As some of you know, I have been working on offering a new line of fiberglass fly rods. The prototypes have been evaluated and the production order of blanks will be shipping to me this week. The lineup will be; 7'0"-3/4-3pc., 7'6"-4/5-3pc., and a 8'0"-5/6-3pc. There is a 8'3"-6/7-3pc. that I will be evaluating ... if there is an interest in that model, it will be a part of the lineup. The blanks are sanded and painted "tobacco", they have tip over butt ferrules. They have a medium-slow action, I describe the action in relation to where the rod loads. They have a progressive feel that tracts well, is crisp in recovery, and has reserve power to play fish and cast further when called upon.
The rods will be appointeds builds; components, colors, and materials will be standard. The reel seats are made by Lemke Concepts to my design. The cork is the best I can reasonably attain, they are "cigar" shaped proportional to the rod model. The thread is "light cinnamon" silk with "goldenrod" silk tipping, they will be finished with rod epoxy. The winding checks are alumunim and the guides are chrome. Each rod is hand inscribed and will have serial numbers. I am the only person building these rods, they will be in limited numbers ... limited to the number I can personally build per year. The rods will come with a handmade rod bag and an alumunim rod tube. They will start a $475.00, shipping and insurance will be quoted.
The website will be up and running soon, I have to build the models and photograph them for the website. I hope to have this done very soon. I will post the information as soon as I can. The plan is to launch the website in the next couple weeks. There are several pre-orders already, but I hope to be able to build the rods in a very reasonable time.
I want to thank everyone who has helped me with their insight and opinions. It has been a great help for me. I look forward to building rods of distinction for all those who are interested. I hope to offer more models in the future, as well as a very limited number of presentation grade builds. Thank you for all your interest and the help that has been given to me along the way.
The best,
Fred Paddock
Here's a quick look of what is to come ...