Kevin's Most Excellent Glass Adventure

Remember the glass fly rod builds from a week or so ago that Kevin Stull built up?  Well, he just returned from Montana with a stack of photos of his glass fly rods getting work done along with a few photos of his recently purchased Graywolf Rods 10' 7/8 weight stick as well.

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Kevin wrote...  "Here are some pictures from my Montana trip last week.  This is our 13th year of the trip to Dillon.  We rent a small farm house outside of town and headquarter out of Frontier Anglers in Dillon.  We fished the Beaverhead and Big Hole rivers mainly.  The Beaverhead is a tailwater fishery with more fish over 20" per mile than any river in Montana.  The Big Hole is a textbook freestone famous for it's big stonefly hatches.  The Big Hole is also the only river in the lower 48 with a native population of fluvial grayling.  I still have yet to catch one.

I used the new Graywolf 10' 7/8 switch on the Big Hole.  It was a little too much rod for the fish I was catching but it was a blast to cast.  That rod so sweet!   I can't wait to use if for summer run steelhead this fall on the Grande Ronde and Methow River in Washington.   A gentleman floated by on the Big Hole while I was fishing and asked me if i was fishing glass.  I said yes of course and that it was a Graywolf.  He must have seen how deeply the rod was flexing.  He then told me he had a Steffen on order.  I fished my #5 8' Kabuto on the Beaverhead River.  It handled the Beaverhead hogs quite nicely.  The white blank sure got a lot of looks!  One of the fish and game wardens we met couldn't stop drooling over it.

I included a few extra shots of the area.  Southwest Montana in the summer is spectacular country.  Check out the schwank pad overlooking the Beaverhead.  I was messing around with a new fisheye zoom  on my Canon 7d.  What an amazing lens!  Enjoy the pics!"

Kevin...stellar images and you've got some very nice toys from the fly rods to the fly reels to the camera gear too.  I'm a bit jealous of the Graywolf Rods 10' 7/8 weight.  I can think of a few uses for it myself.  

T.F.M. Spotting - Father/Son Trout Trip

Longtime friend Bret Reiter and his son Adam recently took a trip together to Lees Ferry where they put bends to their bamboo fly rods on a few rainbow trout.   Bret sent along a few photos from the trip including one for the T.F.M. Spotting Photo Contest too.

Bret...looks like the two of you had a very excellent time. 

Summertime Glass Action

New glass rod devotees seem to be surfacing daily and this latest dispatch is from Joey Cloer who turned a vintage glass blank into a new school bass stick that he just can't put down.

Last week Joey posted a photo on the T.F.M. Facebook page and I asked if he'd share where his interest in fiberglass fly rods started and why he digs his Actionglas so much. 

Joey wrote...  "After some searching and hunting on eBay for a good cheap fiberglass rod only one caught my attention. It was an eight foot Actionglas.  The description lacked info, but the rod looked to be in good condition according to the pictures.  After a few days of waiting with my bid the highest at $15 the rod was mine.  I waited patiently for the rod to arrive.  Close to a month had gone by and still no rod.  Supposedly it got lost in transit and was no where to be found.  Well the rod finally showed up and the fun began.  I instantly took the rod to my local smallmouth stream.  After a few hours of casting and catching a fish, I knew that the rod would be hard to lay down.  Only one problem...the handle was cracked and the reel seat wouldn't stay tight.  So after a trip to the local fly shop the rod was sent off to a rod builder to have a new handle and reel seat.  Once again the rod was back in my hands and felt like a whole new rod.  Time to test it out.  After getting used to the slower action I was making 50 foot casts with a six weight line and big foam popper.  This rod is now my new love.  I have a sweet casting rod that's a blast to catch river smallies and blacks on.  Not a bad investment.  Got the rod for $20 including shipping, new handle and reel seat for $60. I just flat out love fiberglass rods now."

Joey...looks like you're having a hell of a good time and chasing the dream indeed.

Tightloop Fly Rods Latest Steffen Build

George Minculete of Tightloop Fly Rods continues to work through his stock of Steffen Brothers blanks with this stunning looking 8' 3/4 weight build that he finished just last week.

