Just completed... This is an 8'6" 6wt streamer and sight-casting fiberglass rod. Medium-fast taper, S glass, 4-piece. Light in the hand, with excellent power in the butt. Downlocking saltwater aluminum body/composite hood seat, Struble rubber button, black EVA Wells grip and tiered check. Single foot TiCH guides and no-tangle TiCH strippers. Clover silk olive windings, tipped red at the handle and the tip. Ready for action, with that 1970s charm!
New/old work in progress... Glass streamer/sight-casting rod in 8'6" #6 configuration. Pictured with my Conquistador 868/9-4. You will notice a similarity, and also some differences. Both made from the original batch of green blanks, just different shades.
I just completed two prototypes. Both are 4pc models, with uplocking seats. One is a 5'11" 3wt, the other 7'5" 4wt. I am planning to fish the smaller rod on my trip to Europe next week.
Handles are completed with reel seats attached. Rods are almost completely wrapped and ready for the signature and the finish!
Working on two new light line glass rods, a 3wt and a 4wt. Here are the reel seats, partially done, both are uplocking. I will make small fighting butts for them, too. Pics of the finished rods are coming up soon.
My two 3wt rods: the new 5113-4 vs. old Unstructured 743-3. The longer rod was a prototype which unfortunately didn't make the regular Unstructured Series in 2014. It is a superb taper for smaller water, heftier and slower than the new, short 5113-4. However, the 5113-4 is a med-fast taper, so light, nimble, and sensitive...Can't wait to fish it next spring!
It sports pale yellow Clover silk wraps/rust accents, dark Ti-snake guides, short Garrison grip, homemade rust colored micarta spacer and NOS Struble aluminum cap and ring, for lightness. Super deft and precise, easy casting 3wt. Length is 5'11". (Pictured below with Hardy Featherweight and Forbes Aerial reels, for scale/comparison.)
Suitcase-ready fly rod in brown translucent fiberglass. Parabolic taper, featuring original NOS Pezon et Michel aluminum hardware, zebrawood spacer, Powell grip, hard chrome snakes and carbide stripper. Guide wraps are maroon with brown ferrule windings.
