I loaded up the TFO BVK 3wt with a Bugati 3/4 reel and some 3wt Orvis Hy-Flote Silver Label WF line and jumped in my kick-boat for an evening of fishing on the lake in Bonham State Park. The fishing was a little slow due to extremely low water conditions but I did manage a few small bluegills. I fished late into the evening and right at dusk I cast toward the mouth of a creek that feeds the lake and as soon as my fly hit the water something took off with it. The fight continued for 20+ minutes and I realized I was not going to bring the fish to hand in the kick-boat so I started kicking toward the bank. The fish took me to the backing twice before I could get to the bank. After reaching the bank I was able to better control the fish but of course turning it with the BVK 3wt was nearly impossible. I finally received most of my line and was able to grab the line just above my leader and pull the fish up on shore. It was a nice blue cat that was approximately 25 inches long and around 4 pounds. I was using a #12 olive beadhead wolly bugger and 4# tippet. The BVK performed beautifully even under such extreme conditions. I'll be doing a full report on it and the 10 foot conversion kit for it very soon.

A cat fight is a good fight alright!

this I gotta see !! gonna convert a 25" 4 lb catfish to 10 feet, man are you nuts or sumthin !!

WOW, that fish must of really been tough on such a light weight rod. Congrats. I bet you had a blast with that fish!

nice fish...great rod too. Love the BVK series.

This was the maiden voyage. I never got around to switching to the 10' conversion. Maybe this weekend. The rod performs like a champ. I was shooting 50-60 feet of 3wt line with little or no effort and the backbone is really good for a 3wt. It balance perfect with the Bugati reel and the combo was sooooo light that it's not funny. So far I highly recommend it.

Great fish, Jerry!

Nice job, congrats.

I have a 3wt TFO finesse but i just can't get the line out.
I thought about going to a TFO PRO for my 3wt.
I'll have to give the BVK a good lookin' at.
Thanks Rev for the post!

I had about 30 minutes on Friday so I stopped at Loy Lake and tried out the 10' conversion kit on the BVK. It is a butt section and an addition second section used in conjunction with the top three sections of the standard rod.

I was amazed at the fast action of the rod. I pulled all of the fly line off the spool and cast it a few times and was blown away that it would cast the entire spool of 3 WF line. The rod is a roll casting machine. A lot of the small ponds and lakes I fish don't have much back casting area so I feel like this rod is going to be an answer to my roll casting prayers.

Jerry,
Could you post a pic of the conversion?

can you post the pic of 100 feet of line in the air, too!! may have to come see this, and cast some rods

I'm gonna draw a picture for ya!!!
I might have a picture of the chip in my windshield where the fly hit it on a backcast.

I bet you couldn't cast 100feet with any of my 3 weight rods. It might be fun to play with each other's 3 weight rods. I always have at least one 3 weight rod in the truck and could bring a couple more if anyne is interested.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

oh we are