Handcrafted graphite and fiberglass fly rods

FlyFishing Austria..

2011-09-22T01:15:00.014+03:00

GXT9044..performance and versatility..

2011-08-25T10:36:00.017+03:00

Six piece 3wt..

2011-07-25T20:13:00.014+03:00

One the most popular of the Dan Craft blanks, the six piece FTL 8036, may be the perfect rod for the traveling trout fisherman. All the goodies a great blank should be fitted with are right here. Uplocking nickel silver reel seat, flor grade cork grip, subtle thread colours and a remarcable leather tube handracrafted right here in Romania. I wanted to match everything together and the result is a very light and beautiful #3 trout rod. Here it is and thankx for looking!

Flyfishing Romania-The Retezat Mountains

2011-07-18T21:12:00.010+03:00

Rebuilt #3 weight..

2011-07-08T19:30:00.009+03:00

Steffen Brothers 6'6" 2-3wt...first fiberglass build

2011-05-18T09:12:00.015+03:00

Hi folks,

I am very pleased to post and show you my first fiberglass rod project on a beautiful Steffen Bros. S-glass blank built for a creek fisherman. This is vintage grade build. Beautiful colors on this one, almost full flex, beautiful small stream rod. Coming up two more, another 6'6" and 7'3". Stay posted for them and thankx for looking. Apreciate your comments!
George

8'6" 3wt.."soft presentation" classic

2011-05-18T00:03:00.018+03:00

Not just another 3wt. graphite classic trout rod, but a "one of a kind" straight and clean, classic build. The clean cork handle has a superfine feel and it's a perfect match with the exceptional reel seat from Joel Lemke. This is a new addition in my line of rods and they will set a new standard in my builds. These are truly spectacular nickle silver and black nickle seats with gorgeous wood inserts, very light weight to balance the highly advanced graphite blanks of today.

This light rod makes a great soft presentation trout fishing tool, with medium-fast action and progressive feel, great for close and medium range and with enough power for longer casts when needed. Also, this lenght and weight is a must in the trout fisherman's arsenal. And to make it even more special, a very elegant leather tube was a must to complete the package.
Thankx for looking,
George

Blank:Five Rivers Signature V Finesse
Action/Taper: Medium Fast/Progressive
Guides:Light wire snake guides/Classic chrome stripping guide
Wraps: Gossamer Silk
Reel seat: Lemke uplocking nickel silver
Handle:Flor grade cork/Western-cigar shape
Hook keeper: Snake Brand
Rod price:500$ (leather tube included)

Czeck Nymph stick for "flyfishing"?

2011-04-18T00:18:00.017+03:00

A very long debate for the well known issue, the "czeck nymphing" style, allthough not considered flyfishing by many, inclusing myself, continues to catch both fisherman and fish..customers ask me to build these long-light rods for the allready mentioned style of fishing with heavy nymphs, as they offer great control and contact with the flies when fishing those fast flowing rivers..
Here is another very light 10'4" 3pcs. 3wt. (this is a custom blank, also a 2wt. available) rod build for a "nympho" fisherman..some very light components, sweet handle with subtle accents and thread color for a nice contrast with the blank..on this build, I used a classic metal stripping guide that looks pretty cool and is very functionable without the high price tag..enjoy the pics and thank you for your comments!

George

9'6" 4 weight..

2011-04-03T15:58:00.016+03:00

Here is a very very special build for a special folk that wants his first fly rod to be one that's very unique both in appearance and performance..right from the start, he will learn flyfishing on a fine tool, a one of a kind, that he is going to use for years to come...wish I had a rod like this one when I started..enjoy the pics and thanks for your comments!

Blank: Five Rivers Signature V (beautiful gloss gray color)
Action/Taper: Moderate fast/Progressive
Guides: Light wire snakes
Reel seat: U20 Struble Nickle Silver/custom stabilized exotic wood insert (not available at Struble)
Wraps: Gossamer silk
Handle: Custom high grade cork grip with burnt cork trim accents
and rubberized ends
Rod price: 450$ (custom extra tip for this one)

Thankx for looking!

8wt. switch rod..

2010-12-30T18:10:00.026+02:00

Hi everyone!
This is a long time waited rod project that I'm absolutely thrilled of...this boy can be used as a single hand rod (10') or as a short double hander (switch 10'6").

Here are the specs:

Blank: Five Rivers FT 10' 8wt. 4pcs.
Action: Fast Progressive
Taper: Progressive Power Taper
Guides: Hopkins&Holloway hard chrome, oversized for serious line shooting
Reel seat: Struble U18-HG
Handle: Custom turned high quality cork with composite cork accents and rubberized ends
Fighting butts: Two removable fighting butts for single or double handed casting
Rod price:470$ (sold)

Thankx for looking,

George

Late fall flyfishing..

