Trip report and new rod

[williamhj]

At the end of August we took our fourth guy's fishing trip. My dad, brother, and two brothers-in-law got a place in Breckenridge for the weekend. On Saturday we did a bit of fishing on some smaller water but the highlight was shooting sporting clays out near Eagle, Colorado. Been a long time since any of us shot and it was a blast.

Sunday morning we linked up with some guides from Cutthroat Angler's in Silverthorne to do a float on the Colorado River. It was an amazing day. Only time I'd been in a drift boat was fishing musky in Wisconsin - the guy had a Boulder drift boat, so this was a new way of fishing for all of us. We all caught nice browns and rainbows and enjoyed floating through a beautiful part of Colorado we may never have seen otherwise.

Here are some pictures from the trip followed by pictures of the new 9' 5wt rod I built:

A view of the Colorado River flowing out of Gore Canyon:

Our boats heading down river

Fishing - those guides know how to maneuver the boats!

A couple of my browns that day. Was well into double digits but it would have been fun anyway.

Now for the rod. It is a 9' 5wt Aurora 1 blank from Proof Fly Fishing. Some of you may remember they ran a kickstarter this past year to get the blank off the ground and they are a great blank.

Guides and tip-top: black nickel Snake Brand from Proof Fly Fishing
Thread: Garnet nylon
Finish: Threadmaster lite
Grip: cork from Proof
Seat: Tic coated A-5 seat with Sappell Burl from Dave Winslow Rods
Hook-keeper: from Ye Olde English Fly Shop

It fished like a champ - threw the larger nymph rigs and handled fish well from the drift boat. It was a nice dry fly rod while fishing small streams.

Thanks for looking

 

[mcnerney]

William: Great trip report and photos, looks like an awesome float, congrats. The last time I was down on the Green below Flaming Gorge I noticed that a lot of the guides down there have switched over to the Boulder Boat Works drift boat.

 

[jpbfly]

Great report and picsNice rod....

 

[eastfly66]

Nice pics and sharp looking build too !

 

[cab]

Look like a good trip! Good lookin' rod, to boot!

I especially like the mini fighting butt, wish mine had one.

CAB

 

[williamhj]

Thanks for the kind words. It was a great trip for a lot of reasons. Enjoyed using the rod as well - first time on the water and it performed well. Drift boats are a great but expensive way to get some good fishing in.

I like the fighting butt too. Dave Winslow included them with the reel seat and I'm glad he did. I think it looks sharp.

 

[dean_mt]

Nice looking rod William, is the winding check from Snake also? It looks to me like you've only got eight guides plus the stripper, it stuck out to me that there isn't a guide near the ferrule on the top two sections when most often there is one pretty close on four pics rods. I assume this is the recommended spacing from the manufacturer.

Great looking water, wow! You're right that it ain't cheap but its fun once in a great awhile to splurge. Does the outfitter require PFDs always or just that piece of water? I ask because I've never seen guided anglers wearing them here in Montana.

 

[eastfly66]

It looks to me like you've only got eight guides plus the stripper,

Hi Dean,

I see this on my T&T rods also and asked Tom Dorsey & Trevor Bross about it one time I was in the shop. The theory is "Less is More". I don't think it has anything to do with the 4 pcs. as it applies to the 2 piece also on my ES ( I will have to ask about that next time) . They accomplish the line control by adjusting guide placement. I didn't even notice it until I was trying to copy their guide placements for one of my rookie builds.

 

[williamhj]

Nice looking rod William, is the winding check from Snake also? It looks to me like you've only got eight guides plus the stripper, it stuck out to me that there isn't a guide near the ferrule on the top two sections when most often there is one pretty close on four pics rods. I assume this is the recommended spacing from the manufacturer.

Great looking water, wow! You're right that it ain't cheap but its fun once in a great awhile to splurge. Does the outfitter require PFDs always or just that piece of water? I ask because I've never seen guided anglers wearing them here in Montana.

Pulled the rod out this morning to be sure I didn't mess up! Yes there are 10 guides - 9 snakes plus the stripper. There is a guide near the ferrule, just below it rather than above. The spacing worked well, I didn't give it a second thought but you are right, not what I am accustom to doing. I'm actually finishing my 3rd Aurora 1 blank - did one for myself, one for a friend, and am doing one as a donation rod.

The guides did push us to wear the PFDs, which was fine though I would have been fine without one.

 

[dean_mt]

Thanks William. I certainly wasn't suggesting you did anything wrong. It just jumped out to me that there wasn't a guide near the ferrule wrap since it seems like every rod I've built I find myself trying to decide whether or not to run the ferrule wrap up to the guide or not.

 

[eastfly66]

I have 2 guides that fall right on a connection.

 

[williamhj]

Thanks William. I certainly wasn't suggesting you did anything wrong. It just jumped out to me that there wasn't a guide near the ferrule wrap since it seems like every rod I've built I find myself trying to decide whether or not to run the ferrule wrap up to the guide or not.

No I would have seen it as a mess-up! I ordered 10 guides for the rod. I thought I'd managed to wrap it, finish it, and then fish it without noticing one of them was still sitting on my desk. Would have been a pleasant surprise since it fished nicely.

BTW the check isn't from Snake Brand. I have used theirs before and they are nice but just used one that I had on hand.

 

[cab]

FWIW: Every river guide has told me PFD's are required by law in CO.

CAB