Cloning the Rodfather True 3 ~ Remaking The Fine RFT3 To V2 09Nov25-06Mar26

Sad State & Happy State... The sad state is that I was ripped off of 3 "best of" Rodfather rigs last summer, directly from the rod vault atop the Crusher Too. One of those was the RFT3, my best 3 wt, along with the nice Lamson Guru II reel loaded with SA WF3F line and flouro leaders and tippet and some bugs. I've replaced the lightweight reel, as needed, with a Lamson Guru S 3+, and an extra spool ~ I loaded the spools with similar SA Mastery 3wt & 4wt lines. I fortunately sold an orphaned Guru II spool (useless to me without the reel, which is 'out of print'). The happy state is that I've built another RFT3 that I'm calling v2, but which is basically a clone of the original. It's also good news that the RFT3v2 (8' 3wt 4pc) measures equally to and casts even better than the original: ERN of 3.3, AA of 70° (fast), total weight of just 3.1 oz, and a scant swing weight of 5.5 oz making power to swing weight perfect. No one stole the rod tube or sleeve so it will be in the original tube or more likely in the rod vault for summer outings on 10 Mile or the Ark headwaters... or in the backpack for some alpine mountain lake fun.

Handle... I started as usual with the handle, which looks very close to the v1, but I optimized a bit and made it a smaller 7" with full wells.

Hardware & Build... The 8' MHX F803-4 is a fine, warranted, fast, Chinese, 8' graphite blank rolled with Japanese Toray fiber. For this v2 build I again bought a less expensive aluminum reel seat with a nice maple burl wood insert that matches the handle well. I chose very light TiChrome single foot guides for most spots, but upgraded to the keen REC Recoil spinning guide for the 1st spot, followed by one dual foot TiChrome guide. I chose to wrap the rod similar to the original with grey & blue windings spiraling around the guides & ferrules ~ this wrap pops against the matte grey MHX blank and compliments the handle & reel seat nicely.

Measuring & Casting... As mentioned in the opening, the RFT3v2 measured out great as a true 3 wt rod. With the 3+ Guru S reel loaded with SA Mastery Infinity WF3F and the 7" full wells handle, the rod balances perfectly for me. Back yard casting was dreamy and fast.