I have a friend who asked if I could build a fly rod that would allow the handle to be turned around, and function as a spinning rod. Apparently he had an old Zebco or something, and loved to take it on pack trips. Does anyone have any info on where to obtain such an item, or how to build one?

Thanks

Jim T

You could certainly build one thatr turns around, but it would be easier to build an extenion that goes on the back of the existing fly grip. Much like a long fighting butt extension. There are many examples on the photo section to give you ideas.

Hi Jim,

Spencer is right on. There is a photo of a spin/fly 4pc rod I built in my gallery here. Take a gander and
email me if you have any questions.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Another way is to use a tennessee type grip which is a much simpler design.



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

I've built several and used a cork & rings grip 12in. long. Instead of an arbitrary length, I now make the cork & rings grip the length of a normal fly grip & reel seat for the blank in question. I make the butt section a tight fit to hold a fly reel and the rest of the grip sanded to fit a spinning reel with the .92in. diameter rings, or 1.0in. rings for someone with large hands. Then I place the (alconite) guides as I would a fly rod, but with spinning guides (B/CYAG), to the choke point and fly guides (B/CLAG) to the tip, as with the New Guide Concept Primer and Static Deflection. Both are in the Library, above. Simple, functional, efficient, and a classic grip. I'm currently building a Matrix 6' 6" 2pc. 2wt. in this configuration. Ralph

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2006 11:14AM by Ralph Jones.

I've got two left from the National Rod Builders Show. It breaks down into 3 pcs. and assembles to just over 6', Fuji reel seat and alconite guides. I rate it as a light spinning and a 5wt , it's no wimp when it come to a 5wt. either you can shoot a good bit of line for the length of rod it is. Let me know if your interested.

We do this all the time but we don't have a fancy shifting reel seat set up. We in the Midwest build a longer spinning rod (on a fly blank) with a Michigan grip, or as St Croix now calls it (giving NO credit where credit is most certainly due) an Eastern Grip. This amounts to a short fixed 4 or 5 inch rear grip/fighting butt, which is not bad thing to fly fish with as when you stand your outfit up against a tree the reel is not in the dirt,. The fore grip is a standard length fly grip of your chosing. The trick comes in guiding, if you guide for a fly rod , your spin casting suffers, even a size 16 strippper guide is not good for spin casting and thats oversize for a fly rod. Now if you plan on using a UL or small spinning reel when spinning then this will work, but a Shimano 2000 or better is restricted by a sz 16 stripper guide, So we just use a sz. 25 1st guide and deal with the fly line wraps arounds that occur on occasion. If the fly reel yor using is for "Chuck and Duck" fishing (which requires not using conventional fly line), then you can go down to sz 6mm ceramic rings and tip. For regular 8 wt forward fly line depending on how you tie your knots sz7mm may be required to allow knots to pass/

Chris, the heaviest combo fly/spin I've built is on a 5wt. blank. So far the lightest is a 5ft. 3in. that CCS's out at 201. I havn't done the A.A. on the rod yet, a four year old destroyed the chart. The 5wt. is the only one I comfortable with the owner using 6# premium line. I've used spinning guides Down to the choke guide & single foot ceramic fly guides to the tip. Usually a #20, 12, 8 & 6's to & maybe for the tip.So far no one has complained or returned one.with The spinning guides allow excellent line shooting & distance. I like that grip, whatever it's called. I always test cast until I am satisfied with both spacing & guide sizes. These are all Bream &/or Crappie ultralights. What weight rods are you talking about and what are you fishing for. I learned what chuck & duck is less than a month ago. Ralph

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.

If Your using ultralight reels the spools are much smaller and thus UL's easily meet the 1/2 the spool dia, rod building axiom, for 1st guide size. A size 20 guide would not imped casting and as for shooting fly line its oversize and thus has no bottle neck especially in knots passing through smaller (#6) guides. I generally go 25,16,12, HIGH FRAME them 8 (choke) and 7 or 6's the rest of the way out, dependint on fishing stlye or the knots you tie when conventional fly line fishing Now C&D fishing is basically mono fiashing without the long casts. (Best shooting mainline Amnesia)
I will generally use a size 25 guide to start things out no matter what size reel is being used.

We do alot of Salmon and Steelhead C&D fishing using varying wt rods bdepending on species and water hieght. Usually an 8wt is the most universal, 7 wts for stellhead in low water, lots of guys like a 6 but stress the rod and eventually it blows up. 8wt for high waters steelie, low water salmon. 9wt is a universal salmon/steelhead mixed bag rod, The 8wt can be like that to alot of ppl. A 10wt for high wate, or small stream salmon. My favorite rod is a 4wt tied for spinnning UL rod 7'-9" for small mouth, but fish for gills also with it. When C&D fishing always wear glasses and make sure your rod has a space to recoil if the hook pulls free.

Thanks for all the great ideas and the offer of a rod. I am a new builder, and see this as a bit of a challenge. Sammy, have you posted a picture of your rod? Or a description of the handle arrangement? Thanks again.

Jim Tester

As soon as I can get the camera charged up I'll get it posted or you can drop me your email address at service@mickelscustomrods.com and I'll send the pic and info direct.

Hey guys, finally posted a few pics in the grips handles section on the photo page.