Building The Rodfather T5, A True Five Weight 15Oct21-30Oct21

I prior posited the quandary left me by my Rodfather Colorado (9ft 5wt 4pc on CTS 590 blank) coming in more like a 6 weight. Firing it during this late summer and fall season confirmed I should build a more righteous 5 weight, and have it be lighter too. Mission accomplished in drc #12... I went to New Zealand again for the blank but this time to Epic (like my 6wt), but I chose the pricier and lighter "graphene" blank this time from them, the 590G. The Rodfather T5 is a true fast five weight with ERN of 5.5 and an AA of 70°. The blank weighed a scant 1.3oz and the light wire guides build-out as well as conservative epoxy use and ultralight reel seat yielded a 5wt which is a half ounce lighter than favorite RF Cutty 4 wt, a full ounce lighter than the RF Colorado 5 wt and equal to the Sage Z-Axis 5 wt! Total system weights (rod, fighting butt, reel & line) are even lighter comparably. All this with greater feel and accuracy, minimal loss of power, and an added fighting butt. I built this rod with maroon wraps on the grey blank with a matching cocobolo (maroon) wooden insert for the nickel silver REC reel seat and chrome colored Snake guides. This is simply the best I've done ~ I can now recommend Epic over CTS, at least for "measured to task." I even bought the branded Epic tube and sock for this sweetheart - yeah, they made me do it. I mate this rod with a new platinum Ross Evo LTX reel loaded with SA Amplitude Infinity 5 which balances well and retrieves like a dream. The only thing lighter was the Ross Colorado but it's just a click & pawl system and the bounty expected on this rod require a real drag system. The Evo LTX is highly recommended. The RFT5 yard casting is brilliant, accurate and distant - and the lower swing weight than my other 5s is very comfy.

I didn't sacrifice a signature handle though and for the first time I used tiny 1/16th sectioning of cork rings to deliver a stunning checkerboard grip bookended by diamond front & rear sections. I had ~140 parts I had to reassemble and then turn into my favored full wells grip, with matching removable fighting butt of course (intentionally small to keep weight down).

Here's the layout of all the hardware prior to the build. I actually bought all the guides as discrete pieces in order to get lightwire guides for the top section and standard ones for the lower sections. I am finding this is one way to help lighten the load and retain nice fast action at the tip.

It is worth noting that while wrapping this beauty was clean, the matte grey helical sharkskin texture of the blank surface made the wraps more challenging to move around with the ivory burnishing tool. Really this just extended the wrapping time a smidge. Assembly was otherwise a breeze - I have gone to a 15 minute curing time epoxy (from 5 min) to allow micro-adjustments before hard setting.

Cuttin' The Cord Update - It's Not Cheaper 'Cause It's The Content That Costs And There Is Still No Ala Carte Purchasing 23Oct21

I lost my "shared credentials" from a user who purchased cable with some premiums - they just changed their approach to content acquisition so I had to look elsewhere. We prior shared within legal boundaries of course (concurrent screens, limited profiles, family, etc.), but the event was a loss for us. I didn't realize how big actually - being a strange teams college sports fan, the loss of ESPN, FOXSN, CBSSN, et. al. was brutal. I decided I should again pursue my own purchased credentials to replace those lost. What ensued was a day or so of looking at comparable over-the-top streaming bundles including primarily SlingTV (prior owned), YouTubeTV (often described as "best"), and Hulu + LiveTV. Here is main decision plexus:

Vendor
Price/Mo	$65	$45	$65
Sports	- ESPN, et. al. - FOX SN, et. al. - CBS Sports, et. al. - NBC SN, et. al.	- ESPN, et. al. - FOX SN, et. al. - NBC SN, et. al. - Stadium	- ESPN, et. al. - FOX SN, et. al. - CBS Sports, et. al. - NBC SN, et. al.
Locals	All (including RMPBS)	Basically None	All (except RMPBS)
Cloud DVR	Unlimited Hours	50 Hours	50 Hours
Comments	YouTubeTV & Roku still arguing so no app downloadable; 6 screens	Prices increasing regularly; poor management of credentials; 1 screen	Challenging signup (had to call to get right price & lineup); common billing with Disney+ & ESPN+; 2 screens

I decided that while we don't "need" local channels (because I have terrestrial HD in COS and do any redirecting or recording via Plex from there) they'd be nice when my Plex server acts up. Also SlingTV's 1 concurrent screen has bitten us in the past if Kala and I are in different locations and want simultaneous access. SlingTV was eliminated. The crux of the decision between YouTubeTV and Hulu LiveTV came down to the fact that long term support of Roku by YTTV (and vice versa) is unknown. There's a rift over environment control of the Roku OS and YTTV's access to private data. While the 6 screens from Google is better (and were I sharing I might be forced to go this way), the 2 concurrent screens of HLTV should be sufficient for Kala & me. It's worth noting that after lengthy chat with Google/YTTV saying they'd honor a $55/mo price for 1st 12 months - they never replied with needed follow up. Since we use Plex for most recording ('cause I can strip commercials during recording), the 50 hour limit is bearable; plus there's upside in that I'll get a common billing with Disney. So, our monthly TV bill now includes: Hulu + LiveTV for $65, Hulu no ads upgrade for $6, Disney+ and ESPN+ add-ons for $7, AppleTV+ for $14, Netflix for $14, Showtime & HBOMax for $25, and Prime for (say 50% of Prime annual fee) $6 = $137. Sure, we have nearly everything for this price but it is just as much as a rich cable bill, and our broadband is an added $40 in COS and $35 in Summit. We've cut the cord long ago but save very little over "the cord" because the industry still doesn't allow true ala carte purchasing... the $65 bundle from Hulu is like cable and gets me 70 channels of stuff I'll never watch.