(TFO) Mini Mag Build

I finished the new Mini Mag build that i've been working on for myself. This rod will be fished hard for the next couple of weeks in the backwaters of Mississippi as well as the marshes of Louisiana.
Thanks to Rick from TFO, I was able to secure the 8ft 6-8wt blank. I didn't want to copy the produced rod's look so I went with a webbed reel seat in solid black, the guides are heavy duty black snake guides that are stainless for corrosion resistance. Using dark black to wrap the guides and tipped it all with teal trim. I chose no fighting butt at this time due to fishing from the kayak most of the time, if needed it can be added.
Here are the pictures.

5wt Matrix Build

The Matrix build is done. This rod is 9ft and comes in 4 pieces. It is a 5wt with a moderate action.
Grip is made of a custom cork pattern that was pieced together and shaped on a lathe. Guides are Snake brand and it is wrapped in Denim thread with copper accent wraps.
For sale $295.00 shipped in the US.

Matrix 5wt

Picked up a couple of Matrix blanks a few months ago to build on in between custom orders. The first one is almost ready and is looking nice. It is a 9ft 5wt in four pieces. The cork pattern came out nice, used a lighter shade in the blend this time. Wrapped the guides in denim thread with a copper trim in a few areas. Here are some pictures and i'll post more when finished. This rod will be for sale if interested send me an e-mail.

TFO Mini Mag Build

I've been looking for a fly rod blank that is capable of tossing around large flies both in the river for bass as well as the marsh for redfish. Found one, the TFO Mini Mag is definately capable of doing this.With a length of close to 8ft and being in the 6-8wt range, I should have no problem pulling bass out of the grass or swinging redfish to the net.This is one i'm building for myself to use while fishing out of the kayak, the shorter length will help with getting under the trees lining the bank. The blank arrived on Friday and will need to be fitted with a reel seat and a custom cork grip. I will post pictures as the build begins.

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.

Other Fly Rods

These are some of the rods that i've built for customers.

 

Another 5wt

I built this one for myself. It is built on a 9ft 4pc MHX high modulus blank. This rod shoots out line fast and precise. Added carbon fiber wrapped grip and a rattlesnake skin inlay. Wraps were done in dark blue with a copper trim.