Sage SPL

I had another one of these beautiful ultralight SPL blanks on hand, NOS gems found in a fly shop in Norway. The SPL's won "Best of show" in 1997 and are highly regarded as the best dry fly rods ever made with they silky smooth medium action with strong butt sections and are very sought after.

This second build was appointed similar to the original SP style (1993) with a polished Struble U20 (first SP's had Struble U17's and green wood insert) and a gorgeous greenish vera insert that beautifully complements the turquoise-blue blank. Silver trim wraps on this one are dead gorgeous. Exquisite aluminum custom tube. This might just be the epitome of my custom Sage builds.

Should you need a custom Sage rod made from contemporary blanks, send me an email to talk about it. Thanks for looking!

Sage SPL

The Smooth Power Light series. Introduced by Sage in 1997, this was a small line of rods (ranging from 0wt. to 4wt.) that changed the light-line game forever and the first ultralight series, courtesy of Jerry Siem, the graphite rod guru, coming out of R.L.Winston around that time.

This Sage SPL 080-3 is a terrific rod to cast from ten to fifty feet with accuracy and smoothness. The soft progressive tip and mid sections give buttery like presentations and the strong, powerful butt section can pull in fairly big trouts without breaking the tippet. I can't remember breaking a fish on my SPL 181 and the 080 is my main grayling rod in the fall. This elegant, emerald green-blue beauty was appointed in a minimalist style, similar with the original factory scheme. Understated elegance in a classic, timeless Sage rod.

Sage no longer offers replacement parts on these rods but this rod is perfection and should be taken care of accordingly. Headed over to it's lucky owner to be cherished and fished for a lifetime!

Sage TXL "Triple Ought"

The TXL triple ought fly rod. Possibly the lightest fly rod that's ever been made. 

Sage's lightest, yet high-performing fly rod for the creek fisherman, like myself. This "trout extra light" rod is most wanted even today by most #troutxtralight fishermen. 

The TXL "near weightless" series was the third ultralight Sage made and Jerry Siem's golden jewel from back in 2005. This blank came back from the warranty repair a few months back and it is always nice to build up a "legacy" Sage TXL blank. I'm loving this thing.

The rod is built more or less in the original color scheme and components, but with a classy strap and ring hoop keeper. The reel seat wood insert is a thing of beauty.

I got to fish this rod for a bit before it went out in the mail to a friend and brought up many memories.

 Thanks for looking and hope you enjoy the pics! Always! #perfectionflyrod

T&T Lotic

 A special project I've recently finished. Simply put, the Thomas&Thomas Lotic represents the state-of-the-art in fiberglass rods made today. As soon as I picked up this blank I knew it will be something special. Looks like a modern take on a classic taper with a crisp feel and a snappy action. 

The blank was purchased by a good friend who had the factory rod at some point, saying that this Lotic 744-3 was the best four weight he has ever cast. That intrigued me the most to build this rod. 

We decided to go with a six inch "snub-nose" modified wells grip and a classic uplocking Lemke reel seat in bright hardware and dark, almost black wood to complement the royal blue colored blank as good as possible. The blueish-grey Yli silk tipped white in key spots was a good match and the Struble Mfg. blue agate was a must.

More recently I started to source out locally made aluminum rod tubes, trying to make them as minimalist and exquisite as possible. My friend had some ideas of laser printing on the tube caps and the result was stunning. 

The rod was ready just in time for the Romanian Fly Fishing Expo event this month and was able to cast it. This Lotic is indeed a very stable rod for glass to cast at almost any fishing distances. I've put my trusty Airflo line that I use at casting demos and the rod threw stable, effortless tight loops like butter. 

Should you want that special rod for yourself, drop me an email to talk about it, but be sure to be loaded with patience, it may be difficult to find a blank etc. Will be taking some orders probably in the fall but would preffer to offer "stock built rods" more in the future. This makes life a little bit easier and is best to avoid long waiting time and frustration associated with that. 

Hope you'll enjoy the photos and thanks for looking! A rod of a lifetime! #perfectionflyrod #glassisnotdead