Check out the Tightloop Fly Rods website for more info on this build and follow shop news on the Facebook page too.

T.F.M. Spotting - First Bass On Glass

Jeff Price of J&M Flies recently heeded the call to give glass a try again after a twenty year hiatus with the purchase of a couple Eagle Claw Featherlight fly rods.  He sent along a report with a T.F.M. Spotting Photo Contest photo as well.

Jeff wrote...  "After reading and following your blog, I decided to give the glass a try.  I bought something in my price range, that being two of the Eagle Claw Featherlight rods.  I decided to go with the 6'6 4/5 weight and the 7' 5/6 weight.  Well, on June 11, 2012 I decided to give the 7' model a try.  Melissa told me to wear my T.F.M. shirt as this was my first time in over twenty years that I have fished with a fiberglass rod.  I had bought a glass rod when I first started fly fishing but never caught anything on it and I quickly moved on to a graphite rod.  So I ventured out and used my new rod and over the course of two hours I managed to land eleven smallies, one long eared sunfish, and one fallfish.  I had a blast.  What a difference the fiberglass makes.  I am hooked on the glass!  I have already started looking at other fiberglass rods in my price range much to my wife's dismay."

Jeff...I'm glad that you are digging fishing fiberglass.  Don't let it be twenty years before you try it again.

Mike's Yellow Glass Rebuild

Mike Wilkinson of Evolution of a Flyfisher has spent his winter rebuilding a yellow glass blank fly rod that he came across in New Zealand.  He's been posting progress reports of the rebuild on his blog and I asked him to send along a few photos and the story of this fiberglass fly rod.

Mike wrote...  "I first got interested in fiberglass rods when out with a mate fishing a small stream, he has a range of gear which includes a couple of glass rods.  Small willow lined stream only a few meters across just screamed for a day with small soft rods and the weapons of choice were a Scott F2 and an old Fenwick.  Fishing four weight lines it was a fantastic relaxing day with a mate.

From that day I had my eye out for a cheap glass rod for small streams. It wasn't going to be fished every day, more like a few times a year, so I wanted a bargain.  Fiberglass rods aren't a popular thing here in New Zealand and the few coming up for sale were eight weights which are not ideal for a small Southland stream.

Finally one comes up, an 8' 8" six weight, which was as close as I could find and I figured it would throw a five weight line for sure.  I bid and won the auction and was pleased with myself until the rod arrived.  It wasn't quite what I expected and it looked as though it had been fixed up or built on an old blank but not that well.  The threads had gaps and the epoxy had been hand turned and left while wet causing major sags.  I have a passion for all fields of fly fishing so figured why not rebuild this rod to more what I expected.

Never having built a fly rod before, I started to read online and chat with a mate who builds rods and I figured no matter what I could only improve it.  After a little more advice I set about stripping the rod guides and cleaning down the blank.  Not wanting to spend the bank on this rod, I decided to leave the grip as it was clean and sound.  I ordered new guides and added a winding check with hook keeper, and the reel seat was a quandary for a while.  The seat on the rod when I brought it was a plastic Fuji seat which was not to my taste.  I would have loved to have fitted a nice timber burl insert handle but wanting to keep the budget lean instead I opted for a burgundy graphite seat I recycled from a mate.  The new seat was the inspiration for the thread choice of merlot nylon.  I was a little worried the strong contrast with the yellow blank but sit back now fully satisfied with the results.

It was an old rod, sound if not a little rough, but I enjoyed the journey of bringing a fresh breath of life into it.  All I have to do now is sit back over the New Zealand winter dreaming of a perfect summer and plenty of chances to bring out the Glass!"

Mike...fine work and I can't wait to see reports when once arrives and you take your new glass fly rod to the river.

T.R.I.W.'s Featherlight Switch Rod

The fellows from This River Is Wild drop a little genius on us in a recent blog post and show step by step how they turned an eight foot 5/6 weight Eagle Claw Featherlight into a passable switch rod.

All it takes is just a few quick and inexpensive steps and then you can take off to the river to work on your Snap T.

Nice work fellows.  I may have to chop up a yellow stick and do one for myself at some point.

Check out the This River Is Wild website for the full tutorial.

IT'S COMING...

