I have a chap here that's got a young'un, that he wants to introduce to dry fly fishing..
Therin lies the challenge: locate a stick under 7 feet for a 5 weight.....not a 2,or3,or4, but a 5 wt.
Is there a maker out there, doing this type? I'm beginning to lose search patience. Living where I do, I'm not privy to a third of what's out there.
Glass or carbon, no never mind.
Thanks in advance. KD

How old is the kid? What are his abilities with a fly rod? I'd look for something that will load easy at relatively short distances for him - about 20 to 40 feet.

So, I'd go to the CCS data page and try to find a blank in the length you want that had an ERN of no more than 5, preferably 4.5 to 5.0.

Should make it easy for him to learn with a 5-weight line and it would work well at the distances which most beginners are going to be working with.

.................

Thanks Tom ! I wish I was a blonde, then I could claim a blonde moment..... I had not thought of the obvious...ccs. You da man.
Best, KD

why a fly rod under 7 feet? my little 6 year girl uses a 7'-6" fly rod and although it can be a bit unweildy for her (yeah, i'm usually standing next to her when she fishes) she'll grow into it pretty fast. and those tiger eye fly blanks can be nice and light in the 7'-6" and under class. you could always fish a 4 weight with a 5wt line... right? since he's new, it would help him feel the load better, might fish better in close too. then you could always use a SA GPX WF4F line, which is probably more like a 4.5 line.... but i'm new at translating this stuff. check out the forecast 7'-6" models in 2 and 5 pieces. refer to the common cents chart, but look at the fly blanks page, not the first "rods" page which shows up.

another way to go about this... are you a dry fly fisherman? how about this kid's father? here's a thought. have a bamboo rod maker build a nice 6611 dickerson blank!!!!! around $300 some places. YEAH BABY. then just HOPE the kid hates dry fly fishing and then you or his father can take it over ;-)

eric
fresno, ca.

Thanks for the input, Eric, but when the paying customer goes past insistance, straight to a demand for a stick under 7', it's yes sir, no sir, three bags full, sir....I am a flyrodstitute.............*LOL* But humour aside,
I know the dad very well, and we will enter into some serious discussions about the project. Even if one builds to exact specs, and the client turns out to be unhappy with the results, the wrath deflects back to the rod maker, not the spec maker.....
I'm taking a look at the Spin blank data, and several models would appear to fit the bill.
Best, KD

Ken,
Couple of years ago I built a 6 ft 5 wt fly rod on an ultralight spin blank from Netcraft, they still carry the blank in their catalog. It comes in matte black and plum which is a very nice brown color. It should fill the bill nicely for what you want.

Ken,
Correction, that rod was a 6 1/2 ft. rod Janns Netcraft #296-209. They still carry it and it made a nice little rod. It's a 2 piece medium action blank.

Thanks, Sam.....I'll see if they ship up north. best, KD

I built a 7'6" 5wt IM6 from Hook & Hackle for my daughter who is 4'6" tall. Its the black one, not the green. I also built one of the green rods, 9' 3wt, and don't much care for it, too soft. Stay with the 7'6" charchol and you will be good to go. I think I bought the whole kit for around $60 when they were on sale. Nice rod. She can control it much better than the 9' rod she had and it cast well at short to medium distances. And, when she out grows it I will have a small stream 5 wt rod.