I am in the process of buying components for a spinning rod for my son which he will us mainly for throwing plastic baits/worms. I got some excellent recommendations for the rod blank on this board and would like your recommendations on the most sensitive reel seat. I've only built fly rods and any/all suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks in advance and thanks to Tom Kirkman for hosting such a terrific website.

Jim Smith

Think light and rigid and you'll have what you want. A Fuji or similar seat mounted on one of the Flex Coat urethane foam arbors is going to be very light, yet very rigid. It's ideal for what you're after.

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The most sensitive Reel seat would be a blank exposed reel seat from REC, yes it is for spinning rods not casting, most builders do not know this seat, your fingers will be on the blank while you are holding the rod.
Mark Crouse - The Munich Rod man

Jim

I used to do a lot of the same type of fishing. You might also try the barrel - type graphite Tennessee handles with graphite arbors - a very hard combination to beat for lightness and sensitivity. My experience is that they can become quite slippery so my personal preference is still cork. I'm not familair with the REC seat that Mark mentioned in his post but I don't see how you can get much better than actually having your fingers on the blank. If I have occasion to build a similar rod I'll be sure to give REC seats a look.

Sam Stoner

Sam, I had to go look; Mark was sure right. I wonder how these feel in the hand?

[www.rec.com]

Putter
Williston, ND

I just looked at the REC site, unless I'm blind , I saw seats with the metal cut away but that was for the wood barrel to show through. Mark, help me, what model # of the exposed blank reel seat? Thanks.

The DBX780 is the reelseat I think Mark was talking about.

If you mount your seat onto a lightweight rigid arbor, the sensitivity will be the same as if you have your fingers directly on the blank. I know cut away seats with the blank showing make good advertising for sensitivity, but a rod with a properly mounted seat is going to offer you the same thing pretty much.

This is not advising against a cut-away type seat, they're certainly good. But you don't lose sensitivity with a lightweight nylon/graphite seat mounted on lightweight but rigid arbors. When you hold that, you're directly connected to the blank.

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Tom, I think you make a good point on that issue. Additionally, I've come to believe that the whole "feel" thing has alot to do with contact area. With more surface in contact with the hand (as in larger circumference handles) it seems to make a rod feel more sensitive. More skin/hand contact area=more nerves involved. My fingers are pretty rough and calloused, blank contact really doesn't appeal much on account of that.

Balance goes a long way here as well.

Very good points.



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Why not just get a reel seat and make one