CRR this year was at Chair Mountain Ranch, in Marble CO.  (BTW, Marble is named Marble because, yes, they mined white marble there.  Mining remnants were thrown in the stream (the Crystal) and they stand out in the streambed, bright white blobs, as you drive up the canyon.)  Great people at the meet, a good location with plenty of casting room, nice modern accomodations for those staying at the ranch..

I'll just list some highllights of the meet for me.  (Fishing wasn't one of them, as most streams in the area were still blown out by late and high run-off.)

Using programs to convert tapers from 2-pc to 3-pc or 1-pc, as well as converting a 4wt to a 5wt.  Harry B shared his expertise on this one.

A cool demonstration on nickel-plating ferrules by Alan K.  How many rodmakers have over-cut a male ferrule while fitting it?  most everybody.  This is a way to save that ferrule. 

A tutorial on rod finishing by Ron B, editor of the Planing Form.

Taper variations: 5 Dickerson 8013 clones, by 5 different guys and from multiple taper sources.  Yes, they cast differently - some I loved and one or 2 I'd be disappointed to own.  Just goes to show that reading about a taper, or buying a rod sight-unseen, is a crapshoot!

Rod evalaution: 5 rods representing different broad "styles" of rod design, with the taper info covered, identified only by a number.  Enlightening discussion of "experts" regarding the 5 rods - all were EXCELLENT casters, but they didn't always agree about the rods - far from it!

Bob Taylor showing us how the Leonard ladies wrapped guides, by hand, fast and accurately.  If we only could emulate that we'd wrap a rod in a half-hour!

Best rods of the meet (for ME, subjective as it is):

Rick H's Para 14.  It was one of the 5 Rod Evaluation rods, and casting it, we thought it might be a Driggs - light, easy, accurate.  I loved how it would drop a fly on a dinner plate at 40-50 ft without thinking about it - not once but repeatedly.  I had had a long-standing prejudice against the Para14, unfounded as it turns out!  7 foot 9 is a great length.

Immodestly, my Tri-hex 8013 (initially called "the weird triangle") was a one of the best rods there - smooth, powerful, delicate...  It's great when experiments come out well.

I won't cite any specifiics, but there were a few beautiful rods there that casted exactly like S*%T!  FOR ME.  I know some other guys liked them.  Good for them, but I don't get it!  Just goes to show that beautiful rods don't translate into casting pleasure.  (See below comments on the Dickerson rods.)

The great surprise of the meet was a collecter who showed up with a bag-ful of original Dickersons,  And moreover, not your "vanilla" tapers (if such a Dickerson exists) but rare-as-hen's-teeth tapers:

The rumored 8012 (it actually takes a 13 ferrule!)

an un-heard-of 7011

a 3-pc 6-1/2ft 661510 (never heard of that one either)

and an 8014 Hollow, marked as such.  Anyone ever heard of Dickerson making hollow rods before this?  I hadn't.

Finally, a classic 9016.

We saw, but didn't have time to Mic, a 961712 (if I remember correctly) which is the only rod out of the group known to have belonged to Lyle Dickerson himself. 

What a treat!  We mic'ed the rods, and their tapers will eventually be published on the CRR website.  One of the things I most enjoyed about seeing those original rods ($40,000-worth?) was the "fit and finish" of them.  Any one of the 40 or so rodmakers at that meet would have put a rod looking like those Dickersons out on the rack, only with an apologetic comment like, "Well, it was my first rod, and I've learned a lot since!"  I won't go into details, but by modern standards, their finish was far from perfect.

I have not one iota less respect for Lyle Dickerson for having seen those rods - rather, I think it points out the weirdness of the current cane market.  Moneyed clients at shows inspect rods with 10X loupes and point out "flaws" and "errors" to rodmakers, without ever casting them.  Rods get sent back based on apparent thickness of varnish, or thread color...  Here's one of the most respected and revered rod-makers in American history, and his rods would be spit upon by many modern buyers, if his name were covered up.  So I ask, what's really important?  It's a weird world we're living in.

I'm hoping to work on one or 2 of the new Dickersons soon, very interested to see how any of these rare tapers actually cast.

All the best,

lee