I am building a crappie rod on a 10’ 7wt Rainshadow fly rod blank. This rod will essentially be a glorified cane pole. It will seldom, if ever, be used to cast and fish will be usually just lifted into the boat rather than reeled in. Handle is 13.5” long using the below listed sliding rings for a reel seat.

Will the Pac Bay rings described below hold both / either a spinning reel and a fly reel? This is going to be a gift so I hate to ask which reel the fellow would prefer using.

GRAPHITE SPIN RINGS
I.D. TO FIT
mm (inch) CORK GRIPS
G24H 23.3 (0.92) LS10A-200

And, not sure what to do about guides – whether to build it more along the lines of a fly rod or as a spinning rod, or, some sort of combination?

Thanks much,
Neil Toland

Need more input Neil !
If the rod will be a surprise then try and get more info from a friend
or family member. you would not want to build something that will
just sit in a closit !

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Careful Careful Careful building them things - you forgot one of the uses for a crappie jigging pole - they will take the thing it and jam it down in the water into a tree top trying to get a two bit bait unhung. I started trying to compete with the locals and almost went busted replacing the things. When I bought my first Forecast 9 foot rod from Bill Batson in Nashville about 5 years ago he grinned when I left with it - I will always think he knew what I was getting into. Bob Batson will be happy to know you are upgrading the crappie industry!

Gon

Raymond_Adams Wrote:
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> Need more input Neil !

You're probably right Raymond. Thinking I should just buy a spinning reel and put on it. That might be my simplest solution.

Raymond_Adams Wrote:
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> Need more input Neil !

You're probably right Raymond. Thinking I should just buy a spinning reel and put on it. That might be my simplest solution.

Bill Stevens Wrote:
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> - they will take the thing it and jam it down in
> the water into a tree top trying to get a two bit
> bait unhung.

Yeah Bill, that's why I am building this thing... he broke the tip off of both his crappie poles this year. Thought I'd try to make him one. Maybe he'll be a little more catious with this one... hopefully.

Neil,
I only live about 10 mi. from the B&M crappie pole warehouse. I have tried to get blanks from them but they they have all their rods made overseas and shipped to West Point Ms. What I'm getting to is that it is cheaper to get one of their rods in 10-16 ft. lengths and strip it of the hardware and handle and rebuild it. These will hold up better as you and Bill both know what some of these good old boys will do with a crappie rod. I believe they are some kind of graphite composite but boy are they tough. I have built them as spinning rods and sometime use all spinning eyes and sometimes use combination of single foot fly eyes and spinning eyes. At any rate the crappie fishermen love them.

Those things have an E Glass tip section are are way overpriced at $ 4.00 each for the blank!!

Bill

You are complaining about 4 bucks. And I thought I was cheap ?? LOL

sam fox Wrote:
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> What I'm getting to is that it is cheaper to get one of
> their rods in 10-16 ft. lengths and strip it of
> the hardware and handle and rebuild it.

That's a good suggestion Sam. Wish I'd have thought of it earlier! Well, anyway, as soon as he breaks the tip off this one that'll be my next move.