Hi Everyone,

Not sure if this has been discussed before or not. If it has, sorry for that.

I have found myself in the situation several times that I have a build to do and I don't have a reel that I can use to do static deflection testing, guide placement or test casting with. I'm the proud owner of about 10 reels, most are larger reels, 6/0 and up. So when I have a customer that wants to have a rod built for a friend and he tells me he's going to be using a "Quantam 8500 or 9000", what am I to do ? I ask all my local fishing buddies if they have one and they don't. I can't borrow the reel from the future rod owner as it's a surprise gift. So I was wondering, has anyone ever considered creating a database (even a simple excel file for that matter) that has a list of builders and the reels that they own. That way when I have a build to do for "reel ABC", I can do a search and find someone that owns that reel. I could contact them, pay shipping both ways, and use the reel for a couple of days and then send it back. I would be more than willing to do this for others, obviously as long as I didn't have a fishing trip planned and would be needing the reel.

Any thoughts, suggestions, comments ??

Thanks very much, Jeff Shields
Shieldski

That could work, but it's still a lot trouble for everyone involved. If you have several reels of various sizes, most times you can closely match something to whatever the customer is going to be using. If you can match the spool diameter, you're going to be pretty close. It's great to have the exact reel the customer plans to use, but for all intents and purposes you can get by nicely with a reel that is simply very close in spool size and height (and width on casting reels) to his.

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I would think that if you didn't have something close you could buy one from Wal-Mart, put some old line on it, do your tests, take the line off and then return it.

GReat idea. I have a guy looking for a rod built on an AFAW blank using a ZeeBaas reel. Anyone have one they could loan me?

Like Tom says if you get close to the reel size you'll be fine.

What I have done is looked in flea markets and garage sales and bought old broken reels in the different sizes, both bait casting and spin casting, then when someone wants a build on such and such a reel I have something close enough to do the static testing. I pay $1.00 or up to $5.00 for the reels. Not much expense and you always have them around because you can't use them for fishing and nobody wants to buy them from you because they are broken.

Not quite sure why you feel the need to chime in with comments like that, Billy. Sure doesn't help any of us.

Would it not just make more sense to have a database of the reels and the Diameter of teh various spools as you really dont need the reel to set up the rod do you.

Jeff I guess Billy was trying to say is no one is that trusting to send a 1200 dollar reel to someone so they can set up a rod. I know I wont thats for certain.

Rolly Beenen
Rovic Custom Rods

Thanks for the comment Rolly. I personally like to test cast all of the rods I build, so without a reel that would be difficult. The diameter of the spool could give me some info, like size of my stripper guide and maybe even a ballpark distance from reel face, but without the actual reel, or one similar to it, how can you truly optimize your casting distance and guide placement ? Static testing is only part of the equation, IMO.

I understand exactly what Billy was trying to say.

The thing is, I greatly suspect that there are some guys here who are so good natured and so trusting that if Jeff asked them to loan him a $1200 reel... they just might do it. That's the nature of a lot of the rod builders here.

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I feel the same way, Tom, thanks for chiming in again.

Jeff

Jeff, you dont' see the potential for total disater here? THink about the horror of shipping a $1200 reel to somone, just so they can test cast it, and it gets lost in transit. Now what? Hope and pray teh carrier pays teh full $$$ value of insurance...take a peek at some of the old posts on shipping abortions and not being reimbursed the full value due to depreiciation or whatever excuse they give.

you WILL have guys who want to test a reel out before purchasing, or need it for a special trip, and use this as a means of obtaining a reel for a week of fishing, or a test run to see if they want to by the reel. You WILL also have people giving fake names just so they can get a free reel and disappear.

I figured posting what I did about a $1200 reel would make all that pop out. If you can't get teh reel, just build the rod using a similar reel. TRuth is the guy getting the rod more than likely will not notice the few feet loss of casting distance (if that) that willhappen if the guides aren't 1000% in teh right places due to teh reel. You should be able to come close enough in a situation where you are unable to get teh reel.

PS - I have a Penn International 50W and an Avet T-REx in my basement righ tnow to build some guys a couple of rods...so I'm not saying to ignore the importance of haiving the reel, but there are about 40 million rods which are built witout a reel and they really do work pretty good.

I kind of like the idea but like Billy see problems

I fish tournaments all I need to do is send a reel out to realize it won’t be back for my next competition.

Or it comes back with a problem that I can’t get repaired in time.

And if you build your reels permanent to the rod like me there’s a whole set of other problems.

Jeff, if you are intending to build a lot of rods, look on @#$%&.

There is some real cheap rubbish on there.

You would soon end up with a collection of test reels. Just for your purpose.

I cannot take credit for this Idea, my friend suggested it to me and I have been looking on @#$%& for a few weeks now. There really is some cheap stuff comes up that would be good for this purpose.

But I don't think I would fish them. LOL

Paul

I fish therefore I am.
www.hookeduprods.com

I think test casting a reel will do no good. Every individual casts differently... every individual has different thumb pressure and sets up a reel differently. What if the reel is sent in for after market modifications? Similar size spools can help with guides, but will not tell you casting at all with todays new reels there is a lot of difference in free spool from one to the next.

You cannot duplicate someone's fishing style. I lack the experience of many and I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong, but this seems like a wasted step.

Get the guides set up based upon reel size and type of rod wanted, do you static test, build the rod and it will cast. My opinion.....

The shipping costs, risk, time spent waiting for shipping, all make it time and cost prohibitive...... I would not send my reels out to a stranger..... the internet is full of frauds.... I know there are more honest guys out there, but one fraud can really hurt. Two cents.....

I just tell my customers to bring me the reel they will use on the rod I'm building. This takes all the hassle out of it.

If at first you don't succeed, go fishing, then try, try again.

John, I like to test cast all my rods if it is possible. Even more so if it is a blank which I have not built on before.

Ralph has the right idea.

If possible I always ask my customers to bring the reel they are going to use on the rod they order.

Apart frm helping me, the customer always feels they are recieving the best possible outcome for their money.

Sometimes this is not possible, which is were I use my own reels, but at times you also find different lines give a slightly different result.

Where does all this stop. At what point do we say we have done our best ?.

Paul

I fish therefore I am.
www.hookeduprods.com

While it is still profitable if you are producing rods for income.


paul.fannon Wrote:

> Where does all this stop. At what point do we say
> we have done our best ?.

> Paul

Jeff,
I have found that if a client desires a rod to be built to a specific reel, then they will be more than happy to loan you that reel while you are building their rod. Very few of the people I sell rods to care about the rod matching the reel. They are more concerned to get a quality rod that looks like it is custom made. Most don't understand the performance benifits of matching the rod to the reel when you build.

In short if they cant spare you the reel during the build process do the best you can with a similar reel