Sorry folks got off on the wrong foot, let's try again>


i'm gona build one just to see if i can from a kit (H&H about $40.00)
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BB 662 blank Pacific Bay A5 chrome reel seat with rosewood insert, Reverse Half Wells inletted grip, hard chrome plated chrome guide set, hookkeeper and tip top, winding check. Dark Blue Thread.
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the handle and reel seat will be turned form one piece of walnut or cherry and i plan to use sliding rings as the reel seat.

from a previous post i have learned that this rod handles better witha 3 wt line and that it would be advisable to route a depression (mortice) in the reel seat area of the handle to fit my reel footprint.

Can this seating zone be simplified to just a flat area and this with the rings be sufficient to keep the reel solid.

Are there surces for the rings that don't involve a supplier ( ie. Cortland)?

Will they swap guides as I would like to use single foot rather than snakes.

Anyone who has built this rod kit, please give me your opinion of its use on small streams. Here in NC we call them blue lines and the trout are usually form 6 to 12 in.

I've built on this blank using my own selection of components rather than kit. The last one had a one-piece burl cork reel seat/ Fenwick shape grip configuration with sliding rings. My rings came from Custom Tackle. I just flattened the real seat "insert" section of the seat/grip and have no trouble holding the reel. I also used SF snakes. I do string with a 3wt DT (SA GPX).

I fish N Ga, W NC with this rod. I like it for the days that I'm going to fish drys no matter what the fish think of this idea. For this application I'm pleased. For me there are two draw-backs that are not specific to this blank, but to the shorter rods in general. I have a hard time roll casting them and when I do fish nymphs they are not optimal for line control. But, on the days when the fish are cooperating and coming up to smash a 16 EHC, it is a fun rod.

Tony-

You're gonna love that rod! I have built one on that blank with single footer light wire chrome guides.

Some suggestions.

If possible, seat your reel as far back as possible. It does wonders to eliminate that annoying line wrap/knot that happens on the end of the seat. I didn't do this on mine and I wish I would have. Go as light as possible on all the components and you'll be greatly rewarded with a rod that feels and cast very easily.

Make the wraps on the guides (at least on the top half) as small as possible. Grind the guide feet down to a narrow sliver on the top half as well.

If you're not set on the reel seat insert, get cork, or aluminum and invert it to put the reel on the bottom of the rod.

Get an appropriate sized metal winding check

Forget about the hookkeeper. This rod is so short that the average leader ends up being too long unless you wind it all the way back onto the reel and hook it up.



This rod casts very well with a 3wt line. I use 555 HT and love it, but that isn't an endorsement, because my 4PC 6'6" Forecast 2 wt (which CC's like a 2 wt) has RIO selective trout line on it and that works quite good as well. I went to WVA and caught several large brook and browns on the H&H rod and had a blast.

I am pretty sure that Bob doesn't swap out on kits. I have three sets of snake guides that'll never get used from kits I've purchased through H&H.

Tony-

You're gonna love that rod! I have built one on that blank with single footer light wire chrome guides.

Some suggestions.

If possible, seat your reel as far back as possible. It does wonders to eliminate that annoying line wrap/knot that happens on the end of the seat. I didn't do this on mine and I wish I would have. Go as light as possible on all the components and you'll be greatly rewarded with a rod that feels and cast very easily.

Make the wraps on the guides (at least on the top half) as small as possible. Grind the guide feet down to a narrow sliver on the top half as well.

If you're not set on the reel seat insert, get cork, or aluminum and invert it to put the reel on the bottom of the rod.

Get an appropriate sized metal winding check

Forget about the hookkeeper. This rod is so short that the average leader ends up being too long unless you wind it all the way back onto the reel and hook it up.



This rod casts very well with a 3wt line. I use 555 HT and love it, but that isn't an endorsement, because my 4PC 6'6" Forecast 2 wt (which CC's like a 2 wt) has RIO selective trout line on it and that works quite good as well. I went to WVA and caught several large brook and browns on the H&H rod and had a blast.

I am pretty sure that Bob doesn't swap out on kits. I have three sets of snake guides that'll never get used from kits I've purchased through H&H.

Whether or not the rod handles better with a 3-weight line depends on how much 3-weight line you're talking about. It is a shame that more fly fishermen do not understand the relationship between line weight and line length. 25 feet of a 3-weight line does not weigh the same as 50-feet of a 3-weight line.

Your rod reponds to the weight or load tugging on it. A man fishing 30 feet of a 4-weight line and a man fishing the same rod with say, 45 feet of a 3-weight line may well be putting exactly the same load on the rod.

So when someone says a rod "fishes better with a 3-weight line" you'll do well to ask him the second part of the equation - about how much line is he aerializing or putting past the tip.

Just some things to consider before deciding what line you'll be using on the rod.

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Tom you are as always correct. My assumption - and we all know the cliche about assumptions - was that a 6' 6" 2wt that is going to be fished on Trout streams in NC is most often going to be cast at very close distances (< or close to 30'). This is why I string a 3wt on this blank. I should have been more specific that I'm usually fishing 10' to maybe 20' of line and a 6' furled leader with a couple of feet of 4 or 5X tippet.

Kirkman and Rushing:

very good info I have wondered about that and considered that using a rod in an area where casts were confined to a few feet might necessitate a heaverier line. Good to hear experience guys confirm a suspicion.

Can you reverse an up seat and make it operate as a down seat and if you buy the skeletons can you then install tham as youlike??

Tony - if I'm following you it sounds like you do not intend to use the cork grip and rosewood insert and will turn your own. Kits have a lot of advantages, but I think you are running into one of the limitations of kits - adjusting the basics to you own design. So, I think it would be possible to turn the A5 around, but it would require fashioning a end cap of some sort (possibly with the wood used for the insert) and a way to get the thread barrel to have a nice seam at the grip. If it were me, I'd just go ahead and order a cap and ring skeleton that is sized for small rods. A favorite of mine is the REC CRA. And, since it sounds like you would also prefer SFs, it would seem that working with the supplier to order a blank and SF guide set and a cap and ring seat might cost a little more, but in the end you will have a rod that you prefer. And, one that you won't have "replace" later - you can go on to add more rods to you arsenal without having to backtrack :)

you are probably right and i like the look of the sliding ring seats very much.

On this 2 wt I would like lightness and simplicity. I suspect form other posts that my turned walnut handle will be to much weight although i planned to shorten it from the usual 7".

I have made a mock up in pine and made slidding rings from copper plumbing pipe and the rings hold pretty well but will slip loose if banged around. Thye also scored the wood handle.

Is this true of the aluminum rings seats also and in fishing use do they come loose often? I have thatm on a cork handled UL spinning rod and they are very secure.

Thanks for your thoughtful replies to everyone.