Rod building. Vancouver Island in mind...

About a month ago me and my long-time friend Heikki were talking about the possibility of taking our hobby to the next level and traveling abroad for fishing (further than scandinavia that is). We had a few options but decided we wanted to pursue our new passiong for salmon and try out the pacific cousins. Next few weeks went on with active searching for the right equipment and fly patterns. The location was easy to pick. Vancouver Island was an obvious choise since there is quite plenty of information available about it. I also consulted a local fly fishing website for some tips. People were very willing to help me out!

Soon we began to realize that we needed to get some new rods for these fellas. I already have a Sage Z-axis 7136-4 spey rod that will without a doubt be traveling with me. Heikki has a similar kind of rod from Vision (the new Siks series). Those rods are ideal for skagit heads and worked well last year on Komagelva.

Nevertheless I found out that most of the rivers could be covered with single handed rods so we thought that why not get some new blanks from CTS in New Zealan
d. I started asking around for people who would be willing to join the order and in no time we had a bunch of people in need of winter time activity in the form of rod building. I will order a 8-weight 9 foot single hander and a 11 foot 7-weight switch. Heikki will go with the same set, topped with a #9-10 15' Salmon pole. I think I will also buy a blank to build a rod for my fathers 50th birthday.
I already have a blank from CTS to start building a 15 footer so I wont be needing one of those anytime soon.

Still waiting a few days for more people and will put the order in place!

As with the reels and and lines I will be going with my Danielsson L5W 8Twelve loaded with a skagit head and a shortspey for the Z-Axis. For the switch rod I planned on using my Danielsson Original 3W. It has no drag of any kind on it so it means sore fingers and skinburns! The single hander still needs a reel. I'm still not sure which to purchase. I don't own any propper sinking lines except the one for pike fishing, so i will need to get one for the single hander. The switch rod cries for a skagit head.

-Niilo