New year, new sharpes.

[Dave Westburg]

Just added another Sharpes of Aberdeen spliced bamboo fly rod to my collection. It's a 9' 6/7 weight 2/2. Weighs 6.2 ounces. The Sharpes 1970 catalog catalog say this: The smaller brothers of the world-famous Spliced Salmon rods, having the same qualities and advantages. No metal joints to interfere with the rod action. Light, powerful, smooth and sweet, adding greatly to the pleasures of fishing.


There's a red line on each tip showing where to tape the ends together. There's a pronounced swelling at the splice...


I think Sharpes made one of the nicest rod bags. This one is a little worse for the wear...


Sharpes are roll casting machines. This impregnated rod will see action for bull trout and in salt water. I lawn cast a 15' 7 weight sink tip stream line with no problem.

 

[Denwor54]

That’s awesome Dave and congrats, I have not gone the swelled route with my rods and I’m curious what the advantage it provides. I did some stress tests on a couple rods and didn’t have any failures. I did find that the swelled splice may help with roll casting or Spey casting as the gives more swing weight which helps. I tried to swell my last rod and the mid to tip didn’t match and definitely didn’t feel right to me so I’m making a new tip. If you have some time I would like to get my eyes on this rod and if possible bring it to the next fling. Happy Holidays

 

[Dave Westburg]

Not sure exactly why spliced rods are swelled at the splice. Maybe because the splices are so thin but I don't pretend to be a build expert.

Happy to meet you in your rod shop or somewhere on a river to let you try casting my spliced sharpes.

I hate shooting line so mostly fish mid head spey lines. The spliced Sharpes rods excel at single and double spey. I cheat a little and shoot a Barrio switch line off my 10' sharpes when I'm after bull trout on the skagit or sauk.

My sense of the advantages and disadvantages of spliced rods.

Advantages

1. Maybe less weight because no metal ferrule.
2. Sections do not come apart during casting. I remember Steve Buckner used to always make his sports tape so their ferruled rods so they wouldn'tcome apart during casts.
3. Ability to withstand salt better because no ferrules.
4. No stuck ferrules on a cold rainy day.

Disadvantages

1. Longer section lengths make transport harder. Most 8-10 foot spliced rods are two piece. My 12 and 13 foot spliced rods are 3 piece.
2. Taping and untaping is a pain if you are moving several places in a car in a day.
3. Must learn how to tape. Easier to master than you think.
4. Spliced ends need extra protection going to and from the river.

 

[Denwor54]

At first I hated splices and your points of the pro’s and con’s are spot on. Now I prefer them and deal with the inconvenience of breaking down at different walk-in spots. I do plan on building a four piece spliced rod at some point which I only have to splice once during quick hits on the river. I do still plan on building more bamboo ferrules as first tries my dimensions on the butt to mid we’re off and my tip to mid were spot on. And your welcome anytime to come by and if you need to rewrap your rod bring it by and have all the stuff to fix that also.