Well, since my last trip to fish the “beautiful high Sierra lake tucked against a mountain...” using a single handed 2wt rod I had, I decided to take my little 8' 2wt and turn it into a two-hander.

I had a couple of reasons for doing so.

First, the rod is an old graphite blank (about 25 year old technology) that has a really nice parabolic bend when loaded..............so I thought...................should be ideal for two handed roll casting.

Second, while I was single handed roll casting out of my tube, I was having problems with my running line (explanation a little further down) wrapping behind and around my fly reel when shooting line.

When using my other two handed rods, my lower hand gripping the handle while roll casting keeps the line on the correct side of the rod and reel and eliminates that wrapping issue.

So I searched through my rod building junk and found some suitable cork pieces and rings and a length of tapered carbon rod.
I was able to remove the old metal butt cap from the rod with the heat from a candle and then remove the little bit of epoxy that was in the butt end of the blank.

Rings were glued up and I added a 1/2 inch EVA ring on the butt end of my soon to be "new" lower handle.

I measured and trimmed the tapered carbon rod for just the right fit into the end of the blank.

Since I lucked out with a really good snug fitting piece of carbon rod, I decided to make this lower handle removable..................just in case this turned out to be a BAD idea.

I shaped my new handle using a mandrel and an electric drill (clamped in a vise) till I was satisfied with the diameter and length.

I epoxied my "new" handle onto my "fitted" tapered carbon rod and allowed it a day to cure.

The next day I was anxious to see what the result would be so I fished at a little pond here in town for a few hours.......and caught some fish too............

My "new" little 2wt 2 handed rod roll cast wonderfully.
I used a Scientific Anglers Adapt floating line (21 foot integrated head @ 240 grains) with a 12' foot leader and was able to roll cast (from shore) 50-60 feet +- with an indicator and small nymph rig............ as long as the wind wasn't blowing directly in my face.

Success....................

So, did I just create a ZERO weight micro-trout spey rod ????????????????????????

Can't wait to get back up to that “beautiful high Sierra lake tucked against a mountain...” with my "new" two handed rod and float tube to catch some of those little brookies again !!!!!!



Bob