Saltwater Fly Rods
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The trend in saltwater rods is away
from black toward the titanium look. Two years ago Joel,
at Glenn Struble Manufacturing, worked hard to come up with a
nice gray anodize to use on
his saltwater reel seats. He showed me a prototype at the dealer
show and I had him do a
dozen or so of them for me. You can see the results above. Notice
also that my Full Wells
grips are a little more conservative than most, and my butt guide
is bigger than some. Over all,
it is a very good setup.
This is a closeup of the Struble
U6 reel seat in the nice gray
anodized finish. Joel did a
chamfered relief especially for me
on the barrel. It is a nice finishing
touch. The threads are nice
and deep and well polished.
the sliding band has an o-ring
inletted in its surface preventing
the lock nut from working loose.
Joel does the detachable fighting
butt a little shorter for me.
This is a shot of the seat without
the fighting butt. You can see the
nice little plug that you keep
in place when you are not using
the fighting butt. The chamfered
relief shows up a little better
in this shot. This seat is a good,
strong, large diameter saltwater
proof reel seat with good big
locking nuts, that won't get
stuck or work loose in
saltwater use.
I've also gone to a new winding check.
I buy these from a major supplier
then further machine them with a
tighter tolerance, making the
transition to my first wrap a
perfect graduation. The check is
anodized to match the reel seat
and is nicely knurled. Of course
my wraps and epoxy work
go without saying. You will
notice I use the best quality
cork available. It is good and
clear and without the big pits
and imperfections that have become
pretty much accepted in the
rest of the industry.
This is a shot of a finished Sage
RPLXi blank rod in a five piece 9' 10 wt. It is laid out on
my nice velour rod bag material. Velour has gotten terribly difficult
to get in recent years.
This year, I found a distributor who is able to get it from an
overseas supplier. I can now
get my old Honey Bear color again. You can see examples of that
color on my pictures pages.
The Sage RPLXi rods this year were replaced by the Xi2 series
of four piece rods.
The new rods are a tremendous
improvement over the previous models. A totally new
technology, called Generation 5 has produced rod blanks that are
considerably lighter
and much more powerful. I will be building
several models from 6 wt. to 10 wt.
The appearance is somewhat similar to the RPLXi series it replaces. The blank color
is a lighter blue and the tint has a tiny bit of metal flake in it like the TCR and SLT
blanks do. I have complemented the blank color with deep blue wraps and tan trim.
I have continued with the same Struble pewter anodized reel seat, but this year I am
using fine wire snakes for the upper guides, adding to the overall lightness of the rods.
The extreme light weight and power of these rods sets them apart as the most significant
rod development for the saltwater fisher to come along in the last several years. The
6 wt. I've been casting has the in hand feel of a four weight, but with power that is
nothing less than startling.
As you can see from the above shot, my fit and finish is what
sets me apart. You can buy
my rods at below factory prices, get pretty much the same warranty
but take advantage of
my craft. I hope you'll give some thought to a Performance Fly
Rod before next fishing season.
Performance Fly Rods
5798 Singers Glen Rd.
Harrisonburg, VA 22802
540/867-0856
email: MaryLuRods@gmail.com
