Back in Glass

Built a 5wt on a Jade colored Blue Halo blank earlier this year for a client.

He is enjoying fishing the new glass rod so much that I was asked to build a duplicate on a Cranberry colored Blue Halo blank for him.
First step was to wrap the handle in carbon fiber.

After applying finish to it and then sanding down, two more coats of finish were applied to give it shine and protection. Then the Black Pearl recoil stripping guide and the snake guides were wrapped in black thread,

Here is the finished rod.

And a look at the two of them together.

Another Kabuto Build

To quote The Fiberglass Manifesto, "Glass is not Dead".
There has been a resurrection of fiberglass fly rods over the last few years and I was glad to be able to build on a Kabuto glass blank. These blanks are true pieces of art and add class to the fiberglass market.
I built this rod on a Kabuto 765-3  five weight blank which is 7'6" in length and consists of three sections.

Using a custom carbon fiber wrapped grip which was paired with a carbon fiber insert in the reel seat for a little more modern touch. I used black pearl Recoil stripping guide and snake guides to round it off. It was wrapped in burgundy thread with black accent wraps and finished with a light coat of finish.

Kabuto 765-3

Finished the Kabuto blank build. It's a 7'6" 5wt in 3piece Kabuto white blank wrapped in dark blue thread with black accents. The grip is rubberized cork pieced together and shaped on a lathe. Recoil black pearl stripping guide and black snake guides and tip top. Reel seat is black web with black carbon insert.

It is for sale $425 shipped.
If interested email me at yakntx@yahoo.com

Kabuto Build Begins

Well almost....

I've been sitting on these two Kabuto blanks for a few months while I get caught up on some other builds. With the holidays approaching I will have time to build them up. The black Recoil guides and solid black webbed reel seat have been ordered and will be in by the end of the week. Can't wait to cast one.

Slick as Glass

After following The Fiberglass Manifesto for over a year now. Seeing how hard Cam works to get people to try fly fishing with a fiberglass rod, it became apparent that the glass revolution is growing by leaps and bounds and I might be missing something cool. Not being able to hold out any longer, I was able to order two white fiberglass blanks from Kabuto Rods in Japan. Yasuyuki Kabuto is considered by many to be one of the premier glass rod builders around today, so when the opportunity to get a few of these hand crafted blanks came up I pounced on it.

After looking at pictures of rods that other custom builders have done with these blanks, I have decided on taking a classic glass blank and making it a little more modern. It's just what I do.
I will probably not use the traditional cork western grip and instead put a carbon fiber wrapped foam grip on it instead.

In lieu of the traditional snake guides, I am leaning towards putting on Black Pearl Recoil guides.

The hardest decision for me has to do with the reel seat. It has to be spot on to make the whole build come together. I am leaning towards a blued nickel Struble reel seat and just need to decide on what the spacer will look like.

The good thing is i'll have plenty of time to decide since the blanks won't ship until late August.
Can't wait to get these in and get started so I can see what glass is all about.