2010-11-19T18:49:00.017+02:00

Hey everyone!

Since the winter doesn't want to come yet, I thought I'd post some fall pics from my grayling home water, fishing with a good friend after 7 years....although logging is still affecting the fish and insects (you can notice the mud on the rocks), I am surprized that this river (my "1wt. dry fly water") still holds some wild grayling, that despite their size, they fight like hell ..throwing loops and tiny midges have always felt a bit more special here since this the place where I learned how to cast a line..for me it's a magic place (and will stay this way) where I get to test some new rods in the weekends..thankx for stopping by and tightloops to you all!

Slovenia ...the land of living water..

2010-10-18T11:01:00.044+03:00

Flyfishing the breathtaking beautiful rivers of Slovenia is one of the best experiences you can imagine..
Home of the marble trout (Salmo Marmoratus, the largest stream growing trout in the world), the Soča (possibly the most beautiful river in Europe) and its tributaries, is maybe the most challeging fishery where my rods have been to...

Wading in the Soča river with that white bottom and that clear water, and the Julian Alps watching this emerald valley, is just unique and very spectacular..

Loops loops and more loops..

These shots were taken in a three day fishing trip (two days of driving), my first in Slovenia..unfortunately I didn't get to photograph the canyon on the upper part of the river, surely will do on my second trip..also have fished the Idrijca and Bača (very little).

Soča- The Emerald Valley

A picky grayling came up to check my fly out five times or more..after changing flies like mad, he wanted the one that I thought I would never use...gotcha :)

Graylings on the Soča are great fighters and have unique colors, unlike the graylings I knew...
October evening on the Soča...

Beautiful thick grayling but poor light for some better shots..

A darker coloration this time..

Episode 2..getting bent on the Idrijca..

Dan Craft FTL 905-6 kicks ass on a strong 50 cm rainbow taken on nymph..6X tippet!!!

Another 'bow' puts a big bend on my most powerful 6 weight DC rod...a very fast rocket (streamer) launcher..

Because these 'dudes' are so strong..they deserve to fight another day..

Last episode...the misterious marble trout..

A solid strike (like no other) takes me by surprise after the first pull of my heavy conehead streamer..
My ultralight 5 weight is bent to the max (forgot my streamer rod in the car)..just the right time to see how this sweet 6 piece stick handles the situation...

The mysterious trout reveals himself only after good minutes of fight..
Finally got him in the shallow water..I was lucky to land this though boy without a net and take some cool shots...

He is by far my biggest river trout caught on the fly (previously a small stream addicted)...but at close to 60 centimeters he is only a young marble..

Now this is what I call JAWS...

Armed with serious teeth and a heck of a tale, this fish is a serious killer and an amazing sport fish..no wonder people travel from all over the world for an encounter with..

..the misterious marble..

The Dark special..

2010-09-24T19:27:00.023+03:00

Hi everyone!
Here is my latest, most handsome, most special and most expensive rod built by me so far on a DC blank..
You will notice that everything on this rod is dark colored (green, grey, black nickel silver, buckeye wood, titanium guide trims, dark nickel "universal" snake guides)..also a special "foam green" agate guide with black nickel frame complements this amazing rod..the blank used is the latest Dan Craft Signature V 966-4 (generation 5) that has a paper thin graphite scrim for ultimate sensitivity and lightness..."he" is on the fast side and incredibly smoooooth!
This rod has all of the best materials and components available today as well as a very unique Struble dark nickel buckeye burl insert that is not available anywhere, not even at Struble, only on special orders for special folks..:)
Any questions and comments will be highly apreciated!
Thankx for looking and your thoughts!
George

September trout..

2010-09-05T11:07:00.039+03:00

September trouts strike bad as the fall starts on my favourite trout creek...

I found the "rusty" creek even more beautiful than in the summer and the cooled down temperatures brought the"1wt." trouts feeding frenzy on baetis skating the water surface..they are not quite "dressed " in spawning colors but my camera will stay "focused" until then...what a dry fly session!!

Dry fly freaks heaven..

Tightloops everyone and thankx for stopping by!

Graylings reloaded..

2010-08-30T20:30:00.004+03:00

Grayling bum...

2010-08-24T23:03:00.024+03:00

Graylings are in my oppinion the best fish to be caught on dry flies with ultralight rods (0-2wt.'s).. sometimes they'll take the fly easy, sometimes they are picky, but they do it gracefully and they are friendly fish and "teach" you how to do it until you do it right..here is a home water that I grew up on as a grayling bum...this time an eastern Carpathians Mountains river, very beautiful scenery..alive and well after some very harsh years...this river is long..73 kilometers of pure dry fly water! I'll be casting lots of loops on it this fall season!!

