Well this afternoon I gave Chris Barclay a call to see if he had received his shipment of Kineya reels and if there might be a 301 that wasn't spoken for. Aaaaaaand before I had ended the call I had ordered a stout colored 75P. I guess if my wife finds out about it I can tell her that Chris said it would really compliment the Barclay 704 progressive that I have, and who wouldn't want to compliment a great Barclay rod? Right? Anyway, I am so glad I found this forum and all of the great folks here that helped reintroduce me to the joy and fun of fishing with glass. With a Steffen, a Barclay and another Barclay on the way, I wonder what will be next. I've really become a great fan of Chris' rods, but hope to get one of Shane's, Fred's, Dusty's and probably a few more before I'm through. Damn I love fly fishing!

Aaaaaand what about the reel?

Weeeeeell, with the long wait I had on the Steffen ( Mark took the whole month of April off ) and using cash put back for a build deposit on a reel for the 704 ( won the rod in the Coulee Conclave raffle ) I have acquired more reels than I have rods to put them on. For the 75P I have some options - borrow the LRH from the 5wt Steffen, a minty S/A System 6, a well loved and fished hard JW Young built Orvis Battenkill, or the Abel TR1 ( originally purchased for the 704 - didn't work out - what can I say? ) Sooooooooooooo I should be good for a reel...............I think.

You have my sympathy, but man it's fun isn't it!!!! I think Chris is somehow able to hypnotize you on the phone ! When we do finally meet in person I'm afraid of what that will mean to my rod collection!

Bushog, according to my wife, finding a new rod on a whim is one thing. Going out and ordering a custom rod is an entirely different matter! According to my wife, that is.

Chase-da-dog, when you do finally meet Chris in person you'd better hope he doesn't have a carload of rods for you to cast. If he does - you're screwed! It's like yup, I need one of these and one of these and oh yeah, GOTTA have one of those! It's just awful. And it's just terrible how he uses that cute little dog, Stella, to seal the deal. Horrible I tell ya! Horrible!

JoeFriday, Thanks. You know, I think the 75 is the only parabolic I didn't cast at the clave and it's odd that it's the one I ordered. I also told Chris that if he doesn't have a CBK 301 available to let me know when he's placing another order so I can get him a deposit. I also find that the 704 is so much fun to fish that I seldom use my Steffen. Which is bad because the 8' #4/5 Steffen is one hell of a rod. Hey, how did the deal with your camera ever turn out? Was it repairable or did you have to get it replaced? That was a bummer!

Your going to love that 75p. I just got back from fishing my new one in Colorado and it's a blast to cast and catch on... hands down my favorite rod that I have.

Don't beat yourself up too much over it. I've picked up 2 new rods in the last couple weeks, a Fenwick FF70-4 and now an FF70-2. Haven't had the chance to cast the 2 piece yet, but i'm very interested to compare the two.