Building my first fly rod and the reel seat that came with the kit is a U5 pac bay reel seat. The question I have is this. The grip is bored for the upper hood but when I push the wood insert in all the way it doesn't leave much of the wood exposed. Does the insert have to be in all the way or can I float it out a little bit to expose more of the wood.
Thanks and take care,
Jeff

If you increase the exposed wood portion of a reel seat the distance between retainers may be to large to accommodate some reels. Also, if you move the grip end retainer forward the retainer near the threaded end will also move forward that same distance when a reel is in place and will most likely be over the wood anyway. You may not gain any visible wood.


James

There should be a metal hood that goes into the grip and then the insert goes in. You can go to Pac Bay's site and see a picture of what it looks like. I've used this reel seat and it should be fine.

Hi Jeff,

Does the hood have a stop for the insert? If so I would say you should probably push the insert in all the way to the stop. If not, grab a few reels and vary the length the insert sticks out trying to strike a balance between looks while maintaining positive reel lock.

Mark