My dog says this is good grayling water:)

Upper section..trout only..bear country..

Trouts don't live in ugly places..flyfishing extreme (part 1)

2010-08-08T21:22:00.055+03:00

Well, ever since I created this blog, I wanted to do show people Romania's beautiful rivers and landscapes (and that includes romanians too, that don't really know or care about how they should take care of their environment, protect the trout and practice catch and release, with some exceptions), so here is something truly unique...

This could probably be a dream come true for the hardcore fly fisherman looking for some truly unique experiences..I look forward to find out this river's secrets and share it with others, fishing friends or entuziasts if there are any..and I'm sure there are some..

Can't quite find the words to say how amazing this place really is...I wish this could be my "office" every day of the season...

This river valley is so damn beautiful and steep, fishing those holes for some big ones can be dangerous...but that makes it more unique and I now realize that it's not fish I'm after...

I'll tell you, those fish are not easy to catch, they might be the most spookiest trouts I've seen so far..I'll let you judge if they are the most beautiful or not..

It might sound crazy fishin' up there with regular boots..Korkers Bite shoes or something similar with me and definitely some climbing rope would be more appropiate:)..This is untouched water and if the river will stay low and the bears won't eat me on my second trip lol:) hopefully it will be even better..

This time I managed to scratch a rod and a new pair of waders (Cloudveil makes such a damn tough wading pant) on a four meter downfall..so it's all good (maybe after part 2), so stay focused and throw some tightloops until then!

I'll let the pics speak for themselves..

Beautiful, steep and dangerous..

Five Rivers FTXL..the allround performer..

2010-07-31T11:00:00.025+03:00

Hi folks,
This is a project built in mind for dutch guy, a great character and a good fishing buddy that I guided last summer on romanian rivers, expert dry fly fisherman. Peter wanted an allround performer, a pretty fast action rod, so I selected the fairly new FTXL9044 from the Dan Craft line. Allthough this blank is advertised as extra fast action, to me it feels like a mod-fast to fast action, very fishable, having great feel in close, very good recovery speed and great lifting power on the butt section. Quite some nice features I can say. You can notice the minimalist build on this one, no thread contrasts, just a simple, nice and clean build, all Peter's choices. The guides are slightly oversized but light wire on the first two sections to avoid sloppy tip and to maintain recovery speed. This rod loads and shoots well at all distances, has great feeling with a 4wt. line in close or at distance and good reserve even with a 5wt...

Peter, if you're reading this please post a comment..and sorry for the long wait..
Tightloops!!

Small stream addiction..

2010-07-09T21:10:00.031+03:00

It's been some time that I wanted to take some cool shots on a magic trout stream in the Carpathians mountains..I ventured in the wilderness on a deadly rod without a 4x4 car and had a very short solitary fishing session on the way back from work..found and "captured" this piece of heaven through my lens, luckily still unspoiled from human civilization...I wanted to share a bit of my small stream flyfishing addiction..many of us disregard the beauty of fishing small streams..and like all small things in life, they really make a difference..I can only hope, if someone will find this place, it will still be the same on my next visit.
To me, in these gin clear waters it's not the size of the trout that really matters. It's maybe their breathtaking colours.. I actually don't know what it is, but when I'm casting a 7' 1 weight rod and a size 14 elk hair caddis and watch it float like it is floating on "air" until a trout makes it dissapear..well I don't think there is something more graceful and peacefull than that and truly believe that this the purest form of flyfishing...cristal clear streams, spooky wild trouts and perfect fly presentations, three of the most important things that make the game..give it a try, you'll know what I'm talking about..

No fish was harmed or killed during this photo/fishing session..
Protect your trout waters!!

Latest build..Dan Craft FTL 8'0" 6pc. 3wt.

2010-06-26T17:26:00.041+03:00

Here is a recently finished rod for a friend who wanted me to build him a multipiece back up dry fly rod..after casting this one, this too has become another of my favourite rods for dry fly fishing..this is the first time that I'm building an DC FTL blank and this one it might be one of Dan's best action for dry flies (just like the good old Signature III or Signature IV series) and I am amazed of how light, crisp and smooth it feels in the hand, good power reserve for those longer casts, good accuracy, no secondary vibrations every time I make a cast, either short or long..to me, it feels just like a regular 2 or 4 piece rod and even smoother..and most important of all is that it really "paints" the fly on the water..meaning that the transfer of energy is very fluid, a quality that many graphite rods don't have..