More details in a week or so but Tailwaters Fly Fishing Co. is putting the finishing touches on a month long carp photo contest with a long list of top shelf gear sponsors in the mix.

Keep an eye out on the Tailwaters Fly Fishing Co.'s Facebook page for the details on how to play in the coming days.

50 Seconds Of Peacock Bass

I dig the work of Pete McDonald of Fishing Jones whether it's the blog, his work in Pulp Fly, or his part of the written word in the The Blitz. The fellow's got skills.


50 Seconds of Peacock Bass from Pete McDonald on Vimeo.

This sub one minute video captures a lot and it's a good reminder that I want to get down and tangle with those south Florida peacock bass at some point.  It sure looks like a lot of fun.

T.F.M. Spotting - Colorado Trout Bums

A couple weeks ago there was a reunion of sorts when Derrol Hammer of the Fiberglass Flyrodders forum needed to travel to the Denver, Colorado area for work he also added in a couple days to the itinerary to hang out with Howard Levett of Windknots & Tangled Lines.

I think Derrol and Howard did some proper wardrobe planning and were caught representing together in their T.F.M. t-shirts outside of Rocky Mountain Anglers in Boulder for the T.F.M. Spotting Photo Contest.

The boys do what they do best and had a good time fly fishing, visiting the area fly shops, and overall  I can imagine a lot of laughter and good times.

Howard wrote up a series of blog posts on the festivities which can be found by clicking these links.

RAINBOW FALLS
THE TENKARA WAY
HITTING MY FLY SHOPS

Fellows...I'm still jealous I couldn't make it out but know you two trout bums had a great time together.

T.F.M. Sun Masks In Stock

Yesterday a big box from Free Fly Apparel arrived and inside was a few dozen T.F.M. Sun Masks. The sun masks turned out stellar and I have to say that the Free Fly Apparel packaging makes them look all the more legit.  Maybe I should consider hang tags for the T.F.M. t-shirts as well?

All the extra T.F.M. Sun Masks that I had have been sold but I am putting together another order which I should have back in a couple weeks.   The Retro Fly design can be ordered in Bleached Teal, Blue Current or Titanium and the Comrade design in Titanium only.

The T.F.M. Sun Masks are priced at $24 which includes shipping and a couple T.F.M. decals as well.  Represent T.F.M. and keep the sun off your face.  Win win.

If you'd like to order a T.F.M. Sun Mask please send an email to thefiberglassmanifesto@gmail.com.

Kevin Stull's Latest Glass Builds

It's been a bit since I've last featured a build by hobbyist rod builder Kevin Stull but recently he sent along information on his two latest builds with before and after varnish photos which I always enjoy seeing. It is such an interesting transition to be able to see the thread and then after varnish it can more or less dissolve into the blank.

Kevin wrote...  "I just finished a couple of new glass builds.  The Kabuto Rods 7033 blank has been in the works since March.  It just arrived last week.  Kab turned a special small full wells grip for me and did a light flame job on the reel seat.  It's a sweet little stick!

The blue blank wasn't planned until I ran across the blank on Ebay a few weeks ago.  The wife wasn't too happy  but it's a very nice blank.  A little heavy but quick.  Shane Gray turned the grip for me and the reel seat is from Lemke.

I thought you would enjoy the before and after finishing pics.  I'm off to Dillon, Montana next week to break them in on the Missouri, Big Hole and Beaverhead!"

Kevin...very nice work as always.  I hope the trip to Montana went well and you were able to flex both of these fly rods on solid fish.

Land Rover Defender - Comrade Edition

Long time T.F.M. reader Arnaud Pierrel of France recently sent along a few images of his Land Rover Defender that he uses to patrol the nearby trout streams.

This Defender is badass...with or without the T.F.M. decals.


Arnaud wrote...  "These photos were taken during an evening session.  No fish though as the usual caddis hatch did not kick off."

Araud...thanks for representing along the trout streams of France and sending along the dispatch.

T.F.M. Spotting - Smallmouth Tourey

Mat Trevors of 411#3 recently fished a local smallmouth fishing tournament with fly rods instead of gear sticks and happened to be wearing his representing for this excellent T.F.M. Spotting Photo Contest submission. 

