The Social Distance Special
As I mentioned in my previous post a friend put in my head, with all this ‘social distance’ talk, that I should do a 6’ rod that I call the Social Distance Special. Last week when I was waiting on some cork and other supplies I twiddled my thumbs for a bit and thought, well why not? I grabbed a nice piece of Japanese camphor and a piece of EVA foam grip material, some Recoil titanium guides and started to put some ideas together. I dug out an old set of of Kineya pocketed seat rings to set it off a little more. I knew it would be atypical for me as well as most fiberglass rods and I’m willing to do that on my own terms most of the time.
My family is home due to school closures and they thought it was a little bit of a strange idea when I walked out of the shop and said ‘looky here!’. Boy child said ‘cool’! Girl child said, ‘okay'?’. Wife said ‘are you sure?’. I said I have no clue.
Anyway, I finished it up this afternoon and am more impressed than I thought I’d be. For a sub 2 ounce 6’ 2wt 4 piece rod it feels right, and that’s important. The EVA grip transfers the flex of the rod well and feels smooth. The micarta butt cap keeps the black theme going. The piece of wood is a little rough, burly and very pretty. When I turned it there were a few voids in the grain and that concerned me. I figured out a good way to fill but not hide it. So you can see some of the voids but they’re secure and stable. I think that gives it some character and a little funk. The titanium guides are super durable which I find to be a pain to work with because they’re so flexible but they work well on a bluelining rod that bounces off of rocks regularly. I did some subtle accent wraps to match the brown seat. Overall a pretty cool looking and functional. With an appropriate dose of funk. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do with it. Keep and fish it, sell it, strip it down and rebuild to something for appealing? I don’t know. We’ll see.
And of course here are some photos.
I forgot to mention earlier that as I write this I’m sitting out in my ‘yurt’ (see previous post I wrote earlier today) while a cold front is coming through on April Fool’s Eve. Raining, windy, and 47 degrees. I’ve got my pipe warm and providing some good smells to combine with the rain and some decent whiskey in my coffee mug that held a warm coffee earlier today. Not bad all things considered. After this I’ll plan out what I hope to work on tomorrow and I’ll probably play a few tunes on my guitar (I heard John Prine is dealing with Covid-19 and part of my grief for dealing with that is to play a few of his tunes).
Good night world. Good fishing. Take care of each other.