (like bamboo) will develop a set. Graphite tends to be less prone to sets (from my experience). I can say that glass will flex deeply and I am much more willing to bend a glass rod to a parabolic arch than a graphite rod. For example, check out this photo: As for the preferred weight rod for a spring creek, I think a 3/4 wt. would be just fine. Personally, I like to use as light of a fly rod as possible for any given situation. The 3/4 will bend deep with just about any fish, but the mass of the line will still allow you some flexibility to fish the kinds of flies you want and contest with mild winds. Certainly if you think you will need to deal with a constant breeze, I might consider bumping up to a 4/5. For me, if I were choosing amongst the CGR rods, I would put some emphasis on the length of the rod as well. The little 3wt. they offer is less than 6' long. There are dueling philosophies when fishing small water. Some might prefer a longer rod so they can reach out to spots that are difficult to cast to, and others want a really short rod to keep their loops low and unobstructed from tree branches. I personally think if you are fishing the WI spring creeks, one of your main obstacles might be tall grasses and brush alongside of the creeks. For that (again my preference) I would use a longer rod to try to keep my loops higher above the grasses and brush. And since they don't really offer a longer rod, I think my choice would be the 7' 4/5 wt.rod. Although the inner ultralight guy inside me would be pushing for the small 3wt. Just my two cents.

I took the 7033 Kabuto out late Sunday afternoon. I chose that time as the sun was just beginning to set....hoping that I might be able to see the rod blank in some interesting lighting. The lake was frozen (barely as we may have 1" of ice) and I was casting off my dock. Having heard from some that this rod likes a 4wt. line, I brought three reels with me: An Orvis Battenkill LA lined with Sage WF 3wt. Performance Taper line; Orvis Lightweight with Scientific Angler Supra 4wt. DT line, and a Sage 3100 lined with a 1/2 Rio LT 3wt. DT line. I started with the WF 3wt. line. The rod was easy to cast and loaded equally well at 20' and 40'. I was able to shoot the line 50' feet (probably around 60') which was pretty good for a 7' glass rod. The loops were tight and consistent. I was very satisfied using the WF 3wt. line and I began to conclude that I like this rod with a 3wt. line. With the WF 3wt. line the rod flexed mostly in the tip and a bit into the mid section. For awhile there was about a 10 to 15 mph breeze (guessing). The WF 3wt. line could cast into the breeze, but I would guess 30' was about my limit. With some reluctance, I next tried the SA Supra DT 4wt. line. The WF 3wt. line cast so smoothly I was fairly certain that the DT 4wt. line would be too much for this rod. I was wrong. The rod handled the DT 4wt. line beautifully. I was able to load the rod much deeper and using the DT 4wt. line the rod flexed mostly in the mid and a bit into the butt section. It did take a little more concentration to keep my loops tight with the DT 4wt. line. When I did keep my loops tight the rod shot line much better than with a WF 3wt. line. The rod topped out about the same, maybe 55' or so. But if I was in tight quarters, the DT 4wt. might be a good choice as the rod could shoot line much better with just a short amount of line in the air. I also found that the mass of the DT 4wt. line scored me an extra 10' or so when casting into the wind. With the DT 4wt. line the rod felt a lot closer in action to a few McFarland yellow glass rods I have built recently. Particularly I had a 7'6" 5wt. 3pc. McFarland that I built for someone which flexed deeply with a DT 5wt. line. I think the Kabuto felt similar with the DT 4wt. line. Both rods really let the caster feel the line loading the rod which is a cool part of the experience casting a glass rod. Since I was casting over ice, I couldn't really test the rod's roll casting abilities. There is no resistance to load the rod properly. But I have a feeling the rod would roll cast with the DT 4wt line very smoothly in close. Last I put the Sage 3100 with a DT 3wt. line on the rod. At this point I was not sure what to expect. This combo was probably my favorite. The DT 3wt. line was a great compromise between the WF 3wt. line and the DT 4wt line. It was fairly easy to consistently produce tight loops (like the WF 3wt. line) yet I was able to shoot line fairly well (like the DT 4wt. line). The rod cast into the wind as good as I would expect. The ability to keep my loops tight consistently allowed me to be accurate more frequently. Keeping in mind that the rod reminded me of my McFarland builds with a DT 4wt. line, with the DT 3wt. line, the Kabuto reminded me of my Orvis Superfine Touch rods. The rod loaded in the tip and a bit into the mid section, short casts were easy and accurate, and the rod could be pushed if needed. Since I only had 1/2 a line, it was very easy to measure the distance I was casting. I could easily cast all of the line which I believe is 40 ft. of line plus about 8' of leader/tippet. So 50' casts were no problem with the DT 3wt. Rio LT line. (I probably could have gotten another 10' of line if I had a full line rigged up). And the rod looked pretty nice to boot. As far as aesthetics and balance, surprisingly I think I favored the Sage 3100 reel the most. The rig felt very light for glass and the black reel was a nice contrast to the white blank and light colored wraps. I am expecting the arrival of an Abel Creek LA 1 with an older brown trout fish graphic today. I bought the reel new for less than the cost of a standard gloss black version. The Abel Creek could trump the Sage 3100 as far as looks are concerned. Time will tell. I am confident that the Abel Creek will balance the Kabuto more towards the middle of the grip. The Abel Creek LA weighs 3.8 oz. empty and the Orvis Battenkill LA I that I rigged up first weighs 3.9 oz. empty. The Orvis Battenkill felt fine, but I do think I preferred the balance point at the very front tip of the grip as with the Sage 3100. I am a bit curious how a WF 4wt. line would perform on this rod. But for now I anticipate using a DT 3wt. under most circumstances. I will update as I receive and try the Abel Creek LA 1 vs. the Sage 3100.

