Greetings!

I've been reading and learning quite a bit on the forum. I appreciate the wealth of information. I recently finished my first build - what I consider a prototyping process or a learning build. I used the H&H 7.0 3wt base orange colored fiberglass rod from H&H. The crew at H&H were extremely helpful in ordering materials and making recommendations where I had questions. In all, the build process was much easily and less time consuming than expected. With H&H's help, the customized handle and reel seat I chose fit perfectly with the blank.

The blank itself is quite a bit more formidable than other glass rods I've used. Once built, I found the tip to be very soft, but the base to be bulky and rigid. This is pretty much what I expected. I was looking for something usable for the first build, not necessarily something that would be my main combo.

Once built, I've been able to test it in several circumstances. I'm using a pre-war Ocean City reel for sentimental reasons. I used the SA Heritage line also for sentiment, as I was going for the look of something one might have encountered 40 or 50 years ago. The rod look some getting used to, as the action is completely different than the commercial glass (same size and weight) I typically cast. A bit frustrating at first, but with a bit of practice, I found it could really zing the dry flies. This is really set up as a dry fly combo, and for that purpose it exceeds my expectations. I was also presently surprise to find it cast and fished a nymph combination quite well - again, considering the price-point. The water in our areas is a bit high still and streamers are not this combo's strength, it was possible to force some drifts, but it was a LOT of work to move the streamers. Again, no surprise here.

With the soft tip and firm base it played the trout quite well - no complaints there, again likely exceeding my expectations.

So, all-in-all the rod-building process, assistance from H&H, and the finished combo exceeded my expectations for a rod that was built for about $100. I also am hooked on the rod-building process and have order 2 different blanks to build for/with my kids. There also will be moderate action all-purpose combos for the small streams we fish. Thanks to everyone here and at H&H for the help! Having a great time.