Blank: Dan Craft FTL803-6
Guides: Light wire snakes
Seat: Struble D2 Aluminium/Cocobolo
Cork: Custom cigar grip
Thread: Chinese red silk
Rod's action: med-fast

Despite the multiple ferrules, this rod is featherlight and casts amazing..it's a great tool for sneaking up on remote creeks or lakes and casting dries to spooky wild trouts..

If you wanna pack light and head up to the high mountains, or fish a remote backcountry creek, then this might be the rod for you!

Thankx for stopping by everyone!!

Nymphing the "mooving" run..

2010-05-07T23:00:00.011+03:00

Well the opening of the trout season has caught me with my camera wrapped around my neck..didn't get to fish much but caught some great shots&colours on the fast moving water, fishin' with a good friend..thanx for stopping by!!

The Loch rod..

2010-05-07T22:10:00.010+03:00

Blank: Dan Craft's Five Rivers FT1006-4
Handle: Struble Full Wells
Seat: Struble U15HG Gray Anodized Aluminium
Guides: AmTak Titanium strippers with H&H Tich single foot guides
Thread: Black with double silver trimmings
Rod tube: Landmark cordura pvc
Rod cloth: handmade

9wt.."The gun"

2010-04-20T10:25:00.012+03:00

Here is a heck of a 9wt. that I've recently finished for a guy who's after big pikes in the Danube Delta..until I'll receive some fishy pictures from him with the rod in action, you can take a good look on this rod's esthetics..possibly the most handsome handle and fighting butt I've built so far. The rod is equiped with ceramic guides, from butt to tip (two oversized double foot guides for better distance shooting), the latest in light weight and durability. The line truly flows through these guides and big distances are at home with this ultra fast action rod.
Thankx for looking everyone!!

Blank: Dan Craft Five Rivers FT 909-4
Guides: Alps Polished Titanium ceramic single foot guides/oversized stripping guides
Reel seat: Struble U18HG (with tapered grooves for retaining the hook)
Handle: Custom turned premium cork/fight.butt with rubberized ends, "burnt" accents and copano burl
Thread: Gudebrod charcoal nylon wraps with gunsmoke metallic tippings

Light and long..2 wt. "french nymph" rod

2010-03-15T18:42:00.029+02:00

Hi everyone!
Here is a truly one of a kind light nymphing rod that I've been waiting to build for some time. This rod will make a perfect fishing tool for those fast flowing trout streams, whether for fishing nymphs or dry flies, short czeck nymphing or the french style with long ultrathin leaders for slow cristal clear streches of water and spooky fish. This ultralight rod will handle them all, whenever finesse, line control and presentation are the magic words. I know some frech guys will go nuts after this boy..Thank you all for stopping by!!

Blank: Dan Craft (Five Rivers) Signature III 10'4" 3pc. 2wt. (custom "french nymph" blank)
Guides: AmTackle light wire super hard chrome snake guides
Reel Seat: double sliding rings custom turned seat/cork insert
Wraps: Orange nylon thread
Handle: Extra select grade cigar grip
Rod weight: 62gr. (2.21oz.)

Tightloops and lines to you all in the new season!!
George

Snake Brand Universal Guide release!!

2010-02-20T14:28:00.008+02:00

After a long wait, Mike McCoy, designer and owner of the legendary Snake Brand fly rod guides, has finnally released a new patented snake guide called "The Universal Guide".
From my understanding, these new guides have individual wire sizes to perfectly match the desired location on the blank, this meaning that smaller sizes of guides have smaller wire diameters in order to complement the highly advanced blank designs of our days. Plus, the new guides feature radiused and identically tapered guide feet in order to reduce bulky epoxy finishes and maintain recovery rate of tip sections of blanks. In addition, these new guides sit flat and straight on the rod blank wich eliminates all the guide foot preparation work, prior to wrapping.

The concave radious on the bottom of the guide foot is an industry's first, according to what Mike says, this being a huge benefit for the modern rodbuilder of our days. These new guides are self-orienting and self-aligning, resulting less time spent by the rodbuilder and more efficient work involved in creating that one of a kind fly rod we all strive for!

http://www.snakeguides.com/Snake_Brand_Overview.pdf

Mike's new guides can be seen at the Custom Rod Building Exposition in High Point North Carolina this weekend and at the EWF Show in Munich April 17'th and 18'th!

Snake Brand Guides
"The Worlds Finest Fly Rod Guides"

13808 NE 242nd St
Battle Ground, WA 98604
phone: 360-666-9928
fax: 360-666-6249
http://www.snakeguides.com