Platte River Rods

I just completed the restoration on this 94 year old rod. This was a really fun project and I hate that I have to send it back to it's lucky owner.

I'm almost done with most of my christmas rush orders. I can't wait until January when I can take some time off to punch some holes in the ice!

I need help identifying this wood. It's heavy, dense, and very tight grained. making it rather dificult to cut, drill, or turn, but finishes out very nice with just 600 grit paper.

8' 0" 4 wt. Fultz taper, Dark Flamed. 2004 Colorado Rodmakers Reunion demo rod.

6' 9" 5 wt. Fultz Taper.

7' 6" 4 wt. "Special". Fultz taper.

7' 0" 4 wt. Light Tip (Dry Fly) Fultz taper. 2004 Colorado Rodmakers Reunion demo rod.

One of a very few ever made true one weight bamboo rods. 7' 0" 1 wt. Fultz taper. This rod cast 40' of line and roll cast the same amount effortlessly!

7' 0" 3 wt. Fultz taper.

I was casting an elk hair caddis to a rising brown in the headwaters of the South Platte when to my surprise, a 25" brown nails my fly. This behemoth then proceeded to head up into the mosquito mountains with my fly, leader, line and pretty soon, my rod & reel. Since I had him on a 7' 3 wt. bamboo rod (I wasn't expecting one this big) I was a little hesitant about putting the brakes to the floor so quickly. Luckily, when I was able to subdue this colossal aquatic monster, I looked up and saw this sad but very cool scene. This cow elk must have tried to cross the fence this past winter but fell through the ice. If you look close, you can see here right leg bones (to the right) and her head (to the left) still attached. Her left leg was on the opposite bank thanks to some brave or maybe soggy coyote.

Simple spin handle with burl cork and stained pine. At least I think it was pine, I found it on the floor under one of my workbenches. Looks OK with a little stain though.

Simple inlay with burl cork and black foam accents.

Jade stripping guide from Golden Witch on a Winston LT.

I use small jungle cock nails as alignment markers for multi-piece rods.

Inlay on Winston LT

Burl cork grip and engraved Venneri reel seat

This is a rod I just finished for a customer. The rod is a Winston LT 8' 9" 4 weight 5 piece. The reel seat hardware was made by Bob Venneri. The reel seat was engraved by hand with intricate filigree work and two rainbow trout. The butt cap features a delicate Green Drake. The handle was turned out of burl cork.

Close-up of the filigree work on the butt cap and the trout on the sliding ring.

Here's a close-up of the engraved butt cap featuring a green drake mayfly.

Here is a close up of the 7' 3" 4 wt. 2/2 bamboo rod i made for this years RMEF auction.

This was a rod I made this year for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Auction. The rod is 7' 3" 4 wt 2/2 Elk Creek Taper. I designed this taper for wild brook trout streams here in the Rockies. The package also included a Teton Reel, Ultra 4 line, Brodin net, engraved flask, engraved fly box filled with 10 dozen hand tied flies, and of course, the solid walnut presentation case. The package sold for $2600!

One piece featherweight fly rod grip and slide band reel seat.

Crankbait grip with a power hump and trigger reel seat. No foregrip!

Just finished this baby. She gave me a little trouble when designing the taper. This one is actually number two of the new taper, number one lives at the dump now where she feels right at home.

Experimental taper - 7' 2" 4 wt. 2/2. This thing casts 30' of line effortlessly, I'm gonna hate to see her go!