C. Barclay Synthesis 68, Blue Ridge Special

I have been waiting for months for my custom C. Barclay glass 3wt rod to come in.  I was excited to receive it.  I am impressed with the attention to detail and quality of the outfit.  First, it came in a metal rod tube with brass end caps.  One end has a screw off cap that has large threads, it is made of a heavy gage material, I am guessing aluminum and is superbly made.  Inside the tube there is a green cloth rod bag with sharp yellow stitching.  It is made from a medium weight canvas and is precisely put together.  Mine is a 4-piece yellow fiberglass rod.  The guide wraps on the snake guides are flawless.  I ordered it with an orange agate stripping guide which looks sharp on the yellow rod. The pieces go together smoothly and there are alignment dots on each section of rod.  The rod seat is a beautiful piece of camphor and the locking rings are matt black.  The cork is of high grade and is planed down to precisely meet the reel seat, it is a cigar shaped cork handle that tapers to where the rod comes out. 

I pared the rod with a Hardy Marquis LWT 2/3.  The little Hardy reel balances perfectly on this outfit and it looks sharp.  I am using the 406-fly line vintage series WF in 3wt which is a great line for slower action rods. 

This Tuesday I headed to my Cahaba River put-in to meet a buddy to go for a float and try out my new toy.  The water level was perfect that day, weather warm not hot, and the clarity was perfect with overcast skies the entire trip.  We floated a 9-mile section of river fishing from the Kayaks and occasionally getting out to wet wade.  I was fishing out of my Jackson May-fly Kayak.  The C. Barclay rod casted effortless from the Kayak.  I started casting in a pool only 50 yards from the take in and was fishing a medium size yellow and black Boogle bug.  On the second cast I had a strike and had a 10-inch spotted bass on the line.  Fighting the bass on the 3wt glass rod was a blast, it has just enough backbone to connect well and fight the fish while delivering a great feel and connection with the fish.  I brought the fish alongside the Kayak with a deep bend in the rod and netted it with my new Heart Wood whisky barrel stave landing net (soon the subject of another blog post).  I just thought to myself, what fun this is.  We continued down the river and caught many Redeye bass, longear, redbreast, and several nice spotted bass.  The rod preformed flawlessly all day.  I really like the taper on this Blue Ridge Special, the action is super smooth, a slower action and I was able to deliver a nice loop and stretch the line out to 40 yards while sitting in the yak.   Over all I could not be happier with this purchase and I believe this will become my go-to rod for the small stream fishing here in Alabama.