 Completed in January of 2024, this 6’6" 4wt penta (5-sided) is 100% shop-made and weighs 2.55 oz. The butt and tip are hollow built and deeply flamed. The reel seat wood insert is Thuya Burl. The cork is flor grade from Portugal. The wraps are Kimono silk in Saguaro and tipping in Golden Pavilion. The green agate stripping guide is encased in a soldered silver (blued) bezel. The ferrules were machined from silicon aluminum bronze 642 bar stock.  Very much of an experimental, prototype taper, the rod flexes deep into the grip but is sufficiently fast for canopy laden small streams. It can also be used for technical work on medium sized rivers. I took it out last week for some winter small stream fishing, on an unnamed, first order stream, deep in a Connecticut forest. A fun rod. For reasons not fully understood by me, I can go on and on applauding the virtues of bamboo fly rods. Ask me about bamboo rod building history, techniques and tapers, and that conversation can go on indefinitely. I had the wonderful opportunity to speak to Project Healing Waters about CT bamboo rod making history and constructing rods from raw stock. Unfortunately, connectivity issues prevented me from projecting my presentation on a screen. So, I had to improvise, something bamboo rod builders do often. |
