strummer wrote:
What's up with the taped reel?
Weight savings. No different in practice than a tape-on reel for a Tennessee handle on spinning rods, just rare to see it on flytackle as they usually use rings even on the lightest.
The rod blank itself is so light that putting a reel seat + most reels on it results in a butt heavy build which I find annoying. Using only cork and shaping it to the dimensions of a reel seat eliminates a good bit of weight versus the epoxy and metal of reel seats. Taped on with Magic Wrap or other stretch & wrap plumbing repair tape, a TFO BVK 0 or Galvan Brookie 0/1 is light enough to put the fulcrum just where I like it. Any heavier reel, the tip wants to climb or I have to choke back too far on the handle to get the neutral fulcrum desired.
On any longer rod builds, I just go with whatever reel seat I choose as the weight/fulcrum shift just isn’t so pronounced as with the short/light builds. Tape-on style is not exactly convenient, but it is highly effective at achieving the fulcrum location. Probably the only way to do it on this rod as the guides are quite small and lines I use are actually much lighter than a true 2 wt. The rod? Technically CCS puts it at a stronger 1 wt despite being marketed as a 2.
As PampasPete states, it's also pretty failsafe. Never had luck with slide rings and proper sizing of them myself. Odd balance problem on the extreme UL end of things, what you see there is one solution to it.
wheezeburnt wrote:
I like seeing evidence of turtle reproduction, esp. softshells. Gives a man hope.
brent
Yeah, I often spend an inordinate amount of time on any excursion appreciating just about any living creature besides the fish themselves. Don't know what size they get nippy at, but the lil' one pictured was still quite docile. Wasn't sure when I saw that snoot, but I figured it wouldn't hurt too bad if things went otherwise.
Although you're never really certain, both softshells and snappers are typically pretty chill at (very) small sizes.