"the skinny" - chapter ten - chueco

I'd mentioned earlier that this rod remains my favorite

and my first string go-to rod

I also mentioned that it may have something to do w/ how well (effortlessly) it casts and fishes

it also looks damn sweet if I do say so myself

regarding the name (and naming rods in general)

chueco means crooked in spanish

it is also spanglish slang for jrunk

the rod itself is straight as an arrow

but I'll have to admit to have spent a good time making it in a jrunken state

(the predecessor chile colorado as well)

I kinda named that first rod after wrapping it

the red and black reminded me of roasted red chile peppers

so chile colorado it was

there is a ohsoslight dip to the tip

mike said I should name it chueco

nope sez I it's already got a name but the next one will be chueco

on naming rods in general...

I like to do it - don't think it's necessary

and never really start a rod w/ a name in mind for it

something may happen during the course of building it that lends itself to a name

or if I'm making one for someone, I'll ask them what they'd like to name it

last one I built for myself I ended up calling "sound attack and tone"

cuz I liked the sound, rod was three pieces, somehow it fit

I'd used the words in a post about music describing mark knopfler's guitar sound

and it stuck w/ me

more on chueco the rod...

an old fly tying buddy in georgia sent me a reel seat

and custom built birchbark grip

I decided to use it on this rod

the birchbark grip broke I fixed it and it broke again

(I still have the pieces and may end up using them on something)

fearful of the grip breaking on the rod I replaced w/ cork rings

(1/2" not my current standard 1/4")

nose and butt are maple to match the reel seat spacer

hardware is struble/winston

both the grip and seat are very special to me 

thanks to mike popick in georgia

also making the rod special is the custom engraving of the tube cap

done by my fishing buddy steve rath (aka jeepster)

thanks again buddy

steve has engraved several tube caps for my rods and I appreciate the hell out of it

I should also take this opportunity to offer my thanks and gratitude to mike shay and matt schliske

without their help generosity and kindness none of this would have happened

soon we'll be getting chueco out on the water again

not to mention stick a nice handful or ten of trout w/ sound attack and tone

I think I'll bring a 5wt too for nymphing

did I just say that dirty word?

I will speak a brief bit about rods three four five and six
but beyond that will spare you the details of all the rest
(much of which can be found here on the blog  - really though don't bother it ain't worth it)

I'll spend some time talking about the evolution of the shop and the name
maybe a fishing trip or two again though lots of that's been covered in the blog
it'll still take me longer than it should to wrap this all up