Flats Fishing Camo / Spray Painting a fly rod

To quote the Aqua Design website: "fish have been using camouflage for hundreds of thousands of years, its time we as anglers learn to fit in with our surroundings"

Stalking fish on flats you tend to spook a lot of fish.  Ive noticed Grunter swim right up to me and then without me moving a muscle, they spook about 4m away.  It must be a colour/silhouette that spooks them.  In an attempt to get closer to this fish Im taking it to the next level.

Aqua Camo shirt/scarf/hat/pants.  Lower half sand colour and upper half blue water camo.  Stripping basket is a canvas bait bucket covered in a camo buff.  Under this is my wetsuit.  And to finish it off- A flat matt sky blue fly rod and 10wt WF clear floating Monic Permit line.

the ghost setup- stripping basket covered in camo buff, clothing, completed rod, monic WF10F clear floater

Now, without buying a custom CTS and requesting it in blue the only other option is to spray paint.  I needed a medium action 9 weight, so off I went to Ebay and got a Redington Rs3 9#.  Fast action is too stiff for quick delecate short distance presentations.  The high AFTMA rating isnt for the fish, its for the wind.

It arrived Friday.  Today (Saturday) I went to Builders Warehouse and got everything I need for the spray job:

Blue rust-oleum spraypaint
White rust-oleum spraypaint
White Plastic Primer
1000 grit water paper
Masking Tape
Scouring sponge

So I prepped with the scouring sponge, cleaned with soapy water and masked off.  Next I shot with the white plastic primer.  Then sand down with water paper. Clean again with soapy water, then with blue, then with white and finally sand again and unmask.

This is the result (it came out better than I even expected):

masked off and scoured to matt with scouring sponge

primer coat drying

post water paper- blue & white coats

final wet sanding

masking paper off

butt section

but and stripping guide section

detail

detail

final product

stitched together (not too well but you get the idea)

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