It's hard not to want to give a detailed description sometimes, but Mike has your best answer. Laying out the spacing and sizing for a spinning rod is covered very well in the FAQ's. Those that set up that way are rarely going to switch back to any other method.

Actually, I think what everybody has forgotten here is that this rod will be built for somebody other than the builder. For this reason I think you really need to consider alot more than you are right now. First, what length rod is he looking for? If he is looking for an all around rod then I doubt he is going to want a 9' rod. Second, what size and type lures and what size line does he plan to use? An all around bass rod for Florida and California is likely going to be very different from an all around bass rod for Wisconsin and I would really doubt a fly rod blank will be ideal for somebody who plans on pitching into heavy cover for large fish. Third, what action does the customer prefer? Does he want a fast action rod? If so even the fastest fly rod is likely going to seem to slow for him.

Basically, if you build this using a fly rod blank he may very well be completely dissatisfied even if it is built on a Fenwick blank. Make sure the customer knows what you are building for him before you purchase all the components. Otherwise you are taking a mighty big chance. He might be more willing to consider a different brand blank rather than a Fenwick fly blank.

Well put. I hadn't thought of it in that light.

In my case, everyone I have built this type of rod for was well aware of what it was going to be like because most of them had either fished one of my Demo's or been with someone that already had one of my rods and seen it in person.

This wouldn't be the type of rod to "surprise" someone with that is used to conventional designs. It could work out, but who wants to be surprised by an unhappy customer. Hopefully he has talked to his customer about this.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2004 04:14PM by Andrew Petroski.

I've already decided to build one of these for myself, but not for the Fenwick fan. Depending on what he wants to do I'm going to either get a closeout Fenwick from Neal's Fishing Products (sponsor), or try to point him to another manufacturer. I think St. Croix is a nice rod, or Neal has suggested a Rainshadow or Lamiglas. I have no experience with the Rainshadow or Lamiglas - opinions? Are these comparable to the Fenwick my friend was looking for?

On the other hand, the concept of a spinning rod from a fly blank is really cool and I'll put one together for myself just for fun.

~Jackie

I've done them out of RainShadow, St. Croix, and Hook and Hackle among others. They have all come out real well and fished great. I'd go with a 6wt for your first one and then decide if you want to go lighter.

Pretty much a decision based on color. Dark green, Brown, or Dark Blue.

I didn't see the Rainshadow fly blanks in Neal's catalog but if he can get them I'd go with that, wouldn't be a bad one to start with.

Jackie, did you ever build this rod? If so, how did it turn out? I found an article in the January issue of Saltwater Sportsman about this same issue, and then I went searching some more, and found a few more articles on the Florida Sportsmen website. They were all written by Capt. Fred Everson. He seems to use these kind of rods all of the time for snook and redfish in the Tampa area.

I'm thinking of building this kind of rod, using a Forecast 9' 9wt, and cutting a few inches off of the tip and the butt. The Forecast is listed as a fast action rod, but I will check it out on the Superbob site before I make the purchase. Also, someone said that they started with a size 25 stripper, and moved down until a size 8 tip. The article that I read said to start with a size 16 stripper in order to aleviate some of the line slap on the blank. Does anyone have any opinions on that?

Good subject.