Hi Folks,
I do some very special work for people sometimes and I have a project that is way outside the norm for me. I have been asked by a gentelman to build an ice fishing rod. I know nothing about ice fishing and less about building a rod that is going to be worth the effort of build for this man. This would be a build of a prototype of a manufactured ice rod that would be brought to market and for a retail price that is going to make it a real challenge to build, $9.99. I am going to have to use a hollow blank and this rod will not be able to be a through blank construction. I will have to atach a handle to the blank.
Some of the questions I have would be what type of glues would be reliable in temperatures as low as -40 and maybe -50 below?
Will graphite reel seat arbors be reliable for this handle to blank construction?
Would anybody know of a hollow ice fishing rod blank that would be made of an opaque or simi clear fiberglass?
Are there any special thread coatings I will have to use because of the temperatures involved with ice fishing?
Will I have to use any special guides because of expantion and contraction of disimilar metals used to make guides and the glues used to install the inserts in the guides or would polished stainless steel be what I would be looking for?
Will conventional glues work for the handle materials and reel seat applications.
Any information will be greatly appreciated!

Wylie Wiggins

Wylie;
I have build many ice rods for winter fishing here in Ontario Canada. Anglers here have many preferences of what they want and there are too many variations to list.
Consider first that you may be hard pressed to build one for under $10 and make any money at it. If the $10 is critical, you will likely have to use the cheapest everything possible.
All of my rods, both firbreglass and graphite are built on cork handles only-no reel seat-this prevents the cold transferring to the hands like metal on a reel seat will do. Reels are taped onto the cork with vinyl electrical tape. The blank is mounted to the cork using Rod Bond epoxy and have never had a problem. I use large diameter Fuji Hardloy rod guides. Tip tops are as large as I can get, usually Fuji BPLT12 size 7(the smallest tube size avail) or the Pac Bay PHT10's, size 5.5. These tip tops have a large ring dia so the ice will not freeze up the ring as quickly as a small dia. They are also easier to break the ice out of. All other guides are sized similar. Built like any other rod, using Flexcoat with no problems. For rod length consider outside fishing or in a hut, length is important here. As for the blank, UL, Med or Hvy will depend on what they are fishing for and how deep. Need further info, please e-mail me at dparker000@sympatico.ca.

David Parker/ Flies, Rod & Reel Service

Wylie, e-mail me your fax# I have the info.

Wylie,
I also have built many ice rods, being from northern Minnesota. David is right on with everything. Most of the rods that I built , 99% of them are small tenneessee style handles. The electrical tape will not come off in the bitter cold. You will get ask that question. I did some experimenting with the handle placement and length of the blank. What I did is I used a logner blank than what the customer wanted. If they wanted a 24" UL I would work with a 30" or 32" blank. Being that ice fishing is a verticle and always verticle presentaion I made a slipt handle design. I placed the front of the handle that reel was taped to at the 24" mark. With the remaining blank I put on a small fighting butt on the end. The idea was to set the hook all you had to do was lift straight up and the back portion with the fight butt would dig into the underside of the anglers forearm. The guys that bought these rods with these handles loved them. The main reason was that they did not snap their wrist back to set the hook with all the heavy clothing and big gloves that are almost manditory for ice fishing. I hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me and I can try to explain better. Good Luck!, Patrick

If you can build a rod for 9.99 retail, please let me know how you do it, as long as it doesn't involve child labor!

Thanks folks,
I sure feel a lot more confident in building this rod for this guy now. I just thought the cold would not allow a conventional build. California boy you know. I would not use childeren to build my rods. I had to grow up a little to fast for my own blood and do not want to see any child loose any part of their youth. The man that I am building this rod for has connections over seas and they should be built in China if I can pull this thing out for him. There have been so many concepts in the area I am dealing with this should be a real trick to pull in at the numbers he would like to work within. Just my kink of job!

I must thank you all for your help and Tom for this web site as I would have had to spend a lot more time and would have most likely made a big fool of myself without.

Thanks to all of you,

Wylie Wiggins