I just completed a new Switch Rod for Mary Ann. This one is my 10′ 6″ 3/2 5 wt Progressive Action Rod designed for swinging streamers and soft hackles for trout. It’s casts great with a light Scandi Head or 5 wt Switch Line, perfect for medium-sized rivers and larger trout. I’ll have this rod at the Fly Fishing Expo in Boise next week for attendees to cast, fondle, and oggle!
I’ve been so excited about matching thread furled leaders with bamboo fly rods. They have an amazing feel, turn flies over extremely well, and are an incredible match with bamboo. Michael Morin at Cutthroat Leaders offers some really great furled leaders. After watching his video, it’s hard to not try them:
I make all my own reel seat inserts for my bamboo fly rods. You don’t need an expensive lathe, I just use an old craftsman lathe. But, if you’re going to put a mortise on your reel seat, I’ve found that you need a good router table. The precision of the mortise cut is very important or you’ll ruin the insert. I make my cut on a Rockler Router Table with a convex edging bit, sometimes called a finger nail bit (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5713). After final sanding, I put two coats of shellac, followed by 8 coats of a high quality tung oil finish, and then a couple of coats of wax. Here a little video of my building process..I hope you enjoy it:
Here is a little video showing how I hand wrap guides on my bamboo fly rods. I don’t use a standard rod wrapper with a tensioner. Instead, I hand wrap using a fly tying bobbin to hold the thread. I use Pearsall’s Gossimer 6/0 Silk Thread on all my rods. Going slow and packing thread frequently is the key to getting great wraps. I spend about 30 to 40 minutes on each guide. So, I’ve sped up the video in the middle to shorten it up. Enjoy!