Fly tying day

I went to a fly tying meeting today which was organised by a local saltwater flyfishing club.

People were being creative to tie all sorts of interesting flies, but to tell you a truth, I was more interested in checking their trade tools.

今日は、ソルトウォーター・フライフィッシング・クラブのタイイング・デイに行ってきました。＃１／０や＃２／０のフックにクラウザーやサーフキャンディーなんかを巻いている人達の中で、地味に＃１０のクロダイ用ストリーマーを２、３本巻いて来ました。

New rod

I have just completed my new rod. It is 6' 6" long and designed for 4 weight line.

Instead of using one from already existing tapers, I played around stress-curves on a computer to determine the taper I want this time.

It was a guess work but it turned out to be very good. I took the rod to a park this afternoon to have a short casting session, and I am very pleased with the rod action so far.

I will ask my friends to cast the rod on the weekend, and I will write more about its casting feel then.

シーズン最後の日には間に合いませんでしたが、新しい竿が完成です。６フィート半の４番です。

New reel seats

Personally the best reel seats are ones made of cork. They are simple, light, and functional.

However, the good cork rings are rare and quite expensive. A decent ring costs about A$ 3 to 4, and I need about 7of those to make up for one reel seat.

I bought a bag of 100 cork rings, and I got some nice ones, but I would rather save good cork rings for grips.

At the end of the day, I can still get a nice reel seat made of wood but I haven't seen a good rod grip made of wood. The rod grips have to be made of cork rings, and they have to be good ones.

Anyway, I ordered a pair or reel seats a few weeks ago, and they have just arrived.

One at top is made by Struble and another is from Bellinger.

I like both but I am not a fun of heavily varnished wood spacer of Struble. So I will scrape off varnish and put some oil instead.

Looks to me, Bellinger has changed their design for their metal parts. The new one looks different from the one I used on my first rod. I prefer the look of the older one but the new one is a lot lighter.

オーダーしてあったリールシートが届きました。

上のがStruble社製、下がBellinger社製です。Bellingerのはメタルの部分のデザインが変わってしまったようで残念ですが、前のよりも大分軽くなっています。

Struble社製のはニスでテカテカしていますが、僕はニスのテカリが嫌いなので削り落としてオイルフィニッシュに変更します。