I purchased a couple of 8' graphite composition rods by Kieth Hernandez for catfishing that have a cork wrap butt up about 24". When I mounted reels with clamps around the bottom (garcia 7000's) I was concerned about the potential of crushing the rod, but the reels tend to twist or loosen when under the strain of larger fish.
1. Can I really tighten the two clamp screws tight without too much danger of rod damage?
2. Should I mount a reel seat somehow? I rather hate to remove all the cork wrap, but need to do something.? Hannibal Mike

Look into the Fuji plate type seat - it's the ticket for what you need to do.

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Mudhole has an adjustable reel seat will tighten around the blank as well. You could use one of these if the od of your rod will work with one of the sizes that they offer. look on their site under reel seats....Mudhole.

Planning on building 1st fly rod and trying to understand lingo on reel seats ie. u3, u7, etc. I understand the u stands for uplocking but what do the numbers represent?

Thanks