I am planning on making my first exposed blank spinning rod. Any of you have experience and thoughts on the possible seats to use and handle lay outs? This rod will be for mid western pond and lake fishing..... Bass, Bluegill, some Walleye fishing. Will be medium light or light. Thanks Steve

You have a ton of options in this area. One thing you'll want to do, is make sure the resulting seat is comfortable to use. Sometimes when you but the barrel out of a spinning reel seat, you end up with something that isn't very friendly to hold onto.

So, you can remove the barrel, remove the barrel on the top side only, or just cut the threaded barrel short enough so that your thumb can rest on the rod blank (no fore-grip style). This is one of Rich Forhan's favorite set ups for spinning rods. Also, if you're after direct blank contact, you can drill a hole in the top half of the seat and insert a hard plastic plug, inserting it until it rests on the rod blank. Then cut it off so that it just protrudes above the level of the seat wall and you have a direct connection with the rod blank. Personally, I can't really say that this last idea is going to do any more for you than holding a seat that has been properly mounted to the rod blank. But it's something you might want to try anyway.

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Mudhole carries am AmTack palming reel seat for spinning rods that I have had good success with. It's not blank exposed, but it gives real good sensitivity because of the way you hold the rig makes it feel like you are holding the blank itself. I build them without any cork at all sometimes. I have a few pics of these in my gallery. I especially like them for drop shot set-ups.

Steve Buchanan
Steve's Custom Rods