Hi everyone, thought I would sign up after a couple of weeks lurking. I've wanted to build a rod for a couple of years now but I had so many already. Well this spring I went to the basement to get my rods ready for spring fishing and they weren't there. I've looked everywhere the best ones are gone. I'm glad I didn't have anything really expensive. The up side is that now I can build a couple of rods, yay. I ordered a mudhole special blank, anyone have experience with them, will it make a decent spinning rod? The blank is a IM6 7' 14-18 pound M power rod. I'll mostly be using it on my boat trolling shad raps and crawler harnesses for walleye. Also do some fishing for smallmouth, usually get some big ones too. Hope its not too much rod, almost got the ML. I got Fugi hardoly high frame guides, special Mudhole reel seat (cork), 7" cork rear grip, and a 2.5" cork foregrip. For finish I got flexcoat high build, also got U-40 rod bond and U-40 color lock. The rod is the blue one and I got navy blue size A thread for the wrap and orange for the trim. I'm a big Detroit Tigers fan so I thought I would go with team colors.
The library on this site is great. I used the template for a thread wrapper to make one out of some scrap wood I had around. I don't have a dryer yet, gonna turn by hand for now. I also made some cork reamers out of some broken rods, glued and wrapped medium grit sand paper to them, works good. I have tried some wraps on a old rod yesterday and they came out pretty good. Today I put some finish on them and I think I did a good job it actually looks good, smooth and no bubbles. My rod should be here Monday and I can't wait to start the real thing. Any comments or suggestions are definetly welcome.

Jeremiah,

You found the right site! You'll get all the help you need. Don't hesitate to ask question and be sure to check out the Libray above. A ton of good info there. I see you're from Michigan. Where at? I'm just south of Detroit where the Detroit River goes into Lake Erie. Best Walleye water in the world. Give me a holler at mbarkley@wowway.com

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Yeah, thats a great library, learned a lot from there already. Just checked out the thread inlay tutorial, think I might try one tomorrow for practice, dosen't look too hard. Oh yeah I'm from Petoskey, way up towards the tip of the mitt. Its ok fishing here, not like you have though.

Hi Jeremiah!

Have fun & good luck with a wet hook.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Jeremiah, welcome to the board! I'm a new builder myself, just started building last year. It sounds to me like you've got a good start on your first rod. I've built on a few of teh Mudhole specials and they're an excellent value. You'll find that you will improve your skills with each rod you build; and there will be more, and more, and more... This is a very addictive hobby. I just wanted to repair one old rod... found I can build a $200 rod for about $100 and save myself $100 (on a rod I probably wouldn't have splurged on but that's beside the point)... I have since built thirty rods and saved myself thousands of dollars :)

The professionals here on the board are generous with their advise and many will contact you personally to assist with any difficulties you may face. The vendor list to the left is the best place to start looking for components; most of them will monitor the messages here and will gladly offer their assistance with product information. The vendors will also have contact information posted on their sites and you can always call them directly. There are Announcements at the top of the forum listing; read them. A search of the messages will pull up tons of information that will most likely answer any question you may have but feel free to ask for clarification or updates. Another great source of information is the RodMaker magazine; I HIGHLY recommend you subscribe to it, it will cover techniques, products, trends, etc. in much more detail than even the best professionals could possibly do in a text based messaging forum. There is also a Library link above with some articles pertaining to the most common questions. The Photo section is another great source for inspiration and sharing your accomplishments (or accidents).

As for equipment you may need, once you're hooked, I think you'll want a rod dryer at a minimum, anything that can simply turn the rod a few rpm's will work. If you have the means you could consider a rod wrapper but many of the professionals still wrap by hand. A dremmel tool should be toward the top of your wish list if you don't already have one; they're great for preparing the guide feet and fine tuning the fit of some components. For simple, functional, rods you won't need much but creativity may lead you into many realms of customization. A mini-lathe would be a cool addition for turning your own grips in wood, cork, EVA, foam core, etc; if you're considering one then definately try a search of the messages here because there have been many threads on the subject. A weaving jig will greatly facilitate dressing up your rods with weaved thread art. If you have a printer, inkjet or laser, you may want to try printing your own custom waterslide decals; they're great for sports themed rods, or any theme for that matter. There are all sorts of possibilities... browse the Photo section and see what catches your eye... and be prepared to lose yourself in the art of custom rod building.

Welcome Jeremiah,

It can be a very inexpensive and rewarding hobby. There's a lot of builders wrapping rods by hand and there's know problem with that. Just a little advice If you don't have a low RPM dryer motor yet please get one it will save you a lot of disappointment and rework.

There's a lot of really good people on this site and like Mike said you will get the help you need. Most importantly there is know stupid questions.

Catch You around,
<>Dave

I don't know, I've asked a lot of stupid questions and done a lot of stupid things in the quest for a perfect rod. I would suggest a book titled Rod-Building Guide for starters. This can be a very additive hobby. Have fun and welcome.
Terry

Jeremiah,

Welcome, There is a lot of information on this board and if you can't find what your looking for just ask.
I think all of us started out wrapping and drying rods by hand, the tools and equipment will come in time the main thing is to pay attention to detail when building and finishing rods this is what makes a good builder. There is a article in the library here called Fit and Finish by Tom Kirkman it has a lot of good info.

Good luck and have fun.
Lynn Williams

Welcome to the board and enjoy your quest for that perfect rod. My number of completed rods is getting pretty large and I still have not managed to get a "perfect" one built! I will continue to try and I am sure you will also! One of the good/bad things about rodbuilding is that most of the time the only one that knows where the "flaws" are located is the rod builder! That simple fact is one of the reasons that many of us obsessive compulsive people build so many!

Gon Fishn