A guy from work wants me to build him an ice rod for his uncle for christmas. I was planning on using a tennesee handle but do i use regular guides or what? If I do use regular guides do I need to use bigger guides to keep ice from freezing them up? thanks in advance

Ken -- When selling components to those building ice rods, I find that those building ice rods for someone fishing in a hut or closed in quarters, can get by with noraml guide set-ups. Those that fish out in the open, will need larger guides and very large tip top openings. So, the question of wheter the person will be fishing inside or outside, should be aksed, in order to set the rod up.

Bob McKamey -- Custom Tackle Supply

Ken,
We have St. Croix model ice rods for sale with guides , tip and winding check already on them all you need is to add the handle. Contact me if you are interested. You can find them on my website in the Specials section of my website-www.angelfire.com/ks/bingham
Thank you!
Karen Hapka
Bingham Enterprises
913-897-6657
binghamenterprises@kc.rr.com

Ked, I live in prime ice country and have built a good number of ice rods. The St. Croix blanks are very good, they are solid graphite, not tubular (hollow). About the only way to get a good action on an ice rod is to build on a solid graphite blank. Unfortunately, they are hard to come by - St. Crois and Thorne Brothers are really the only two viable options for quality ice blanks. Lots of places will sell you a fly rod tip section to make an ice rod out of - they do ok, but for the more serious guys, they don't cut it - the actions just aren't right. Fiberglass ice rods, I've never cared for either, some love them, most serious ice anglers steer clear of them. The only place I'm happy using a fly rod tip is on a longer rod, say a stand up jigging rod for pike or lake trout (rod will run probably 40-42" in length) - then, you have enough length that a hollow blank can yield a nice action.

Also, I would (VERY RESPECTFULLY!!) disagree with Bob's statement about outside fishers needing larger guides. I fish outside probably 80% of the time, and in a Fishtrap Pro one man portable shack 20% of the time. Guides can and will iceup wherever you fish - it's just part of the game. I honestly don't think the small guides ice up any more than big ones - and a person should really be paying close enough attention to their equipment to prevent iceup from becoming a problem. I believe the performance benefits of using smaller, lighter guides far outweighs any perceived potential benefits from using larger guides. That's the humble opinion of a guy who would much rather stand out on a frozen slab of water in below zero weather than fish on a boat in 90 degree heat - so my brain might be a bit goofy, who knows.... :-)

Rich -- I value your opinion, as we all learn something every day or we should any way. I stand corrected. What I should have said, is most folks that fish outside, have the 'Mind-Set" that the rods should have over-sized guides and tips to help prevent ice-up. Being from Tennessee, I have never been ice fishing, but the ones that I talk with over the phone that do fish in the huts or shelters, also carry portable heaters, which keep the inside a bit more comfortable. The modern ways of ice fishing seem to be more of the way that I would enjoy, rather that sitting outside on a bucket. But of course I am an Ole Southerner that sees a little bit of winter. Not the real severe stuff that you folks have. As one of my customers from up in Minnnesta once told me, he used to ice fish and had quite a few adult beverages when ice fishing. I asked him a few years back why he never built any ice rods lately, his reply was that he had quite ice fishing. I then asked why and he said that he had also quite partaking of the drink and so ended his days of ice fishing.

Bob McKamey -- Custom Tackle Supply

Nice, easy going post, Bob. You are a true gentleman!

I agree with what Rich said on the guide sizes. I USED to ice fish a lot and hardly ever in a house. I used smaller, normal guides and just found like he said that they really don't have much more problems with icing than larger (and usually, heavier) ones do. Gets darned cold here, too, and I can remember jigging perch outside all day many times in -20* weather.

I don't ice fish much anymore (but I didn't quit drinking PBR)!!

Putter
Williston, ND

Ken, I have built about 75 ice rods on the St Croix blanks, and have had nothing but great comments from others and caught a lot of fish on them myseld. Trouble is that they no longer handle the blanks. They always had outsourced the solid ice blanks from other companies and carried them to compliment the total lineup. I see that there are a few partial setups out there yet and there are also other companies handling the lineup. In this area I am familiar with DFL CUSTOM FISHING RODS , located in the Rochester , Minnesota area, and the others mentioned in the previous posts. As for freeze-ups associated with small guides, of which I build all my ice rods with small tips, we have discovered a product called Rain-x . Same thing that is applied to cars that go through the car wash. Ice will not freeze to the line if you apply or spray it on. We also move around a lot with the fish, so no time for the ice to build up as we are constantly jigging and reeling in the line. If you catch fish, no time for ice to build up?

