I was recently commissioned by my friend and local Capital District Fly Fishers member Peter Ceballos to build a 4wt euro nymph rod.
Peter came to me with a need: A rod that can present nymphs via tight lining on the Delaware River, but can also drift some streamers from time to time. He’d be floating the river most of the time, which means we definitely needed something with some backbone. I made 3 suggestions – a Diamondback Ideal Nymph (or Gen IV) 4wt 10’10 (or 10’7″ for the Gen IV) rod, a CTS Euro XS 3wt 10’6″, or the Thomas & Thomas Contact II 4wt 10’9″. Ultimately, he chose the T&T 4wt.
T&T Contact II: https://thomasandthomas.com/blogs/news/new-contact-ii-series-euro-nymphing-rods-available-online-july-31st
Why the T&T Blank?
The Delaware is a massive piece of water, and floating it means you need both extra reach, and the ability to switch tactics. While the CTS Euro XS is a pure nymphing tool, the T&T 4wt offers that extra bit of low-end horsepower. It’s got the sensitivity in the tip for those technical drifts, but enough backbone to for small weighted streamers too.
On the bench, balancing a 10’9″ blank requires some strategy. Every fraction of an ounce added to the tip section amplifies wrist fatigue when you’re high-sticking all day from a drift boat. Because of this, we used T&T’s guide spacing to minimize line sag while keeping the wrap sizes to a minimum.
For a stealthy look, we went with all black Snake Guides hardware with Fuji Ultra Poly navy blue thread wrap. We also put some Fuji Metallic pale gold wraps for a little bit of character. Some say the slightest reflection of anything metal can spook the fish. It’s probably true, but we didn’t care! We utilized a down-locking configuration to ensure the long blank balanced perfectly in the hand. For the insert on that reel seat, I used one of my own custom-turned, highly figured maple burl inserts. It was finished with a high gloss CA glue to stay waterproof.
Check out the results below! For inquires on custom builds, please reach out on my Contact Page
