Main Wraps - HT Metallic Blue, Gudebrod Size A Nylon in Navy (0066) for the ferrule wraps and White (0002) in the cross-wrap.

Gill was the winner of the 8th raffle prize in the Team Ozark Chronicles raffle for Hooked on a Cure. In a nutshell, I made a North vs. South challenge that we (the North) could purchase more raffle tickets than Matt Tucker's Readers (the South). My offer was a special surprise should we lose. In the spirit of friendly competition, Ron Caimi countered by offering up a bamboo blank if we purchased more raffle tickets than the South.

Well, the North Lost, I had to eat crow. Gill won this 8th raffle prize, a 7'6" 4wt trout COMBO, which includes a Hobb's Creek Large Arbor HCI, backing, as well as Courtland 555 WFF 4wt line donated by Rods by Rick.

Never build a rod outside. Ok, let me rephrase, never FINISH a rod outside. I was forced to do this one on the screen porch...thought everything was going OK until I found 2 gnats in the finish! ACK. I was able to sand them down and refinish without a hitch.

But then, as I took the rod outside to photograph it, I noticed that all the finish on the butt section was CLOUDY?! This has NEVER happened before..I sanded it down and had to refinish the entire butt section. It came out much nicer, but still a bit cloudy in my eyes. I've never had problems like this when working indoors, and on future rods the "screen porch" is NOT an option.