The Details

Someone recently asked me what my favorite part of the process of building a rod is. After a bit of consideration I answered that my favorite part was thinking about how the rod would look, imagining how it would cast, and placing myself into the future with premonitions of fish that would be caught.

Some of the most important aspects of building a rod come from the planning (and the planing!) stages. So I began asking Lisa what some of the details of the rod should be, as the same three best parts would likely apply to her, as well. After deciding on the taper, we thought it would be a good plan to use much of Ted's styling preferences. There will likely be some deviations, and these will be due to Lisa's aesthetics and my building methods. With that in mind we came up with the following list:

Taper: Ted Knott’s Ontario Classic taper based off of the Payne 98
7’ 4 wt. 2pc, 2 tip

Color: Tortoise-Shell flaming to compliment the color and character of the reel seat. This is what Ted reputedly did with most of his rods anyway, and it seems it will work perfectly with the unique seat. Also the treatment I like.

Seat: Ted Knott gift to Lisa. Upsliding NS band and hidden pocket.

Grip: Western Style, Reverse Half Wells

Thread: TBD

Nodes: 2x2x2

The final "Detail" is that we decided that I should build a matching rod for myself. The rod will have the same taper, coloration, node spacing, grip, and come from the same culm of bamboo. The only deviations will be the reel seat and possibly the thread coloration. We both thought it best, as I envision this to be a wonderful rod and would want one anyway. The project will go slower overall, but it just feels right.