Exactly. I haven't looked this up but I think S glass tends to be around 12 to 13 million modulus and E glass tends to be closer to 9 or 10 million modulus. But you are exactly right that the rod taper and wall thickness can change the characteristics of either material. But as a generality, S glass rods tend to be lighter and a bit faster/quicker recovery than E glass. I can say that Mark Steffen and Mike McFarland both have extremely refined tapers. For example Mike McFarland has made some black S-glass rods that are much longer than most glass rods ever made (setting aside the super stiff glass surf rods and saltwater rods). Most of Mike's rods are all e-glass. But he has been playing around with S-glass. Mike has a 9'2" 5wt. and several configurations that he claims are comparable in weight to a similar graphite rod. Rob G: If you decide to build a glass rod, you should call Mark Steffen and tell him what you are looking for/what you are interested in. You will be blown away at both Mark's personability and his knowledge. He will help you select a blank.....and if none are listed that you are interested in....he will custom make one for your liking. Same goes for Mike McFarland.

I actually think tjtroester hit the nail on the head. If someone had the cash, the steffen bros. rods might be the best bang for your buck.

This is a good thread we have going here. : ) Mike G: Excellent points. I am the exact opposite of you. I have almost no experience with the classic glass and (using your terminology) all of my experience is with neo glass. Although I think the main difference (if I had to speculate) is that some of the tapers may be a bit more refined to decrease the overall weight. And (I'm not sure when this was first introduced) today we have E glass and S glass, with S glass having the tendency to be a bit faster, crisper and lighter. But even S Glass would be considered SLOW compared to most slow action graphite rods. And that's where your point about the weight of the rod contributing to the loading of the rod comes in. Fishing glass is a wholly different feel than your average graphite rod. I have built/fished two Steffens, five Mcfarlands (with a 6wt. 8' blank on its way), two FH Paddocks, one TL Johnson, and the Kabuto I just built....all of which would/could be classified as neo glass. Of these, Steffen and McFarland are both from the United States and roll their own blanks. Steffen in AZ and McFarland in PA. Both are great guys to deal with, but both have a short to moderate waiting list. (4 to 12 weeks). Tjtroester: Tom Morgan's new glass rods are pretty nice looking....but ungodly expensive and EXTREMELY hard to get right now. There are guys on the fiberglass forum that have been waiting over a year to get the rod they paid close to a thousand dollars for. That's a long time to have your money tied up. I think his glass rods are close to $1400. Even his blanks are expensive at $300 a pop. Granted I'm sure the quality is untouchable, and Tom Morgan has quite the reputation. But that may be out of the price range for someone just getting into glass. Shane Gray at Graywolf rods is very nice to deal with. I have sold him a few blanks and vice versa. He would be a great person to buy a custom built rod from if someone would rather go that route. A friend of mine just started building custom glass