Love at first touch...

[gottaflylee]

I've been fondling salt water fly rods since I was 12 years old...that's about 43 years now. I think that there is about 27 fly rods in my stable now, ranging fron 8 wts to 14 wts. I can tell pretty much with my touch, wither or not I will like one or not, most of the time when I take one out of the sleeve its comes in, and tonight was no different, well almost, as there was a pleasant surprise (s) that came with it...

Today my new 7 wt. rod and reel came from Colton, it was like Christmas in May as I cut the boxes that they came in...

I opened the reel box first as I wanted to see if the reel was as nice of looking as the web site...Bob, you need to redo the pictures on the web site as they do NOT do your reels the justice that deserve. My reel is a work of art, the design and the balance is great as well as the smoothness of the drag and the weight of the reel...pictures are coming but my camera in on the big boat tonight...

I then opened the rod shipping box and received the first of a couple of surprises. My first thought was ah cool, 3 piece rod. Now as a guide most all of my rods are 2 piece mostly due the fact that 3 and 4 piece rods are more expensive. As I pulled the rod case out the shock set in as I saw that it was not a 3 piece...it was a 4 piece rod...very very cool, as this is my first 4 piece rod, now I'm very stoked. I slowly start to pull the pieces of the rod out of the felt rod liner starting with the but section, checking the reel seat, I see that it features a screw up seat, not a sliding seat. The next thing that caught my eye was the fine grain grade of cork that was used. The turn of the cork, the fit of the handle felt as sexy and fine as the curves of a fine women when I run my hands down her caves, wow... next I pulled out the second section and put it together, held it out and right then I know that I had a rod that I would enjoy casting into the wind. Next I put the 2 top sections together and put the tip up to the ceiling and pushed upward to find as Bob said it was, indeed it was a "tip flex" rod. I knew that was going to be a casting machine. As I went to put the felt rod liner back in the rod tube it felt odd, hum what's this...OMG, its another tip section, now how cool is that. My thoughts flowed back to a trip out of the country, years back, where I had a tip break on the first day, had that well known rod maker done this, supplied an extra tip section, it would have saved that trip for me somewhat.

As today's light had faded to darkness, I headed out side as I needed to see if this rod was as good as it felt. I stripped off about 80' of line in 2 piles and raised the rod for the first of many to come, false cast and 30 or so feet slid through the rod and my fingers. On the second false cast, I felt the running line slide out the rod and I pinched off the line and as it stopped on my back cast, I hulled forward, stopped the rod and let the line fly. The line came to an abrupt stop when it hit about 80', as that was all the line I had stripped off. Not bad 80', 7 wt in the dark with 2 false cast, look out lady fish,your in trouble this summer. Now to see what this little rod will do. Stripping off the rest of the line except for 1 wrap in the reel, I pulled in the line back in till about 50' and picked it up, letting some line shoot behind me on the back cast and let the line fly on the forward cast...donk, the line came tight, a little over a 100 feet...wow, everything I was promised...

Bob, thanks for spending the time with me answering all my questions, she is everything you said it would be and more in my hands, I could not be more happier with her. You have built me a magnificent rod and I'm looking forward to spending many hours with my clients and myself, chasing the blue tails of the Red Drum with this very sexy girl. As time progresses, I can foresee more of these girls being added to my stable of fly rods and reels. Thanks for sending me a new love...
Capt. Lee

[foulhook]

WOW,

Reading that post sure made me feel good about what I am doing with Coltonfly.

Might be the most detailed description I have read yet. Thanks so much for the compliments. They are much appreciated. My rods and reels are a labor of love. Really never had anything to do with making money.

I feel very stongly about the performace of my rods. I will put them up against any of the $600-700 fly rods out there. You can find posts all over the web stating this same thing.

That 7 weight that you got is one of my personal favorites. Paired with Wulff SWT it is a graceful work of art.

Glad you like the new CRGII reel. I don't think anyone here has that reel besides you. I tested it all last season on hardtails in the NE. Passed the test with flying colors and released it over the winter.

Have a new SLP Leviathan series of rods that will be coming this season. They will be from 8 weight to 14 weight. They are are built to hangle the toughest fish in there designated weight classes. Everything from Bonito and Bonefish to Tuna and trevally..

I rented a house in Cape Cod to test these rods, along with a new reel that I have in the development stages, on BFT.

I already know what the 14 weight can do. We tested several to a break strength of 36lbs!!

Anyway, Thanks again for the rave review. It really made my day. Have a great holiday weekend. I expect some pictures

Tight Lines,,Bob Filger

[gottaflylee]

The rod...




Front of the reel




Back side of the reel...



Bob I'm loving my new girl and thanks again for her...I can see thet this is a labor of love for you and I'll put ti up against any of the other rods out there and win... This afternoon when I got back fron the gulf stream, I went to the end of the dock to cast her into the wind...now I have to cast over the tops of the 6' pileings and still was shooting 80' into the wind. I can see this girl is going to get a lot of use and abuse...stay tuned...