This project started after a fishing trip on my local brook that resulted in a bit of frustration because there were fish rising under bushes in a narrow section that I could not cast at with my 7ft 6in rod. Sitting mulling it over with a few beers, I decided that the answer was a shorter rod.

Rooting around in the shed I came up with the germ of an idea of casting with 2 sections (2nd and 4th from top in photo) of a float rod that I had moved around the world with me for nearly 40 years. The rod was my 1st ever fishing rod, bought for me by my Dad who was not a fisherman. It was solid fibre glass and the only indication of it s heritage was a sticker that said "foreign". Unfortunately, it was too tippy for anything other than the lightest floats and it was never used once I found a replacement.

Threading up the sections, I put a 4 wt line through the rings, with the reel on the floor, and the line flew. If anything the rod was slightly overloaded.



The next stage was to lurk around this section of the forum and discovering that Taniwha was a not only a good rod builder, he had also moved to the local area since we had met at the Monnow social. He was extremely helpful, with sourcing material, providing reference books and giving sound advice. Without him, this project would have died when the beer effects wore off. However, I am prone to going off piste and take full responsibility for the end product.

The first point where I did something different was in the seat and handle assembly, where I used plasterboard tape instead of string or masking tape:



The reason for this being that my brook can be a bit jungly and the sides are steep so the rod can take a serious battering. My concern was that the masking tape provided a shear point. Also I had decided on british racing green. Going on a minimalist approach, I was using spar varnish instead of epoxy and the 1st coat attacked the paint. So I had to strip it off and start again

Having repainted, left it for a week, applied 2 thin coats of varnish. I started on the hand wrapping. Firstly, I filed down the guides using hobby files and learnt to make sure that you are not filing through your fingernail........ it hurts. The guide wrapping went well and I was please with the look.



Completing the rod, the effects of not using CP and the colouring of spar varnish came home. The fine green thread (from my fly tying kit) disappeared, the burgundy went almost black and the british racing green was a colour that was too heavy for the size of the rod. I'd also got a few tags showing and some enthusiastic sanding had taken out one of the guide wraps, which needed replacing. While it was a fishing tool, it was not what I had in mind. Given that this was supposed to be a learning process and a "throwaway" if it failed, I pushed the nuclear button and started again



I selected the yellow because the burgundy thread looked superb where it had gone translucent over the guides and I reasoned that the burgundy over a mustard would look good. Having learnt from the 1st time around, this build went comparatively smoothly



Phoenix seemed to be an apt name as it had died and been resurrected twice. I have used it with a #4WF and it is a nice tool at short range. Having removed the original butt ferrule it comes in at 5ft 3inches.

My thanks go to Taniwha for his forbearance with an obsessive

Hey Vince
Yellow has significant provenance as a glass rod colour, and what could have more personal provenence that to creatively resuscitate you first rod? Phoenix is apt, great result.

Thanks again Mark

Great looking 1st build. I'm in the process of completing my 1st build at the moment.

Could you provide some more information on the paint and the process you used for that?

Thanks.

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@flyauction on twitter

Many thanks for the compliment.

The 1st paint was a rustoleum outdoor paint and it was more sensitive but it needed to be left for a week. Possibly I had been too light on the rub down and the original laquer was still there in places. Next time around I used vauxhall mustard yellow from halfords and it worked a treat.

On such a small rod, I was concerned about a material build up so tried to be minimalist, so drew on my youthful experience of car bodging . First off I rubbed down the surface laquer but was very careful not to go through the outer layers of fibre, I then sprayed direct onto the keyed surface. A second coat went on within a couple of hours but only on the parts that were too light on the first pass.

After a weeks drying , I rubbed down very lightly with metallic t-cut, and put on a very light coat of spar varnish (warmed to thin it) and left for another week, and repeat the t-cut and 2nd coat of varnish a week later.

I spar varnished the wraps on and t-cut again after I had a couple of coats on, but before the final glossy coats.

Possibly I was being a bit cautious but it was worth waiting as I am very pleased with the finish.

PS I forgot to add that the spar varnish does darked the paint as ti dries to an amber shade, so it is worth allowing for that when picking your paint shade. Its why the British racing green went towards a dark brown when it dried

Tell you what Vinnie, that looks fantastic, what a neat job, and the name is brilliant.
Hope you get to christen it soon, one day I'll have a go at building a rod.
S.

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"A glint of sun has warmed the air,The flies will soon hatch out, To lure and tempt from their deep lair, The bonnie speckled trout." SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.

Come on in the waters lovely. I was told that if you can tie a fly and have some basic DiY skills you can do it. Someone who can make furled leaders will be off to a flier.

After Taniwha pointed me in the right direction, I bought a couple of the Dale Clemens books and they make interesting reading. For instance, while I understood a bit about balancing a rod, I had not realised that you also sorted out the tracking as well (us rod builders call it spining though ). If you are of an artistic bent then some of the thread weaving is incredible. Going the spar varnish route saved building driers and I hand wrapped the guides, so the investment in tooling was nil. The rest was parts and labour guv

It looks like a new winter hobby for me, although I do have to build a travel rod for my holidays next year and have plumped for a 7ft 9in rainforest 2 to try next. Dean from rod bits has been very helpful

I'm looking at doing some custom airbrush work on a couple of the rods I am building, have a friend in a band that is doing rather well that wants a rod done up in their colour scheme as well as some more out there designs. Which is why I was asking about the colour of a rod in another thread. My concern is build up of paint affecting the action of the rod which is why I'm going down the airbrush route as I figure that will let me put down a very lite layer onto the blank.

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@flyauction on twitter

Correct me if I'm wrong Vinnie, but is the first pic of the float rod, a three piece rod with two tops?
I take it you used the thinner top with the second piece.
I am sure if I put my mind to it I could build a rod, always been pretty decent with my hands, or used to be, and lord knows I have the spare time. It's just a daunting thought for the first one.
If I do decide to do one, I think I would go the way you have, and practice on something that doesn't really matter too much.
If it turned out looking like that I would be chuffed, I fancy a glass rod as well.
Think I'll start hunting one down.
S.

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"A glint of sun has warmed the air,The flies will soon hatch out, To lure and tempt from their deep lair, The bonnie speckled trout." SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.