I just built a Forecast 9ft 4 piece 9wt fly rod, now I want to build a spinning version of the same rod. My question is should I build it as a 9 ft rod or drop the butt section and go with a three piece 7ft.. I have never fished a spinning rod longer than 6.5ft is there any advantage to going longer. I will be using the rod on the Delaware bay for stripers... Thanks Bob.

There is a rod called a noodle rod which is a fly rod built with a spinning reel . Sorry I cant give you any more info than that.

I have a 9 foot 7 wt that I wrapped as a spinning rod. I love it for certain types of fishing. 3/8 of ounce of lead and you can cast the thing a country mile, and when we are out fishing mid lake reefs and sand bars for Walleyes, I can stretch my leader out to 8 to 9 feet and have some control of. For just general fishing I think a 7 foot rod would be better.

Try putting some spinning line on that fly rod and cast it a few times and see how you like it. It will give you a good idea of how it will cast

I allready build some spinning rods on ALL STAR TITANIUM TRAVEL BLANK 9'(5wt,10wt.,12wt)+extension(ALL STARR TITANIUM and KISTLER HELIUM LTA).Leght of this rods 9'-13'.
With the rod build on 5wt. ,using FIRELINE 4LB.,leader SEGUAR CARBON PRO FLUOROCARBON,jig 1/16oz. i was able to catch one 33lb. paddle fish,fool hooked on tail(catches &releases) and a few 14lb. flathead catfish(jig 1/16oz.,BASS ASSASSIN CURLY SHAD 2INCH,CHARTREUSE GLITTER).
With long rod you can cast longer,you have more control of the line ,you strike more easy and the long rod help you to fight with big fish when you fish with fine line.
I am fishing on the shore with artificial lures ,4lb. FIRELINE ,small jigs and for this reason the longs rods hep me a lot.
Is very important to use light guides.I use SIC guides,titanium frame,long leg match type.
Sorry for my english!!!

I would say it really depends on what you're going to use it for. When we sidedrift for steelhead, we are using VERY light weight and a stealth presentation. We have found the ultimate rods for this purpose to be 9-foot, 6-10# spinning rods. So, if you're looking to throw some light stuff, the longer, more limber rod would probably be an advantage.

-Nick Dazer

Thankyou all. I will go with a 9 ft and probably be building a shorter rod later on. Nick, Steelhead fishing in the northwest is on my aganda this year, that was the clincher for a long rod.
Bill, I did try the fly rod as a spinner, I added an extra long fighting butt giving the rod a spinner feel, it did not cast very well due to the size 16 striper guide choking down on the line, I think a 16 guide is about 4x smaller than the 30 I would normally use on a spinner.
I'll know for sure by next week when I get her done...Bob.

I usually use a 20 for the first guide on a rod like that. My thinking is that I am going to be using a small reel and a thin diameter line that does need to have a huge 1st guide to funnel the line down. The 20 will get the line up and away from the blank and that should work for your application too, unless you are going to use a larger spinning reel and more than say 4 or 6 # test line.

Don't foreget to take pictures