Hello and greetings

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shoto
Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 11/29/21 11:50

Hello and greetings

#1

Post by shoto »

Hello all,

Retirement's looming on the horizon so I decided to research the building of a fly rod. I had the good fortune to stumble across this forum. I've enjoyed it so much I thought I should join and thank members, new and old, for their comments and questions. It's been great reading.

I'm in western PA now, originally from upstate NY, and mainly stalk (and release) brookies.

Kind regards to you all,
mike

bellbird
Master Guide
Posts: 577
Joined: 12/03/15 03:49
Location: Helena MT Dunedin NZ

Re: Hello and greetings

#2

Post by bellbird »

Welcome to the Forum. Enjoy. Cheers.
Earl
....with the hope a fish will rise.

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bugslinger
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 1157
Joined: 04/04/12 21:37

Re: Hello and greetings

#3

Post by bugslinger »

Hello shoto from Steve in Seattle! My wife and I are both going to retire this June15! Really looking forward to it.....never going to get me off the water! What kind of fly rod are you going to build? I fish bamboo 95% of the time mainly in lakes year round. Looking forward to future reports from you.

shoto
Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 11/29/21 11:50

Re: Hello and greetings

#4

Post by shoto »

bugslinger wrote:
12/07/21 23:46
Hello shoto from Steve in Seattle! My wife and I are both going to retire this June15! Really looking forward to it.....never going to get me off the water! What kind of fly rod are you going to build? I fish bamboo 95% of the time mainly in lakes year round. Looking forward to future reports from you.
Hi Steve, I share your thoughts about not leaving the water someday :-)

To be honest, the specifics are still up in the air at the moment. My initial thoughts are 'short and light'. I spend most of my time on small mountain streams. The sort of stream that is typically 10 feet or less in width and only opens up into pools once in a while. Tenkara has worked for me but I'd like something I can cast so I can get a bit more range when I want it. Maybe a 7 or 7.5 in 3wt or so... opinions welcome, of course.

I've ordered some Tonkin cane but I plan to make a few prototype blanks using split Ash.. just to experiment with the planing jigs, binder (etc). I'd rather make big mistakes with Ash. I think it'll be an adventure :-)

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bugslinger
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 1157
Joined: 04/04/12 21:37

Re: Hello and greetings

#5

Post by bugslinger »

I might make my own bamboo blanks when I retire this June....maybe not, it’ll cut into my fishing time! You’ll have to post some progress pictures as you go. I’ve redone 70+ blue collar bamboo rods so far and fish them all. That’s cool you’re into tenkara, I made one a few months ago and still haven’t caught anything with it yet.....

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shoto
Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 11/29/21 11:50

Re: Hello and greetings

#6

Post by shoto »

bugslinger wrote:
12/08/21 22:08
I might make my own bamboo blanks when I retire this June....maybe not, it’ll cut into my fishing time! You’ll have to post some progress pictures as you go. I’ve redone 70+ blue collar bamboo rods so far and fish them all. That’s cool you’re into tenkara, I made one a few months ago and still haven’t caught anything with it yet.....
Beautiful!
I'm hoping to complete a rod in time for spring. 25 degrees and snowing here.. a good time to be in the shop :-)

headwaters
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 3233
Joined: 12/23/10 19:00
Location: Northern Virginia

Re: Hello and greetings

#7

Post by headwaters »

Welcome, Mike! I'm originally from upstate NY, now in VA. Retired, and I chase brookies, too

shoto
Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 11/29/21 11:50

Re: Hello and greetings

#8

Post by shoto »

headwaters wrote:
12/09/21 22:08
Welcome, Mike! I'm originally from upstate NY, now in VA. Retired, and I chase brookies, too
Binghamton area for me... spent my summers in the Adk park chasing trout and swatting black flies. :-)

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SpringCreek
Bamboo Fanatic
Posts: 3202
Joined: 02/24/07 19:00
Location: Wildwood, MO
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Re: Hello and greetings

#9

Post by SpringCreek »

Mike,

Welcome to the forum. I keep trying to retire myself, but something always seems to come up to pull me to a new job. I did retire in Oct 2020 and two weeks later went back to work when a friend called and asked me to join him at his company. I was planning to retire again in May of next year, however, a former boss of mine offered me a position that I just couldn't refuse, and now I find myself at another company. I figure I'll think about retiring again in a couple of years, but for now I'm happy doing what I'm doing.

There are a lot of people here willing to provide help as you venture into building a rod. Just keep in mind that there are a hundred different ways that most things in the building process can be done, so you may get a lot of opinions. In the end, they all seem to work so if you get multiple opinions on something just pick the one that makes the most sense to you and go for it. I'm sure your rod will turn out great.

Jim
Then as it was, then again it will be. Though the course may change sometimes, rivers always reach the sea. - Led Zeppelin, 10 Years Gone

http://www.splittingcane.com

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Bugtussel
Guide
Posts: 200
Joined: 03/06/19 21:32

Re: Hello and greetings

#10

Post by Bugtussel »

Welcome Mike. Great place great people. Just retired sort of ...still do PRN(work when needed). And also in PA.

partsman
Member
Posts: 18
Joined: 03/03/20 07:28

Re: Hello and greetings

#11

Post by partsman »

As another Mike who has been retired for a few years now and has been a lurker on this wonderful site for a longer time I say thank you to all of great members here! I hope to at some point to be able to contribute.
Thanks, Mike from Michigan.

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