rods out of Montana. Dusty Smith Rod Co. He has a small stock pile of the amber Lamiglass S-glass blanks in stock which he is custom building and offering at a reasonable price (about $325 built). And Mark Steffen may be the most skilled glass blank roller in the US. Either Mark or Mike McFarland. Both have mad skills. Mark's blanks are all S Glass and he has a ton of configurations to choose from. A 2pc. Steffen is still moderately priced at about $300 and would be one of the best glass rods available. He usually has a 6 to 10 week waiting period. There is a classified section on the fiberglass fly rod forum that has used rods all of the time. Whether someone wants to start with the classic rods (which is undoubtedly the cheaper way to go) or dive right into the "neo" glass is probably one of the first choices that a new buyer would need to make, as Mike G. pointed out.

If you want to go cheaper than the Cabelas rods (which I have read are decent rods for the money) you could try an Eagle Claw. From my experiences though, Lamiglass makes a good moderately priced glass rod. The 7 1/2' 4wt. seems to be the pick of the litter. See their honey colored series. Also another good company (and maybe my number one recommendation for a mid-priced rod) would be South Fork Rod Company. They make very nice rods for their price. Here are a few great resources for your review: http://fiberglass-fly-rods.pbworks.com/w/page/5182980/FrontPage http://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/ http://www.thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com/ http://troutunderground.com/2008/01/casting-glass-the-undergrounds-wholly-biased-take-on-the-modern-fiberglass-fly-rod/ Email me at coltrane45@hotmail.com and I can provide more detailed information to help you narrow your choices. Colt

I will let you know on both counts. I cannot weigh my blank anymore, but I can shoot Kab an email or PM him on the fiberglass fly rod forum. As for the action, I plan on spending some time on my dock (even though there is some ice on the lake) this weekend just to cast the rod. From what I have read about this particular rod, I think it is going to be fairly crisp with decent recovery for glass. Obviously nothing compared to most all graphite, but my experience with the honey colored Lamiglass blanks I think the Lamis are a bit slower and bend a little deeper than the Kabuto. On the other hand, I previously had a FH Paddock 7'10" 3wt. and it was even crisper and faster than the Kabuto seems. I also have experience with a Steffen Bros. S-glass 2/3 wt. 7' 3pc. My initial impressions of the Kabuto seem similar to the Steffen Bros. except with more power in the butt section. I'll try an ERN on the rod (maybe tonight) and see what number I get. I built a 4wt. 7'6" McFarland E glass rod for a friend in Australia and I spent a few hours casting it before mailing it off. I feel a lot of similarities in the action of the Kabuto and the 4wt. McFarland I built. I've heard several people comment that they prefer this model Kabuto with a 4wt. line. We'll see. I have a Rio LT DT 3wt., Sage Performance Taper WF 3wt. and a Sci. Ang. Supra DT 4wt. that I plan on trying on the Kabuto. I do believe the Kabutos are E-Glass which (as a generality) is lower modulus than the S-glass and has the tendency to be slower and deeper bending. Colt

