This year's Cystic Fibrosis Auction Rod

We are very happy to post some photos from this year's Cystic Fibrosis Fundraiser at the Redbone Yellow Creek Flyfishing Classic. This year we built an 8 weight Sage Xi3 build for the live auction. The rod brought $1,000 at the live auction for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation! This year we worked with several of our favorite suppliers who all graciously donated items for the build. We cannot thank them enough for their support of this great cause. Sage donated the Xi3 9' 8 wt for the build. American Tackle donated the stunning reel seat and guides. Landmark Components donated a fine anodized aluminum tube. Here is a rundown on the build details:
Sage 8 weight Xi3 blank. For the guides we selected American Tackles Solid Titanium Titan Guides. We set it up with a nice large 20mm stripper guide with a 16mm tamer guide right behing it to aid in shooting line. The running guides are the Titan single foot nanolite ceramics all the way to the tip. These guides are strong, lightweight, corrosion proof and provide unparalleled casting and fish fighting due to the extremely slick and quiet inserts.For the reel seat we went with American Tackles Triangle window seat for visual appeal and great performance. The seat is beautifully machined aluminum with double locking nuts. For the handle and fighting but we decided to use Flor grade cork and accent it with burnt burl cork in a chess board pattern and thin sliced rings. The result is one of a kind! The wraps were kept simple and done in a Blue Lagoon shade trimmed in Aquamarine metallic. It screams take me to the salt water! Thank you Stan for your genrous bid to CFF! We hope you enjoy the rod!

Alaskan Dreams

For most of us summer was spent vacationing at the beach with the family and dreaming of cooler temperatures, great hatches, fall run steelhead and big brown trout!  Our good friend, and award winning editor of Hatches and rises for Trout Unlimited, turned this summer into a dream trip to Alaska for King Salmon and Giant Rainbows! 

Christian contacted us late last winter with his plans for an upcoming summer expedition to Alaska!  He explained that he and good friend Peter would be fishing both giant rainbows and kings, and his goal was to build a rod that while not being perfect for both species would work great for the giant bows and also would complete his needs for Great Lakes steelhead and giant brown trout our region offers!

After research by the three of us and Christian we determined that a Sage Ninety Nine in a eight weight would be a perfect choice for his needs!  We then outfitted it with a beautiful window seat and American Tackle titanium ring lock fly guides, a burled cork inlayed handle and finished it with beautiful colors of Christians choice!  The rod was made complete with a matching sage reel.

I can't lie I actually was so impressed with the rod that I wanted to keep it for myself and hoped in the back of my mind that my friend might get eaten by bears!  The trip was a total success with many fish caught and landed including the beautiful rainbow above on his first cast!!

Christian was so happy with the complete experience that we shared that he wrote an article in Hatches and Rises, the Sept/October edition.  This article can be viewed at http://www.pwwtu.org/ by clicking on the newsletter tab.  Thanks Christian for letting us outfit you for your Alaska experience!!

We are having a busy early fall with many orders for steelhead rods....Give us a call we would love to help make your fishing dreams come true!!!!

Yellow Creek Trout Classic Auction Rod

We just got back from the day 1 at the Redbone@Large Yellow Creek Trout Classic. This fine event raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We built this commemorative rod for the event and donated it to be auctioned off at the live auction. The rod is a very cool glass rod built on a Mark Steffen 7' 3wt 4pc blank. We used a classy down locking nickel silver reel seat with a glossy cocobolo wood insert. The handle is a custom turned cigar shaped handle featuring natural and burnt burl cork accents. The stripper guide utilizes a gorgeous agate stone set in a nickel silver frame. The snake guides are REC recoil titanium guides for classic looks, light weight and flexability. The wraps are done with 00 red silk thread and trimmed with three turns of black silk. The plug and spigot ferrules are accented by single jungle cock feather inlays to aid with alignment. All protected by a cloth bag and a black aluminum tube with brass cap and collar. This rod is very sweet casting.
We are happy to report that the auction brought $800 for the rod and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!

One By One Fun!!!!

Great week to get a few days to play and test some of our rods with good friends!!!! We fished the Grand River with good friend and Guide Bob Williams of Screaming Reel Guide Service http://www.screamingreels.net/. The spring steelhead run in Ohio is world class! Fish averaging eight to twelve pounds are the norm with big fish weighing in up to fifteen! We don't know a better way to test our gear than battling these huge steelhead!!

Great fun for everyone!!!!!

Dr. Mike Filiagi with a beautiful twelve pound hen

Chaz with a beautiful drop back buck

Kenny the keebler elf with a beautiful spawned out hen

Dennis Vidmar with a thirteen pound chromer

Rick Hoolahan with his first ever steelhead

My Custom Winston switchrod, with it's good friend

Kenny with his first ever steelhead on the fly

I love Chrome

The build continues

Here are some more pics showing the handle getting shaped. reamed and mounted. 

Here is the completed guide wrap.























Now it is safe to take the tape off.














Starting the guide wrap.



















Dropping in the glue for the tip top.








Here is a comparison of a factory rod handle side by side with our custom handle. This is on a high quality rod that retails for about $150. Obviously the design element is different but what really stands out is the quality of the cork. Notice the excessive pitts in the factort rod. This is the lowest grade of cork we use on any of our rods.






The completed handle assembly.












Here is a pic of the reamimng process getting started.

The raffle winners rod build begins!!!!!

We are now getting started on the lucky winners rod. He wants a 7' spinning rod to cover a range of techniques. We selected a fast action 1 piece blank with a matte slate finish. It is rated for 8-15# line and 3/16 - 5/8 lure weights. We are utilizing titanium frame guides in the new guide concept arrangement. This rod is going to light and sensative! We selected a nice green for the main wrap and will be using a combination of metallic silver and gunmetal trim threads. The reel seat has TiCH hoods and a light weight, high tech looking carbon weave insert. The handle will be a combination of natural cork and burnt burl cork with a rubberized cork end for durability. The rear grip will be 10" long and the fore grip 3.5". The bottom photo shows the pile of parts. The next shows the reel seat all glued up and ready for mounting. The top photo shows the handles all glued up and ready for turning. That's all for today. Check back later and you can see the handle take shape and get mounted on the rod.

Marine Rod

Here is a nice rod that has been personalized for a Marine.

And the winner is............

Congratulations Justin!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth at the Sports Show. It was a pleasure meeting you all. Thanks to your generousity the Catch A Dream Foundation will be receiving a nice donation. Thank you to our show neighbors from Stone Silo Foods for drawing the winning ticket.

Please check back in to see the rod we build for Justin step by step.

Another Satisfied Customer!!!

.......there is nothing better than fishing a rod that i designed and o.b.o.r. built for me. the craftsmanship...the increase in confidence in my rod...pleasure to look at when they aren't biting...compliments from other fishermen...i know that there is no other rod like it... i now own 12wt, 8wt,4wt,3wt!

More Walleye Pics!

Here are some more great photos from Jeff with his new One by One Custom Rod. Check out the one with the really cool effect. That is a work of art. Thanks again Jeff! You are clearly a dedicated angler going out in these harsh conditions and having success.