Here is Joe with his finished bamboo fly rod, casting away! He even had time to straighten and rough another rod section!

• Thunder and lightning. Fell in over my waders. Half-gallon of water sloshing around in my waders. Mayflies on top. Perfect evening. #

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It’s the end of the week, and Joe’s bamboo fly rod is just about done! It has been a long journey, but a quick trip from culm to finished fly rod. Here are some pictures of Joe building out his 8 footer:

Once again, the day ended with a little fishing on the Upper Sac. Joe has watched the river drop into shape while his been here. If you haven’t been able to read the tee shirts he has been wearing, Joe works for the Toolik Research Station in Alaska….his job entails going from Fairbanks to the Research Station on a fairly regular basis. It is a 350 plus mile trip in each direction…..on the same road that “Ice Road Truckers” is filmed!

Joe had another good day building his bamboo fly rod! It’s a high-speed, low-drag experience and he has kept the pace up, including fishing every night after class! Here are some photos of todays regimen, with Joe building his cork grip, cleaning up his bamboo rod sections, fitting his ferrules, and finally, putting a coat of spar varnish on his rod:

Wednesday’s rod building class went by like a blur for both of us! Joe ran right through the planing of butt and tip, and was gluing up early in the afternoon. I think this might be a record!

Joe and I have been fishing after class. The river is dropping fast, we have found some nice fish, figured out what they are eating, and, well, we’re gonna catch em! Splitting cane during the day, and fishing for wild Upper Sac rainbows in the evening is not a bad way to spend the week!

I am beginning to like these slide shows! Building bamboo fly rods is a process, and it’s nice to see what goes on in the rod making class each day. So here is some more of Joe and his work from Tuesday’s rod building class:

Joe has traveled down from Alaska to have a go at making his own bamboo fly rod.  He is off to a great start.  Joe selected the Upper Sac Special for his build, as he fishes for grayling just outside of town.  Here is a slide show from Monday, showing Joe in action:

Click on the link below…..cause I can’t figure out anyway else to do this right now!  Gotta go to class.

• The longest day of the year has come and gone….with the river still too high to fish…… #

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• Upper Sac flows dropping. Maybe the river will be in shape next week! #

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Jeff and Jon finished up the week Saturday with two beautiful bamboo fly rods.  Their rod building class went along seemlessly, resulting in each of the students having an heirloom rod.  Finished rods were flexed and cast across the street in the parking lot.

Jon flexes his newly-built bamboo fly rod

Jeff casts his newly-built split bamboo fly rod

It was a great end to a fun-filled week of rod making.  Jeff and Jon learned a great deal, and in the process both ended up with great bamboo fly rods.  Here the two of them, long-time friends “bump cigars” in celebration.

Jeff and Jon celebrate the successful completion of their rod building class