Ked
Try janns netcraft, sponsor on the left.They have A pretty good selection,St croix, two different fiberglass and An I-M 6 graphite blank that comes in 42" length that can be trimmed on the butt or tip to get the right sensitivity that you need.I did have to go to mud hole to get A 28" UL St croix as janns only carried medium Action.I also love to fish In the winter when I can walk on water, but I usually fish inside A portable shelter with heater and aqua-view camera.I think the only time I ever had An eye freeze up was the tip top and that was A simple matter of putting the tip top in your mouth for a few seconds to thaw it out.That same method works when my slip bobber freezes.New to rod building having only built 5 Ice rods but really like the feel of these St croix rods.The medium action also comes with ST croix own large eye tip top for 12 bucks.

Outstanding info here - as aluded to, there are so many different types of ice fisherman(women), ranging from the nut cases who walk on 2" of ice to access first ice walleyes to the ones who won't consider ice fishing without having a shack that literally has electricity, satellite TV and a fridge. All in all, it's a wonderfull, very fast growing sport - one that I really wish component manufacturers would begin to focus on - there is a good market here and it's not being utilized.

Bob - I'm glad you did not take any offense to my post, as I certainly did not mean any! We northern guys need to get some of you southern guys up here to walk on water - it is awesome!!!!

Putter - don't mention jigging perch, I get all excited and pre-occupied, start tripping over things, etc. The nights are getting cold now (27 tonight :-) and ice is not that far off!

99.8% of people who read this probably think I'm nuts :-)

Unfortunately it seems like st. croix solid carbon ice blanks are either on their way out or the product line is being trimmed down. I tried to place an order for some ML and UL blanks, but only the set of UL blanks came and my distributor said that ML are no longer available...... That stinks, as I liked the ML much more for perching, as did many people around here (especially if you are fishing deeper water or sight fishing really shallow).

After building lots of different ice rods, I have concluded the following:
1. In general, it simply works as well or better to use fiberglass blanks.
2. Too many issues using graphite for these short rods. Either they are too stiff, or end up breaking.
3. I have stopped making them for the simple reason that there is really little to no money to be made by building them.

The general ice fisherman can go out and buy a $10 imported for and be totally satisfied and catch lots of fish with it.

It seems a better thing to do to spend time making nice long soft water rods.

Take care
Roger

Ked ,Midwest rod and reel has the solid carbon ice rod blanks UL,ML,MED...all blanks are 28 inchs long...we will have them on the web-site hopefully next week ...the web guy is working on getting them on now..and we have a good supply...the price will be $10.00 each...if you would like some before that e-mail me...we will also have wood handles and tips for them.

Bill@midwestrodandreel.com
www.midwestrodandreel.com

I'm a little further north than you midwesterners and the fish are a little bigger :smile:
What is out there in heavy and x-heavy blanks.
I am going for Lakers in the 30 to 60 pound range and a perch jerking rod aint gonna cut it. LOL

Here's a little video you might find amusing.
This was shot quite a bit further North but I'm sure you'll get the idea. Our ice in April is about 1/2 this.

[www.youtube.com]

Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2007 01:26AM by Dave Orr.

Thanks for your help guys, I figure I will go with the medium blank I fugure it will be ok for walleyes which is what I think this guys uses it for. I was going to use a tennesee style grip with the nylon slip feet, unless you guys suggest something else that would work better. I figured on using pac bay's light series of guides or the berkley SS304 guides...But I don't know which would be lighter. I looked at the St Croix blanks, mudhole has em for 12 bucks i figure thats what I'll use. But thanks for all the help.

Ken,
Talk it over with your client.
However, I prefer to use the Tennessee style reel seat, with no rings.
Rather, I use plastic tape to tape on the reel. With tape, there are no humps or bulges, or cold material - under your fingers when fishing.

The one down side is that if you plan on changing reels a lot, it is a bit inconvenient to change reels.

The other thing that I like to do, is to put one layer of tape on the cork first. Put on the reel, then add another layer of tape to hold it in place. The reason for the first layer of tape is to keep the cork from getting ripped up, when you might go to change reels.
Remove the outer layer of tape - change reels and then put the same or a different reel back in place.

Take care
Roger

I made a couple of rods with Karens blanks at Bingham Enterprises. I used a Fuji NPS16 reel seat and a couple of short pieces of wood to center the blank. It made a quick and comfortable rod for little to nothing. [www.rodbuilding.org] I like the feel of the blanks (probably to light for more than pan fish) and made my own spring bobber with a St Croix spring and it works out well.