55 on the fly

Yes folks finally, the fly rods are done... I hope you find them worthy. These rods will fish again! H&I fly rod... Horrocks and Ibbotson Featherweight 8' 6" 4wt. 3 piece with 1 tip.  Ferrules and tip... Note the beautiful rod cases my wife made, thanks Michelle. Grip and reel seat... Kingfisher fly rod... Kingfisher 8' 6" 6wt. 3 pieces with 2 tips. It was a fun and very challenging project.  Let's go fishing...

Rabbit hunting today with my friend Eric and his dogs Cheddar and Pepper near Bristol, NY.  We got two rabbits on some long runs. It was great fun watching and listening to the dogs run.  Makes me long to have my hunting beagles again.  Here is Eric with his rabbit.... 

Tying some of my Korn's Holiday Golden Holiday Stone Fly Nymph's today... I designed this fly for Parks Fly Shop. I wanted to produce a more realistic stone fly nymph pattern that has lots of flash.  It was designed for visibility in high muddy water conditions sometimes found in the early fishing season on the Yellowstone River.   Materials List:  Hook: MFC #10 Scud Bead: 3.5 mm gold bead  Thread: Serafil 200 olive tan  Tail/Legs: natural turkey biots split by ball of dubbing  Rib: nylon quilting clear thread Wingcase/shellback: pearl Easter basket mylar folded twice  Abdomen and thorax: 50/50 DK #   and golden brown rabbit dubbing  Collar: loose dubbing

This weekend I finished up the Kingfisher fly rod. Yep-eee! This project took a lot more time to complete than I ever expected. Six coats of finish on the bamboo sections and five coats of finish on all the guide wraps. Now the rod needs a good week or so to cure before I put a line on it, can't wait. All and all I think it came out nicely. By no means is it master rod builder quality..... but it's the best I can do with my tools and abilities to date. Next up, is to complete the spare rod tip section for the Kingfisher and start the H&I Featherlight rod... My wife Michelle, has agreed to make a couple of rod bags-sleeves for the rods and I'll begin looking for some storage tubes... maybe some thin walled PVC, if I can find it... Hope you all like the work...

More line guide wrapping today on the mid-section of the Kingfisher fly rod... --- with the first coat of Spar varnish applied...

Folks I started with the butt section of the Kingfisher fly rod... Color combo for this rod is black and garnet (maroon)..... Please see the series of photos. Note the wraps I put on the ferrule section to cover the crack repair and the notch repair as well. They came out great. Getting started at the hook keeper. Stripping guide. Wrapped Stripping guide. First coat of Spar varnish on one side. Repaired section where crimped notches were. First coat of finish on stripping guide and repair cracked ferrule over-wrap. I am very happy with how this finished.

All the guide locations and sizes have been determined for both fly rods and the guide wrapping will soon begin... stay tuned for further updates... Each fly rod will have 9 line guides and a tip-top...