MK Fly Syndicate

Customization of a fiberglass fly rods are hard to come by nowadays.. but thanks to another fly avid I had a chance to have this built.

This is a 3 piece , 6'6" 3wt brown translucent fiberglass fly rod blank.
The action of this blank is not as noodle as those normal 3wt fiberglass fly rod. Soft and sensitive tip with moderate action but it has got plenty of power at the lower section for shooting your line out.  

 Agated butt cap for the sliding band reel seat.

Agated stripping guide and dark brown nylon for the wrapping.

The cigar shape handle for this fly rod is rattan wrapped. As shown in my previous write up , Rattan Wrapping to cork grip from scratch..

Photo of the rod decal taken when the rod was on the dryer.

When its' done.

Here are the photos of the completed rod.

FG 3wt series

Another FG 3wt series fiberglass fly rod that I built 2 weeks ago.

Double sliding band reel seat with more vintage 'feel' and smaller diameter cigar type cork grip.



Olive green thread wrapping with white marker line.

Full view of the 3 section fiberglass fly rod

A close up ..

 and another piece put up for sell..

" Olive Green " Fiberglass fly rod

I acquired this blank from China a few months ago. They used to make a lot of carbon graphite blanks but recently more fiberglass blanks are made due to a higher demand for it.

Fiberglass fly rod blank

Half wells and a burled wood single band reel seat was used for this rod.

Epoxy in progress

FG663-3wt denotes Fiberglass 6'6" 3 piece 3wt

 Completed rod

DW Fiberglass fly rod - Ultralight

What was supposedly the last rod was not the LAST eventually...
Just can't resist building up this UL crispy little fly rod on the translucent white blank.

2 sections fiberglass 2wt 6'9" after snipping a few inches at the front and back of the 7' blank.

Agate stripping and lite wire snake guides for this rod.

Cork rings for the grip

Down locking sliding back burled wood reel seat for this rod.

Mid Brown thread wrapped over Pearsall's Gossamer White silk

Single thread trimming across guides foot

All guides intact..

The silk thread after epoxy basically will turn transparent and gives it a very unique effect.

JC feather used as joint indicator. The feather is actually wrapped under the silk line.

My "chicken scratch" on the rod

The look of the handle with a reel ..

Making my own fly reel seat

Nothing fancy. Just a basic sliding band reel seat.
The sliding band is actually a ring which for bought for 5 bucks each at some ladies accessory shop last year. Wanted to do this project a long time ago.

Since I am finishing up my bamboo rod, I took this opportunity or rather a reason for me to make my own reel seat. I do not have a turning lathe machine or any of the lathe accessories. I am using the basic tool that I have, that is an axe, hand drill, clamp and rod holder with bearing.
YES, I use an axe.

You will know why when you look at the photographs.


That piece of tree have been laying in my driveway for almost year.

Cut a section of around 4" to 5" , clamp it down vertically and make a hole through the wood. I tried to make it precisely at the center , but it was impossible to do it with the hand drill.

I used the axe to shape it round and then used a threaded bar to hold the wood to the drill for lathing.


Here's the secret.

BUY LOTS OF SAND PAPER.
That is what I used to shape the reel seat.

Above is the so-called "prototype" reel seat which I made. Not so satisfied with the 1st one, I made another.

This is the 2nd one. Much nicer than the 1st one and that's the ring I use for the sliding band. The color of the wood looks pale because it was not treated yet.


The color of the wood looks much more better after treating it with urethane.




And this is how my sliding band reel seat turn out to be.