Hello,

I am interested in building a 2wt. I'm thinking around 8 feet long, give or take a few inches. At least 3 pieces. I really like my 9' 4wt Winston BIIx, so I guess that I'd like a rod with a similar action and feel, except they don't make a 2wt in that series.

I also tried casting a Sage TXL 7'10" 2wt and a Scott G2 7'7" 2wt, both of which were nice to cast, but I'd like a handle like my Winston and a different reel seat. I'll probably use single foot Recoil guilds. Does anyone have any experience with these rods?

With that information, I hope that someone can give me some suggestions on a blank that would fit that criteria.

Also, what reel seats work well with a 2wt?

Thanks,
Ken

I WOULD recommend a Dan Craft blank, but Dan doesn't make an 8' 2wt in more than two pieces...
He does makes a 9' 2wt 4pc, and a 8' 3wt 5pc. Dan's line of blanks is excellent from top to bottom, and I encourage you to try one...

As far as reel seats go, I really like the flared wood reel seats because of their light weight and great looks.
The REC PLRW is a good choice:
[www.reelseats.com]
as would be one of Bob Venneri's Catskill seats:
[www.venneris.com]

If you are really motivated, you can simply purchase the hardware from REC or Venneri and turn the seat yourself!

Walt



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2007 02:13AM by Walt Natzke.

I've built up the TXL 00 and 3 weight 7' 10" with REC CLAS cap and ring seats and single foot recoils. They both came out significantly lighter than the factory rods and are an absolute joy to fish. I'd reccomend the sage quite double taper for these rods. I didn't believe it would mater till I tried them. I can cast a #10 wooly bugger with the 00 no problem. I can't compare to a Dan Craft but look forward to building one soon.

I'd like to thank everyone on this board for the wealth of information and entertainment. This is my first post.

Going to the smaller guide sizes appropriate for a 2 wt, I'm not sure you'd gain a big weight difference with RECs as they stop at a size 1 in the single foots. A thin wire little stainless guide may actually be lighter both in weight and thread wrap size/finish.