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.