Well let me tell you. Being retired poses a problem. I don't like to run to the bay on weekends and holidays, too many drunks and too crowded. However, during the week, my fishing buddies are working. So I have made do by finding freshwater ponds, bayous, and lakes nearby. My interest at this point in my life has turned to fly fishing which I can do very easily. Drive five miles from home and I can start fishing for small bass and bream. Last year I bought a "trash can" special fly blank from Lamar Fishing. It is an IM6 blank and made a great bream rod. Were I not a rod builder, I would have spent 10 times what I spent building my own rod. I probably would have gone to a fly shop, got sold one of those anti-gravity, x potential, you must own one these rods along with a bushel full of flies and other must haves. A call to Chris Helms, my fly tieing mentor, set me up with some patterns to tie that Chris suggested...they worked. In closing, as a rod builder, I can match the hatch , build the rod for the situation and not have to spend an arm and leg. But sometimes I do indulge myself, I am waiting for a CTS 8 wt. blank to arrive...gotta have one of those.

One word
"SATISFACTION"
I hope i spelled it right or i am gonna look a fool.

Regarding the CTS blanks,just built a #7 and its beautiful.Casts like a dream ,fishes even better.

Bryan

I just got through building myself a couple of Calstar rods one stand up and one 7' live bait rod. I took 8 dolphin (mahi mahi) and 7 king mackrel with that rod and so far it has not lost a fish yet. The dolphin were in the 15 to 20 lb range and the kings were in the just a little smaller. I have caught plenty of fish like these and larger on rods bought from a store but Its the satifaction of making something that fishes great and handles like it is suppose to. I also hunt and the same thing applies to my arrows (I haven't tried marbling on arrows yet though LOL) and my rifle loads. Its the thrill of searching catalogs for components and planning on how to use them with your own ideas thrown into the mix. Somethings work and some don't but when they do you have a better product that what could be bought at any store..

Thad
Dutchman's Creek Tackle

At first, I built my own rods because it was cheaper than buying the same quality off the shelf.

Then, I built my own rods because I could put better components on them than their factory counterparts. (Needless to say, they weren't cheaper anymore.)

Now, my rods still have better components on them than their factory counterparts. But, the goal is to increase performance as much as I can. In most cases, this means making rods that cast much further (with less effort) than their factory counterparts; and, rods that are really comfortable to fish all day long.

I build rods to save money. So that means the more rods I build that I give away or put in the closet the more money I save, correct? I don't really know why I like it. One thing is meeting other people at the shows and dealing with quality folks. Part of it is to be able to try different rods and different setups. I fly fish too. I doubt seriously if I would have glass, bamboo, and graphite rods of many different weights if I did not build rods.

I agree with sheer satisfaction. Being a retiree I also have a lot of spare time for building rods. A perfect day on the stream for me is to catch a Brook, Brown and Rainbow using a rod I have wrapped, grip and reel seat I have turned using wood off my property, along with flies I have tied. For me that is pure joy. I am doing all I can to instill the same feelings in my son, sons-in-law, and daughters. There is no better pastime!

Herb Knowlton

Performance and satisfaction to the end user. Pretty much makes looking at factory builds a waste of time. Always thinking "if only" about everything, guides, seat, grip styles, diameter and length. With my builds it is starightforward to put on a reel and hit the water, with no issues whatsoever. That feeling of invincibility comes over you and it's only when an 80 cm barramundi grabs your soft plastic and heads for cover that you take stock and work out you've grabbed the wrong rod!! Hahahaha!!

I find that I don't save any money if I build a spinning or casting rod on a name brand blank (St. Croix, Loomis, etc) but I can use the components I want and make it look as cool as I want. As I build more, the rods are performing better. With blank sales (green St. Croix legend blanks for example) or using other blank makers (Dan Craft, Batson, etc) I can build a better than factory rod for less money. Fly rods are a different story. One can always build a rod for less money than the factory rod with similar components. I've been able to make a bunch of fly rods for my self and my familly for what one Sage or Winston would have cost. Throwing BWO's and size 32 Trico's to smaller trout on a 1wt rod is a blast.