Sage spey

This is the first spey rod to come out of my shop. A fifteen foot ten weight that will bend in the Kola peninsula on "silver". As for the fittings, I kept it classy. Again.

This beauty of a rod features an exquisite Bellinger nickel silver reel seat with stabilized maple wood insert. With the garnet thread wraps I think it's as classy as it can be. "Old school" brown Sage signature wraps make this badass TCX build (Dave Lewis inspired) one-of-a-kind.

And to complete the package, this rod comes with an elegant leather case that can accomodate two spey rods and compliments the thread wraps of the rod.

Next, a Morgan, a couple of Kabuto browns and more Epics. Thanks for looking everyone and hope you'll enjoy the pictures!

 

Spey rod sneak peak

First look at this newly finished Sage TCX spey rod. A first spey rod project. More pics soon! 

Fly fishing Poland. River San.

Just returned from the beautiful southern Poland fishing the famous San river. Fished the new Epic 480 slate and I can't say enough of it. Maybe that slate is the new black, but anyway, it's my new favorite color in the Epic line. Possibly the first glass rod to be bent here, although I think there is one polish glass geek, this river is one of the most technical rivers I've fished with dry flies for european grayling and brown trout. While others were rolling the "polish roulette" with nymphs, I have chosen to fish dry flies on glass and long leaders together with my fishing buddies. Baetis hatching during the day and some decent sized orangish spinners in the evenings. With the first olives hatch of the season there's always something new to learn. Something that cannot be learned on the internet, you just have to get down to it, experience it, learn from the river, observe nature and fish behaviour. With the variation on sizing, coloration, etc., the bwo's hatch is one of the most complex and a neverending fun combined with frustration. A polish guide told me: "They are easier to get on nymphs". I answered him, "Where's the fun then..?". I guess many fishermen today are focused only on catching (easiest way) and forget the fun of observing the river, the insects, etc until they get to the fish. These fishermen most of the time talk about numbers of fish caught and I know a few. In most of the cases, the more "difficult" approach is the much more rewarding one at the end of the day. We actually caught a lot of fish, most of them medium sized, some smaller and a few big ones that I mostly lost of course (blame it on the 7x tippet). So a ton of fun in a three day fishing trip with some very selective fish. Time to get back in the shop for some intense rodworks. Hope you'll enjoy the pictures and thanks for looking!