Here is a photo from Kab's facebook page of one of his factory yellow blanks. It appears that it was taken indoors: There are quite a few other yellow fiberglass blanks to choose from right now that would better resemble the Eagle Claws (and are less expensive) if that is what you are looking for. I would be happy to provide you with a list of makers. They still make the bright yellow eagle claw glass rods as well. As far as translucent blanks go, Fred Paddock (F.H. Paddock Fly Rods) offers a more pale yellow translucent blank. I had one of those and they are nice rods. They are pretty quick for glass though. And some of the older amber colored Lamiglass blanks are still floating around. A friend of mine who builds rods in Montana just bought six of them. They are pretty nice looking and they are translucent as well. As for sunny days vs. cloudy days, well.....I fish when I fish. I don't think I would consider it troublesome if it was cloudy and my rod did not glow. : ) But I will have to let you know what my rod looks like on a cloudy day. I have a feeling that the blank is effected mostly by natural light (whether through cloud cover or on clear skies). I'm guessing that the rod just changes shades depending on the time of day and amount of cloud cover. Here is a photo of some test wraps (with thicker silk thread) that I took on my back deck on a cloudy winter morning. I decided to go with as thin of silk as possible after doing these test wraps.

John, I really appreciate that. Thanks.

Ronk: I can see a rod this exotic not meshing with everyone's palate. However, I think this rod will really shine (pun intended) in the sunlight. I've seen photos of Kabuto's rods (both yellow and white) that just GLOW in the sunlight. For example, check out these photos of both Kabuto's yellow and white blanks. For my aesthetic preferences, the translucence is one of the coolest parts of this rod. And Rob G.: Excellent point about being able to see the flaws in the guide feet. I anticipated the guide feet really showing since I used such thin silk thread and I used a pale yellow (almost white) color on a translucent white blank. So I opted for snake brand black nickel guides. The snake brand guides have really nice quality feet and they do not require any grinding (they are preground). So you don't incidentally remove the nickel silver coating from the feet (leaving them marred up) since the feet do not require filing.

John, This blank is kind of tough to get a hold of. It is made in Japan by Yasuyuki Kabuto (Kab). It is actually translucent. The website is here: http://kabutorods.com/ Kab is pretty active on the fiberglass fly rod forum and his blanks have made quite a splash in the fiberglass fly rod community. He is well known for producing high quality fiberglass blanks, but his waiting list is usually between 2 and 6 months. About twice a year he will sell a handful of blanks. A friend of mine on the ultralight fly fishing forum bought one a year ago and decided not to build it. I eagerly jumped on the opportunity to snatch it up when I caught wind that he was not planning on building it. This particular model is held as the "gem" of the series. It is rated for a 3wt. line but I've heard that the rod favors a WF 4wt. line. I'm planning on trying both. Colt P.S. What day's do you usually work at BPS? I'll try to stop in some time when you are there.

I just finished building this Kabuto 7033 in white. I'm very impressed with the quality and action of this blank. One of the nicest rod blanks I've handled. Of all of the white Kabuto builds that I've seen two stood out as being the most attractive: Matt's build with pale yellow wraps and antique gold accents and Vlad's build with gold wraps and red accents. I thought long and hard about my options and decided to follow one of these two color schemes. I was originally going to go with Vlad's color scheme and use antique gold wraps tipped in red. I turned an osage orange insert amongst a few others, and I had difficulty matching a wood insert with my test wrap. Then I happened upon a nice piece of spalted box elder burl that I really liked. I turned it and immediately knew that it would match the pale yellow wraps that Matt used on his build. I finally settled on the following components: SEAT: Lemke down locking darkened nickel silver slide band INSERT: Spalted box elder burl GRIP: REC cork rings STRIPPING GUIDE: REC Black Pearl #8 GUIDES and TIP TOP: black nickel snake brand THREAD: 3/0 YLI Pale Yellow tipped with 3/0 YLI Antique Gold FINISH: PacBay two part epoxy finish. One coat. Here are some photos with a few different reels.

