New Rod Build

This was a fun one. A 13' 6" nine weight spey rod.

 I did a lot of experimenting on this one and didn't fuss too much over the epoxy finish. The only thing I'd have done differently would be to do be more stingy on the amount of epoxy applied to the thread wraps.

I've never seen the sliding band and hood recession on the reel seat thread wrapped and epoxied so I thought I'd give it a shot. It turned out decent. I also learned a new decorative wrapping called the "olive branch". These techniques will be featured on future rods and as well as some new ones (I hope). While perusing rods online for inspiration I found a few rods using the spiral technique. I like how that turned out too! I also tried to write a signature on the rod. It worked OK but my hand writing isn't very good. In the future I'll be trying some other methods.

 It's not easy to photograph such a long fly rod, especially since the light I use burned out. I learned a lot building this rod and can't wait till the next one! I may build myself a 7 weight switch rod soon:)