2022 Catskill Gathering and Demarest Competition

We are just back from the 2022 Catskill Rod Makers Gathering. It was a fantastic experience again this year. The presentations were great and we attended many of them but I especially enjoyed the casting sessions, which there were many. Friday afternoon was the typical unofficial casting session with everyone trying different rods. Saturday's casting session was organized and was an official Gathering event. I think there were something like 40 rods by various makers available to be cast.

I travelled out this year with my apprentice Butch Lavallee. He is just learning how to fly cast and this was his first Gathering so the casting events were not as important to him but he did enjoy them and got lot's of instruction.

The Demarest Competition had 19 entries. Every rod was a 9 foot 6 weight. Most were hex. Ours was one of only three penta rods. We tied for first place in accuracy and came in second place in distance (3 feet short of the winning cast. 3 feet is nothing and a gust of wind could easily be the difference between first and second place.) I made a last minute change to the tip's taper -- making it a little heavier and increased the convexity of the Spitfire profile. Now that I have cast both I believe I could make a third tip that would be even better. It normally takes several iterations of a rod design before we finalize the taper and offer it for sale. With a little more work we may offer this rod to those fisher people who need a good still water boat rod. I also think it would make an excellent landlock or grilse rod. It definitely has the power to make long casts and fight 4 -6 lb fish.