I plan to be in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida in March. Are there any of the Rodbuilding Outfits in that vicinity? I would like to stop in and look at the supplies in person for a purchase. Any help would be appreciated.
Sanford Hochman

Sanford again MudHole is in the Orlando area not very far from where you will be staying
John

John,
I will be on the East Coast. Mudhole is on the West Coast near Orlando. I wish they were closer.
Sanford

Sanford Mudhole is closer to the east coast then the west suggest you contact Tom you would be no more then 11/2 hours away possibly closer depending how close you would be to rte 4
John

Sanford,
I live in Boynton Beach, 20 minutes south of Palm Beach Gardens. Yes, it is on the east coast but Orlando is in Central Florida. It is a 2.5 hour drive from PBG. As far as finding a rod building store..........good luck. There are a few tackle shops that carry a few assorted supplies and some shops that have a guy that works on rods on certain days of the week, but other than that I think you are s.o.l.. I order all of my supplies and parts online from all the same sites that everyone else knows about. BUT, if you do find a rod building store, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!! The closest thing I can find for "face-to-face" help is Central Floridas Rodcrafters, a rod building club in the Orlando area. Unfortunately, I haven't found enough time to make the 5 hour round trip...
nick

Thanks John,
I'm used to the around the corner shops, but after looking at a map I can see what you are referring to. I'll try to get over there.
Sanford

Nick,
It baffles me that you all have the same problem we have here in Cape Cod. Here we sit in the midst of some of the most active fishing in the country, with fishing a priority with so many people, yet there is no place that is involved in this craft. Some shops do build rods, yet have no supplies for the outside rodbuilder. I hope we can introduce this to the fishing community through our fishing club this summer. If you feel inclined, send me your phone number over my e-mail address, and I will call you when I get there.
Sanford

Sanford there are a few rod manufacturing facilities in the Miami area and at least one blank manufacturer,there are other vendors in the state but nowhere near where you plan to be.
John

Hi,

Yes it would be nice if we could go to a local store and play with every companies blanks and be able rto get any component we want when we want it.

Unfortunately, this would be very expensive and a pure rod building shop would not last.

My area consists on too many people who want all their needs at wholesale prices. Try talking to a costomer who starts off inquiring about having a custom rod. Then he gets to wanting to supply the parts himself or gives you the old I can get it wholesale. Now you have spent 1/2 hour or more with this individual and wasted you time that could have spent on a rod.

Capt Neil

Capt.Neil,
Yep, I'm familiar with what you are talking about. As a dentist, I always countered the "that's expensive" comment with " you're right, you can get it cheaper, but you usually get what you pay for". More often than not, I eventually saw the patient again to redo the cheap work. There was no compromise with me. I would rather have given it away. It just seems that the large fishing outfits have someone usually making "custom rods", and so much is sacrificed in the workmanship. Yet the store itself does not sell any materials. They have told me they could sell my rods after I made them. There just seems to be a lot of inconsistencies in the business. The rod building companies that we are familiar with seem to be doing fine stocking parts for us as well as the usual fishing gear. My guess is that they would benefit from more of us buying other things in their store if they would accomodate people like myself.
Sanford

Sanford,
I can't send you an email. I have tried to click on your name but, for some reason, I'm not able to send you anything.
Are you registered on the Mudhole website? I know that if you go there, we can get each others email addresses. If we go to the message board, we can get in touch.
When are you coming down? for how long?
nick