PM Sent. Colt coltrane45@hotmail.com

Finished this one up. I left it fairly simple and clean. I didn't even put on the Orvis label. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Here are some photos:

I just picked up a Dan Craft 6wt. Sig. V 9'6" 4pc. blank on closeout for $59 (regularly $265) about two weeks ago. I think he is out of the 6wt. model, but I noticed this morning that he added a 4wt., 7wt. and 8wt. blanks (all Sig. V 9'6" 4pc. blanks) for $59 each. Not too shabby for a blank that normally costs $265! I thought I'd give a heads up as these are great smallmouth sizes. Colt

Wow Rob! That looks pretty intricate. I've seen it done, but I have never tried it. Most all of my builds are fairly simple. I've tried tipping a few times, but have been dissatisfied with the results so I've always ended up cutting them off and just doing plain wraps. I've seen tipping that is very tasteful, but I can't seem to get the knack for it. I feel like my efforts to be "fancy" always end up looking gaudy. Do you use permagloss to set your feathers first or is that only 2 part epoxy finish?

Rob G: I am planning to do an epoxy ramp similar (similar to the Sage TXL 1wt. on the right in the photo below) in the spirit of the Orvis Superfine rods that do not have winding checks. I've sanded the taper of the grip down to make a smooth transition from blank to grip which should make doing an epoxy ramp even easier. I did an epoxy ramp on this TXL 4wt. as well:

My last (I think) build for the year will be my "all around" rod which is an Orvis Superfine Touch (SFT) 804. I've read good reviews of the 804 including the Trout Underground review listed here: http://troutunderground.com/2011/10/24/underground-review-the-orvis-superfine-touch-8-4wt-small-stream-fly-rod/ I am almost finished working on the reel seat insert which I turned from Spalted Box Elder Burl to match the SFT 663 I built a few weeks ago. I still need to do a bit more sanding before the insert is complete. The hardware is N.S. uplocking slide ring set by Joel Lemke. I traded some rod building stuff with Shane Gray of Graywolf Rods in Michigan for the hardware. The hardware is a tad on the heavy side (I typically would not use N.S. hardware for a 4wt. rod), but it looks pretty sharp. I intended to use a classic Orvis Lightweight reel made by Young that I received as a wedding gift from my grandfather about 6 months ago. The reel weighs 4 1/4 oz. and it balances about the middle of the grip with the fully loaded reel. Ideally I think the rod would balance best with a reel that weighed between 3 and 3 1/2 oz. (unloaded). Perhaps the rod will balance a tad better after I wrap and finish the guides and etc, and especially after I have about 30 feet of line pulled off the reel and stretched through the guides. Although I may keep my eyes open for a Cortland Retro II reel as an alternative as it is about an ounce lighter than the Orvis reel and I can abuse the Cortland. But my main goal was to pair the classic Orvis reel with a nice Orvis rod. The grip is a Struble Ultrafine Flor grade grip that I modified by adding the inlet to accept the uplocking hardware. Here are a few preliminary photos of what I've accomplished so far:

Ronk, Thanks for your comments! I've heard good things about the "one ounce" Orvis 2wt. model. I buddy of mine from St. Louis has that same model and he had strong suspicions that the Orvis Superfine Touch 6'6" 3wt. was based on the same taper/design. My rod is probably a little heavier (closer to 2 oz.) with the wood seat, and the extra ferrules, but I still need to weigh it. I spent about 5 minutes on my dock before work this morning casting mine with a Sage Performance Taper 3wt. WF line. I had a beautiful tight loop on my first cast. While I feel the rod will likely perform best around 35' (very accurate) I can see this rod being able to hammer out a 50' plus cast. I did a few double hauls and the rod responded positively instead of just collapsing when pushed. I think it will be a nice addition to my ultralight arsenal!