Hey all,

I am going to build a rod on a 7'6" 6 weight SCII blank and am hoping to put chestnut wraps, gold guides, and a gold/walnut Pacific Bay A5 reel seat on it.

Will I be able to recess the A5 reel seat, and if so what is the outer diameter of the hood that way I can get the right cork inletting. Also, can it be installed without recessing into the cork? How would this look?

Thanks,

Ian Kiraly

i would check with whom your buying your components from to best match up what your looking for most will and are very helpful .........

Ian, PacBay makes preformed grips with the A5 inlet and they also sell single rings with the inlet that you can add to your custom grip. The A5 hood is asymetrical, not round so doing it by hand is possible but more tricky than a round inlet. I've done them by tracing with pencil, then slowly and carefully using a dremel sanding drum to shape the inlet. Lay off the coffee for awhile before you try this. I've done a few A5s that were not inletted, usually on cigar grips where the back of the cork nearly matched the hood diameter. They look fine to my eye but many prefer the hood to be hidden. Matter of personal taste. That 2F766 is a sweet rod, great for small stream smallmouth or streamer fishing in general.

The RA5 from Batson is the same seat but has a round recessed hood. Might want to grab one of those if you haven't bought your seat yet.

Scott Kinney
The Longest Cast Fly Rods
[www.thelongestcast.com]

Thanks all. :)

I'm not really sure what I am going to do yet, I may try a cigar grip and not recess the seat, but I'll check out the Batson.

Ian