With my stupid loss of the Rodfather Colorado at Jurassic Park trailhead this season I have been left without a keen weapon as I prepare for New Zealand. So, I built it again, the Rodfather Colorado Series 2... as close as judicious to the original. I'm using the nice deep blue CTS Affinity X 9' 4pc 5wt, which measures out very strong (stronger even than the RFCO Series 1) with an ERN of 6.8, and I'm replicating the premium Snake & REC hardware as well as the custom "Always Forward" (3 Forward Arrows) handle with removable fighting butt. It's a stunner if I do say... nicer than the Series 1 with even better performance (loaded correctly) and balance to boot. The RFCO2's Affinity X blank employs ground ferrules while the original did not. I sense these mate the sections better than non-ground in painted graphite rods and yield a sharper feel in my hand. Of course I still have the rod case & sock from the RFCO1 ~ I just "edited" the markings. :)
I started as usual with a custom handle. The Always Forward requires a bunch of slicing and gluing but it came together well ~ the Series II handle is an inch smaller than the original because the Series I AF handle was too long and affected balance. Here's the build out of the handle, removable fighting butt and the entire handle & seat area.
The wrap job was just as the original with red & yellow guide wraps like the CO flag and dual color spiral wraps at the ferrules. I used more yellow banded by smaller red this time... 'cause I wanted to so do. I replicated the white/snow on the butt section to fully mimic the flag but skipped the hook keeper. Two guide placements resulted in those sections' ferrule wraps being integrated with the guide wrap.
I upgraded the mating reel (since I lost the Aoka XS with the Series 1) and line by getting another Orvis Mirage III spool and spinning some SA Amplitude Trout WF6F on it. This line has a more subtle taper than I would otherwise use but it mates decently with the RFCO2. I admit the even stronger ERN of the S2 compared to the S1 gave me a head-fake and I have written CTS to question them on how a 5 wt can be above their stated maximum grain weight. The RFCO2 is optimal tossing 2046 grains and the first 30 ft of this line throws 1960 grains. If I feel it is under-loaded after some field work I can always mount the Orvis Hydros WF7F spool which throws 2270... I'll see.
Measuring a fly rod to understand its empirical performance, for me, includes: weight, swing weight, intrinsic power (effective rod number), and speed (action angle) though I do add the total weight of the system with a best-matched reel (for balance) & line (for casting) loaded. The RFCO2 is an awesome 3.8 oz rod with a very manageable swing weight of 9.9 oz (a smidge burly to hurl). While it was sold as a 5wt blank it measures out with and ERN of 6.8, much stronger... I chose SA WF6F or Orvis WF7F lines to optimize casting. The measured action is very fast based on the action angle (AA) of 70°. With the Orvis Mirage III and the WF7F Orvis Hydros line loaded, and the fighting butt installed, the total system weight is a smidge 11.7 oz. Backyard cast tests had me easily toss well into the running line so ~70ft. This is one of my heavier rigs but much more powerful and rugged... it can do anything and will manage the bigger fish in New Zealand... the guides there may "get it" too given the blank is from Auckland.
