Classic Trout Fly Reels and Rods by Doug Brooke

New one off the bench. 2 1/4" for a #4 line.

All finished now and purring like kittens. These reels are totally handmade. Made on old school machinery, balanced perfectly with classic bamboo and totally unlike any modern factory reel. Contact me if you'd like to know more

A nickel silver ferrule I turned for a recent build.

No more parts to make, just some fine tuning and a few screws and this pair are done

This 3 piece r-quad based around Paul Young's perfectionist is by far the sweetest rod I've ever cast and perfectly suited to dry fly. Effortlessly turns over a dry at 40' and rolls like a dream. Bamboo ferrules aren't for everyone, but I'm a massive fan. Matched with my 1910 hardy perfect replica.

Thoughts?

Quads are a bit more challenging to make than hex rods and rectangular quads are a bigger challenge again, rectangles tapering to squares are another dimension. Bamboo ferrules are a bit more challenging to make than metal ferrules and because they flex and are light make the rod feel more natural. This brace of rods are tapered r-quads - rectangular at the tip, square at the butt, 3 piece, bamboo ferrules. The one on top is Tonkin, the other Madake cane. Kinda like the 1/4" cork more than the 1/2" too. These will be my travelling rods, when I need to jump on a plane and want my rods safely stowed in my bag, having worked in aviation for 20 years I can tell you that that's a hell of a lot safer than trusting a loose tube to the system

Relaxing by turning down some hardware.

Grips and seats ready for finishing for a pair of 7'6" 3/4wt rectangular quad I'm working on

Intermediate wraps are seriously old school and noticeably stiffen the action of a rod. I'm tying 5 wraps between each guide and as the guide spacing decreases so does the space between wraps. I think a fully wrapped blonde rod looks stunning - but gee, it takes a while to do it properly

Rattan grips, brown Mallee burl insert with my own hardware. Thoughts?