UPDATE: One of Alex's rods came in first in the accuracy category and second overall in the rod challenge at the 2012 Catskill Rodmakers' Gathering.

This rod is from the bench of Alex Vardanis. It was fished by the maker on a few occasions and shows minor wear on the reel seat spacer. Alex is known for his nodeless rod construction similar to the method used by Bernard Ramanauskas of Eden Cane. This rod is Alex's rendition of Don Andersen's four weight 6' 6" two piece. Don's taper specifics were used with his knowledge and he also approved the listing of the rod for sale. His tapers are listed in Ray Gould's book "Tips and Tapers". Alex made the rod for use on medium size streams with lots of streamside vegetation where one could come across good sized fish. It has a crisp and very smooth action and enough backbone to handle some wind. Its action is imparted by the method of construction that Alex uses which involves removing all of the nodes in the starting cane strips. Alex states this rod can handle large and aggressive fish. The chopsticks (split internodes) are spliced maintaining the geometry of the original culm and the splices are staggered in the splines very much like a 3-3-3 pattern of node staggering. The splices are cut left-to-right and right-to-left and the two types are alternated on adjoining splines. The wraps are color preserved and tipped and the ferrules are double wrapped in the areas that are prone to varnish cracks (at the end of the ferrule tabs). All ferrules are witness marked. Snake guides and tip tops are "Snake Brand", and the ferrules are SS style from Tony Larson. The agate ring of the stripper was detached during shipment and has been re-silver-soldered by the maker. The rod carries a lifetime warranty by the maker.