Another Garrison on it's way.

Mid november and the days are getting shorter, its dark at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and quite chilly. Still possible to go fishing but it's time to start making some new bamboo fly rods for the next season. After building the lovely 209 and 202E models based on Garrison's many tapers, I felt the need to try another one from his book " A Masters Guide to Building a Bamboo fly Rod " a book he wrote together with Hoagy B. Carmichael.

After asking which rod Carmichael had as his favorite, I got a very friendly reply were he told me that his favorite for trout fishing  is the mod 204E. A beautiful  7' 3" long rod, casting a 4 and 5 weight line like a dream, so I just had to build this rod for the next summer. 

Splitting the bamboo into strips with that special cracking sound, and stagger the nodes using the 3x3 method. Cutting the strips to the right length. And ones again have a nice odor spreading around in the workshop just like freshly made popcorn while I use the heat gun to warm up the nodes so they are pliable and ready to be straighten using the wise.