Replicating The RF SageBuster 2020 As The Rodfather Green Machine aka SB26 ~ Stolen But Very Fine CTS-Based 9' 4pc 4wt Is Born Again 14Mar26-07May26

Context... Some know I've sold all my manufactured rods from Winston, Sage, Scott, GLoomis, and Orvis at this point. No problem as I've built solid, most better IMO, Rodfather replacements. Unfortunately one keen SageBuster 2020 (CTS 9' 4pc 4wt), the Rodfather Cutthroat, my 3rd build ever in maroon & gold, was stolen along with the mated orange Redington reel ~ this build is about fashioning a replacement... the Rodfather Green Machine 9' 4wt 4pc with the venerable Ross Evo LT reel.

Unlike the very close cloning of the Rodfather True 3 that was also stolen, here I built a similarly specified rod, but altered the color scheme from the RFCT. The new rod, the Rodfather Green Machine, RFGM, came out great in an all green motif: a custom colored dark urban green CTS blank, green variegated wrap accents and a green on green custom handle. The new CTS Affinity X blanks have gone to a more robust and accurate ground ferrule system that I prefer on high performance rods ~ another upgrade from the original Cutthroat/SB2020. It did add to the speed and strength and true casting weight of the rod however, so not as close to a true 4wt this time. Such is often the case with modern graphite blanks. The specs and look are great though: ERN: 5.1, AA: 72° Wt: 4.1 oz (plus a .4 oz removable fighting butt), and a nice 7.4oz swing weight for a 9 footer. I am reticent to repurchase all the reels lost in the ripoff but that's OK here as the the RFGM balances and matches spectacularly with the dark green Ross Evo LT 1.5 now loaded with SA MPX WF4F line. The reel is very experienced from it's frequent use on the So Platte in 11 Mile Canyon adorning a great manufactured rod, the Winston GPX, acquired 20yrs ago during amplified fishing on So Platte 'streams.' I sold it for 70% of buy price so yeah. The new system is beautiful and casts decently with the half weight heavy line; it will likely serve as my goto 4wt this season ~ and my most used rod in CO, where the 8.5' Diamond Blaze has served well recently and is now resting.

Handle... I bought green horizontal variegated, green died, and green rubber butt rings to fashion an all new 6.5" double wells handle for the Green Machine, complimented by a 1.25" removable fighting butt with an inverse color scheme in order to use up otherwise wasted parts. Too, I went from 1/6th checkerboard in the forehand to 1/4th checkerboard in the palm ~ it's disturbing but cool IMO.

Hardware... I got my favored REC reel seat in nickel silver with a maple insert, including the removable fighting butt hardware (for a custom butt). These just feel and work nicer than others to me ~ worth it for mating to a more costly CTS blank. I also got the super-slick Snake brand double footed guides for this rod, and a Fuji stripping guide... all in bright silver; again these are worth it for this blank.

Wraps... I used variegated green, black, & brown for the guide wraps. ~ this stuff wraps out with cool moire patterns, but I needed to use colorfast fixative before epoxy. As usual on my rods I added fish length length markings from 16" to 24" ~ these are useful, not just hopeful. CTS oddly (IMO) ask for guides to be adjacent to ferrules so some need to be incorporated together as shown.

Measure & Feel... Well the rod is color-matched and balanced very well with the classic Ross Evo reel. Later Ross designs have harder edges and are less enjoyable than this gen Evo. Loaded with MPX WF4F it casts great in the backyard but I might look for an even tighter/heavier live match to the 5.1 effective weight of the rod. The RFCT, which RFGM replaces, was butter, but this one is more like a tenderloin: beautiful, lean, and powerful. Let's go ~ 100 ft casts and 6 lb catches will be no problem.