Friday, November 22, 2013

Poor Man's Fiberglass

After buying my first fiberglass fly rod, I kinda went crazy buying a few more in a few short weeks.  Mainly because it allows me to collect old, cool rods for a fairly small amount of money.  I enjoy the "game" of bidding for them on Ebay, and browsing Craigslist, just hoping that someone had stumbled upon one in the corner of their garage and they decided to sell.  I plan on upgrading to a modern (more expensive) rod when I can scrounge up enough cash to get one I really want (Swift Epic).  But until then, I'll probably just keep looking for the best deals I can find locally.  

Eagle Claw Featherlight 5/6 Switch Rod

This was the first "fiberglass" rod that I purchased, even though they are mostly graphite.  After seeing the switch rod conversion that This River is Wild had done to their featherlight, I knew I had make my own.  Thankfully, it's easy now that The Fiberglass Manifesto helped make it easier to find the needed parts.  A mere 15 minutes is all it took to make this easy switch rod.  I paired it with Rio Outbound Short that makes this rod super fun to mess around with.




Shakespeare- A924 

Bought this rod off Ebay for a mere 20 bucks, and I was super excited when this rod showed up at the door.  It is a rod that was built in 1964, and it casts really nice.  With it casting like a 7 weight, I plan on using this rod to chase carp around the Denver South Platte.  It should be able to help make nice presentations with the heavy flies that we use.  I really like the spiral guide wraps, and the overall look of the rod.  A very classic and old looking fiberglass rod.




Eagle Claw Trailmaster- TRP-600

Swiped this rod from a guy on Craigslist for 15 bucks the other weekend, mainly just to say that I own an old Eagle Claw fiberglass rod.  It is one of the fly/spin convertible rods, and I don't really plan on fishing this rod much, just having it sit in the garage for one to add to my collections.  I really like the gold, Eagle Claw logo emblazoned on the cork handle.  When I think of old fiberglass fly rods, I think of rods that look exactly like this.



Friday, November 8, 2013

Clear Creek- 11/8/13

Snuck away from the office for a few hours this afternoon, and head up the canyon to enjoy some perfect fall weather.  Found lots of willing, wild Browns that were very active chasing my little black streamer around.  So much fun watching small fish try to eat a fly that is almost as big as they are.  Clear Creek still has some nice flows, and the river is looking absolutely amazing.  With so much time dedicated to work in the last few weeks, it was nice to sneak away from the computer and cell phone and enjoy the Rocky Mountain sun and tug on the line.  Looking forward to the Waypoints fly fishing movie tonight in Denver