Mat wrote...  "This is the first fish I caught on the Cabela's C.G.R. 7/8 weight which was recommended to me last fall by some helpful chap who writes about fiberglass rods.  I was looking for a cost-effective rod under eight feet for fishing bass tournaments and to keep the gear guys from whining about some unfair advantage I might have. 

I already had Redington's 7'10" Predator in six weight but found it lacking for throwing large deer hair poppers and weighted flies. Over the winter I pieced together a very pimp bassin' setup, if I do say so myself, of the C.G.R. matched with a Hardy Ultralite 7000DD and Sage's Performance Bass fly line in the 230 grain Bluegill Taper.

Weather conditions weren't ideal (I had to switch to spinning gear late in the day) and didn't win the tournament, but of the nine fish we brought in, five were caught on the fly rod, included the largest two of the boat.  The largest smallmouth in the above photo came on a Barr's Meat Whistle on the first cast while the rest came on an all-white Clouser Minnow.

By the way...the glass rod while wearing the T.F.M. hoodie wasn't staged at all.  The T.F.M. hoodie was on because it was cold out and the glass rod was used because it was the best tool for the job!"

Mat...nice work.  I hope that this isn't the last tournament that you participate in with the fly rods.

Creatures From The Brown Lagoon

Admittedly things have been a little carp crazy on T.F.M. as of late and it's also fitting that Dave at Pile Cast tipped me off on the latest video from Uprising Fly Fishing as he is just days away from his own trip to Beaver Island.
 

Check out the Uprising Fly Fishing website for more carp goodness and more.

Vedavoo Spinner Daypack Build

Scott Hunter proves in this post that not only is he the front man for Vedavoo but you're as likely to see him behind the sewing machine dropping stitches on a pack or other gear offering as well.

Recently Scott offered to build a Spinner Daypack for me to demo and review this year.  I was stoked to try out a piece of Vedavoo gear and asked that he photograph the build step by step so that readers can see what it takes him to build out one of his pieces of gear in the Vedavoo factory otherwise known as his garage.



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It been really neat to see a growing number of high quality small shop gear makers grow over the past several years who are committed and proud to sew in a "Made In The U.S.A." tag on each piece of gear that they produce.

Check out the Vedavoo website for more information and follow their story on one of several of their social media streams as well.

Cedar Drift Boats And Ten Pound Browns

I have a feeling that the full length film is going to be a really good time to watch. What's not to like? Wooden drift boats and big brown trout on a small Michigan river in the dark.



My smiling mug even made the trailer from some filming that Matt Dunn did while Phil Croff moved us down the river on our no fish night float a couple weeks ago.

Those boys better get to work on the ten pound browns. Both the hex and mice are a go right now.

Graywolf Rods Expands Signature Series

As someone that writes a blog on fiberglass fly rods it is always interesting to see two things. First, the introduction of new fly rod builders that bring their own sense of style and function to the fly rods that they build and secondly, established builders that continue to work hard to expand their own offerings with their own blank series and beyond.

Over the past several months Shane Gray of Graywolf Rods has worked to expand the Signature S-Glass Series beyond just the eight foot two weight and eight foot five weight to now include a nine foot five weight and a ten foot 7/8 weight as well.

The Signature S-Glass Series eight foot five weight that I have as part of the T.F.M. Fly Rod Loan Program is one of the nicest five weights that I have ever cast and am really interested in casting the nine foot five weight for comparison. 

For those interested, Graywolf Rods has just three blanks left in this batch with one 8' five weight, one 9' five weight, and one 10' 7/8 weight available to place a $50 deposit on for an upcoming build. 

Contact Shane by email at graywolf-products@netzero.net to reserve a blank.

Another new addition to Graywolf Rods is a family of raised pillar fly reels which should be the perfect compliment to a Graywolf Rods build.

These will be offered in four sizes to accommodate fly lines from a two weight to and eight weight and will have a silent yet adjustable check drag.  Prices for the Signature Series fly reels have not be set yet.

Check out the Graywolf Rods website along with the frequently updated Graywolf Rods Blog and Facebook page for more images and information about the Signature Series fly rods and reels.