There's seldom enough time to get away to fish. Building rods, and other fishing related projects keeps me thinking about fishing when I can't be in the water.

This is my first foray into reel-smithing, or any kind of metel work  for that matter.

This project is mentioned in two blog posts:
New Projects: Two Rods and a Reel
Eclectic Angler Bi-Metal Reel - Test Assembly

This rod was built for my friend Ned who is just getting into fly fishing. The blank is a lightweight 8.5 foot light blue graphite taper by Orvis. The reel-seat and grip are by Struble, and the wraps are in Lemon yellow nylon with transparent silk ferrule wraps.

This rod is mentioned in three blog posts:
New Projects: Two Rods and a Reel
Orvis Hydros BuildRod 
Build: Ned's Hydros Rod

This rod was purchased by my father a few years ago and fished pretty heavily until some of the guides came off. It was in need of more than a little TLC, so he gave it to me to work on. This is my first time working with bamboo.

This rod is mentioned in two blog posts:
New Projects: Two Rods and a Reel
Bamboo Rod Restoration Project: Steps 1-4

Built this little three weight on a blank I got for Christmas. The reel seat is cork with agate band rings. Wraps are red silk finished with helmsman spar varnish. Guides are English bronze lightwire.

This rod is mentioned in one blog post:
Lamiglas 783 - 6'6" 3wt

This rod was one of the three that I purchased in an eBay lot. When I got it, it was covered with a a gold paint, but upon stripping it, I found that the rod was a lovely green color. It casts great at close range, although it is a bit on the heavy side. Finished it out with a lovely Strubel down-locking reel seat, cigar grip and classy moss agate stripper and brown wraps finished out with Helmsman Spar Varnish. Sadly, it seems to be both too heavy and too stiff for the river it was named for.

So far this rod has been mentioned in three blog posts:
More Fiberglass Project Rods
Next Steps: Clean Blanks, Reel Seats and Grips
Finished Rods: 8' St. Croix 6wt, and 7' Unknown 5wt

This rod was one of the three that I purchased in an eBay lot. It is a urethane foam filled fiberglass rod with a real sweet feel. I liked the original reel seat, so I just stripped the old cracked grip, as well as the ugly-as-sin "Champagne" colored paint. I outfitted the completed rod with a Fenwick style grip, wrapped the guides with red/gold Gudebrod "Trimar" two-tone thread, and finished it with Helmsman Spar Varnish.

So far this rod has been mentioned in two blog posts:
More Fiberglass Project Rods
Next Steps: Clean Blanks, Reel Seats and Grips
Finished Rods: 8' St. Croix 6wt, and 7' Unknown 5wt

This rod was one of three that I purchased in an eBay lot. It is a stiffish bass rod, with a nice action. I was originally going to keep it as a bass rod, but ultimately it came out so nice I gave it to my father (who lives on a nice bass lake). The final version was wrapped with Gudebrod "Candy Apple" nylon thread with gold tipping. The wraps were finished with  Helmsman Spar Varnish, for that classy old-school look.

This rod has been mentioned in three blog posts:
More Fiberglass Project Rods
Next Steps: Clean Blanks, Reel Seats and Grips
Finished Rod: 8'6" Actionrod "Bass Action" 7wt

This was my first attempt at working on a fly rod. I stripped the guides and replaced them with a more modern layout. I kept the original cork and plastic reelseat, as they were functional and my purpose was simply to take an un-fishable rod and bring it back to life.

I covered this project in three blog posts:
Part 1: Cleaning and Stripping
Part 2: Guides, Wraps, and Epoxy 
Part 3: Completion