I. Went. Fishing. (was Kabuto 8053, pt 2: A "review;" and vulgarity laced musing on dry fly purism and gearsnobbery.)

Yesterday was April 20th, 2024.

 

I went fishing.

 

I forgot what it's like to go outside the house. Also, holy FUCK did I get fucking FAT. And my feet hurt. And I don't know where any of my shit got to so I just grabbed random shit that was all teh worst shit ever for a fat fucking fuck stuck on the banks because I cant' fit into my waders and I didn't wanna wet wade coz its fucking cold and I'm a baby.

 

But.. I went fishing. So that counts, right? Shit, I still know how to do it!

 

Also here's something that was waiting as a draft from 1/10/18. I'll never complete it. Hell, I won't even READ it, but I'm gonna fuckin' post it.

 

So there you have it.

 

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After my first year or three of fly fishing, I'd settled into patterns. I only fished dry flies, or a dry/dropper with an unweighted fly 18" or so under a bushy dry, and I frequented 20' to 30' wide tree lined creeks. I was,  I think, moderately successful, at using these flies and setups and was only getting better at it. At the time, I was busy formulating my fishing timearound these two styles.

Traditionally speaking, "dry fly action" rods were fast, tip, action regardless of the material. If you look at current dictum, assholes say you fish dry flies with slow rods, and this is why they're assholes. Slow rods don't dry your flies on a cast. Slow rods aren't precision tools that generate tight loops into small targets. Slow rods don't set the hook with aplomb when you're fishing up stream and with mended line across braids. Those are all attributes of faster rods.

What slow rods do well, though, is provide that tactile and great feeling of a rod loading and unloading. They provide a more visceral enjoyment in casting your line, which is arguably the draw to a dry fly purist. The thing is, a fiberglass (or bamboo) rod can provide that feeling as you get to enjoy the feeling of the rod's loading and unloading due to the mass in the tip, the way you can feel the energy roll out your arm and down the rod and line.

Home, sweet home.

I'd spent some time looking for the right rod to fit the criteria of how and where I fish the aforementioned dry fly purist thing in small, usually forested, creeks. I'd gone from an 8' 4wt Versitex rod (fished with a SA GPX 4wt line, making it essentially a 5wt rod) to a Fenwick 756, 7'6" 6wt rod which really helped me understand that fiberglass didn't mean limp. In usage, the two rods basically handled the same, the two (or, really, one) line weight difference being lost in the way the material itself handled casting (glass versus IM6 graphite).

All of this long-winded preamble shit basically sets up my preferred choice to fish these flies in these waters: A rod that's a true medium (to med-fast, if you must), 8', AFTMA 5wt, and (for me) fiberglass. It also had to look fucking stellar because this was going to be my perfect rod. So, I ordered a Kabuto 8053 blank; based on word of mouth, it met my requirements. Now I've finished it, and fished it quite a few times, and I'm willing to tell others what I think, because I'm a big enough fuckin egotist to assume you give a shit.

And its my blog, so whatever.

Superfine Touch 904-4 build.

Last rod project completed, I'm done building shit because I don't really foresee much less I don't own, I didn't really need this one, either, but I wanted a longer rod that would also be light, which meant graphite.

There's not much out there in the way of slower action, full flexing, graphite except for the venerable Orvis Superfine, except I couldn't afford a $500 rod, hence building and the sudden burst of activity (I'd been sitting on those other blanks for a long time).

The blank is an Orvis Superfine Touch 904-4, only Mudhole.com sells Orvis' blanks, and they Superfines are built-to-order, so prepare to wait 3 to 6 weeks. Like the last two rods, I used a cheap Fenwick-style half wells grip, an aluminum featherweight downlocking seat, and PacBay lightwire snakes and TiCH stripper. Orvis provided spacing, and guide size was determined by expanding the data provided by Tom Morgan Rodsmiths in his guide charts (st8-2-1-1-1/0-1/0-1/0-2/0-2/0-2/0-tip). Thread was PacBac midnight black nylon, and Gudebrod red/black twist both in size A with two coats of Flexcoat CP and finished with two coats of Flexcoat Lowbuild.

Now, if only I could find free time during the day to use all these new toys.

Kabuto 8053, pt 1.

The second rod I've started is done, a Kabuto 8053 in the translucent white.

I think I ordered the blank nearly two years ago, and was probably sitting on it for 18 months. I decided I needed to finally do it, and put it together.

I was, honestly, originally planning on making this some sort of magnum opus for me, the ultimate rod, one rod to rule them (etc).

That was when I only fished dry flies. Shit, now I only fish wet flies, so, well, fuck that one rod shit, huh? That said, I only had it out a little bit, but I'll wax poetic on it after I've used it for awhile.

There's few times I feel like I'm doing a public service with this shitty blog, but talking about an obscure fly rod you'll never see in a shop might be one of them. I'll do that after I've had some more time (and fish) with it.

Anyways, build details follow.

One orange provides 116.2% of your daily dose of vitamin C.

And complete.

Anything to avoid the responsibilities of life.

Further adventures in rod building.

I completed the first one after what seemed like forever (it was actually like 8 months, mostly spent not ordering a single piece), and I figured I'd leap right into the Project 2, as everyone says "do a cheap one first."

Evidently, I'm doing two cheap ones first, as Project 2 can now be Project 3, or I can complete Project 3 before Project 2, or, I dunno.

What the fuck am I even saying?

Let's put it this way, the short of it is I'm doing another cheap rod. I mean, someone offers up a "rust brown" (which to my eyes is carroty diarrhea brown, really) for $22, who am I to pass it up? Especially when its a fiberglass 1/2 wt rod.

This, combined with a friend handing me a box of free winding thread means its a given.  Mostly because the colours of thread are all pretty out there, so how am I not going to use them?

So, with a box of pieces on order, its time to look at some wraps. With all luck, this one won't take as long.

Any idiot can make a fly rod.

I may, in fact, be a giant.

Proof? I did.

And all things considered (bourbon), it went pretty well.

God knows it took long enough, mostly due to laziness and a hatred of shipping charges, but with the "practice" rod out of the way, we can concentrate on doing a good one.

I picked up a Cabela's kit and a Garcia Conolon 2070 Lee Wulff blank, a 6' one piece with recommended line weights listed anywhere from 5 to 7. 

So far, I've tried it with an Air Cel 6WFF, and its goddamned sweet.

Rod building: a new way to throw away money. (updated 1/30)

Y'know, I meant to do this thing, like, where I rant about shit like dumb shit... I sort of alluded to it last time, and I had this awesome anger about line weights, tapers, the AFTMA and how stupid the modern fly fishing industry is...but, whatever. I shot my load on local forums. I've been thinking about throwing it together, but I've yet to do so. Its filled with ranting, vulgarity, and stupid hyperbole and I'm quite impressed with the run away train of thought but you may never see it, eh? Sucks for you. Or, well, maybe not.

Monocacy TU is back in action with their short run of presentations, and held their first presentation. I think we shot our expenditure load on getting a local Poconos guy, Don Baylor, to come down and do a presentation on the history of fly fishing in the Poconos, which mostly centered around the Brodhead. It was a good time. You should've gone. I did.