Progress is coming along nicely, despite not having much time to work on the rod so far.

Ferrule wraps are done (not epoxied yet though) , handle turned & sanded, and both fore and aft grips & reel seat epoxied on. I'm going to try this weekend to get a static placement done, as I couldn't find any placement chart for this particular blank. Closest blank I could find was a 12' 4 piece Sage rod, but this isn't a sage blank so it's unlikely their guide placement will work perfectly. I'll just take the half hour or hour and get it done. That means that maybe I can get all the guides wrapped and in epoxy within a week or so.

I was trying to figure out exactly how I wanted to terminate the lower handle, as I had no solid cork rings. I thought about turning the cork down and making it to fit one of the slip over fighting butts, but I wanted something a bit different. THe utilitarian in me *almost* used a black rubber chair leg tip as a butt cap, but that lost out because it would've been terribly ugly. While cruising the isles of my local Lowes, I found some nice wooden balls used as chair / table leg caps. They had a flat already milled, along with a 1/4" hole in it's center that went half-way into the ball. I drilled that out to 3/8" and epoxied a short dowel segment that I'd sanded half down to match the inner taper and diameter of the blank's butt. I finish sanded the lower handle to match the diameter of the flat on the wooden ball, and epoxied the ball into place, and gave the exterior a coat of epoxy to seal it. I think it turned out well and gives a little visual flare.

To help with balance, I set the reel seat up as downlocking. The reel I plan to use with this is my Echo Ion 4/5 - which oddly enough is the same diameter and weight as my Cabela's Prestige Premier 5/6. I think the Echo 4/5 even has the same real line capacity. I put 120 or so yards of 20lb dacron on under 75' of 25lb Berkley Big Game mono running line and it's all topped off with a Rio Skagit Max Short head. There's room enough left on the spool for any sort of tip I care to add, or even a longer head if I decide I need it.





I think this is going to be a fun rod to fish with when I get her done. I might have to take a long drive south (or east) to one of the rivers open year round for trout after I get this one complete.

*edit*

Rod finished up nicely! Can't wait to get her wet now.

The 7/8 spey is my steelhead rod and is great. Best $100 I've spent on fishing stuff

Andy,
I've only had opportunity to fish this rod a handful of times this year - and I got to say that so far so good! My very first outing with it was the most productive - I drive a tow truck and have this nasty habit of keeping a rod and some flies under the seat, as we do a lot of long runs to the coast, to central oregon, and to anywhere else someone is willing and able to pay... so last spring I made a run over the mountains from Portland to Redmond, Oregon and on the way back I stopped at a roadside reservoir to stretch my legs and cast a line. The pullout I chose was where a creek empties into the reservoir, just above it's dam. Good amount of current there, steep drop offs. That time I was using a normal WF #4 floater line with a 10' tapered leader and tippet and casting a bead head woolly bugger - landed my biggest fish of the year on something like my third or fourth cast. I've got to see if the picture is still in my cloud backup.

On subsequent outings I've tried the rod with the super short skagit head, with a #4 sinking line (Cortland Clear Camo) and it's performed very well. Wasn't able to really unwind with the skagit line properly, because I wasn't using it on stream that called for spey casts - it just happened to be the spool I grabbed at the moment. I will say that it handled a #6 bead head bugger with ease.

I'm happy with the build, and I've got to get out and fish the rod for what I built it for - sea run cutts and resident rainbows on our coastal streams. I've been building a boat in my back yard since April, and that's taken most of my effort and days off - I haven't done much fishing at all. The boat is almost done, the weather is turning to crap (which is probably good, because that will put water in the very very low coastal streams and bring good numbers of fish back into the rivers) and I'm going to get out sooner rather than later and exercise this rod like it should be.

I joined UL just to jump in and add my sour cream on taco thoughts here on this thread. Too bad the title can't be changed to "AR vs Roger".

Got messed up after a PayPal tangle on Johnny's site, and jumped on a couple of Roger's. These are my first builds so don't skimp on your construction details, please.... I'm jacked! Or, did I date myself? I'm in the Puget Sound area and the constraint is time and gas money for how these turn out... Maybe, as sacrifices to water nymphs.

Thanks, all
Bruce

Ps. Oh, good! I too have an avatar....

I will never buy from him again. Johnny thinks an 8ft 4wt is the same as the advertised 7.5ft 3wt in his presidential boo blanks

Hey guys, I am new to the forum and was curious about this blank. Not a whole lot of info on the web about this blank. Main interest is the action/speed and what type of flex this blank has? I have built a couple 10' plus rods and have been looking to build a 12' rod for European nymphing, more specific french style. They claim this blank comes in at the 66 gram mark. Can anyone verify that please? Thanks in advance

Bump, has anyone had any experience with the 11' 2/3wt blank? If so how well would it be for a European style nymphing rod? Thanks

I got one to make an ultralight switch rod. It works very nicely, just a tad noodly but great for water anchor casts.

Oh, and I've said it a few times in a few threads - but I'll never buy one of Roger's blanks again. I purchased two blanks, and neither was good quality. One blank broke three times, the other, being advertised as a 10' 3 weight, was more like an 8 weight. I used the two tip sections to build a banty 4/5 weight. The only upshot in my personal experience, were that they were very inexpensive. I wrote them both off as learning experiences. I'm still learning, I'm still a rank amateur rod builder, but from now on I think I'm going to stick with quality blanks by known makers. I have two American Tackle blanks waiting to get wrapped up. My favorite build thus far has been my Pac Bay Traditions II 6' 2 weight - I LOVE that rod, and really dig the Pac Bay blanks. I've built a handful of rods from Pac Bay blanks now and they are great blanks for budget builds.