We always discuss sensitivity, less weight and such, what about your most comfortable rod? What the design and material of the most comfortable rod you own and fish with regularly?

Mine is a spiral wrapped 7' All Star Titanium mag bass split grip baitcasting with foam handles and an 18mm reel seat that is NOT blank through....I'm not sure of the brand (it has no markings or label), but it may be an older Batson? The one on the left of the page: [www.rodbuilding.org]

I dont know what it is about that reel seat, but it's the most comfortable one I own and the oversized foam grips being coated with Threadmaster, just feel nice and smooth in my hands.

Whats your most comfortable set up?

DR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2008 10:18PM by Duane Richards (DR).

Although I like a lot of rods, my absolute joy to fish is a 3C62MXF, custom cork handle, shimano citica 100, spiral wrapped. All single foots (before I learned about micros).

It weighs next to nothing and will cast a gunfish out of sight.

Being able to start the morning off with that makes for a great day.

Mine has to be a St Croix 4C68MXF with a custom cork handle design I learned about from Don Morton at one time. Use it with a Shimano Scorpion 1001 and is spiral wrapped with Fuji Concept guides, double foot for the spiral and then single foot fly guides to the tip. I had initially intended the rod to be used for throwing spinnerbaits, but during a tournament one time, the spinnerbait was doing nothing and I switched to a small jig and trailer on the rod. The first pitch to the bank with this and I basically just stood there after the cast. The action of the rod was perfect for throwing that small jig, it took no effort at all. Now I ise that rod all the time for light jigs and small texes rigged worms. Got the blank on a visit up to St Croix where we got to build the blanks and tour the factory, now I can not wait to get a couple more of them.

My most favorite rod is a 4C69MLXF spinning with Alconite guides, a 16mm Alps reel seat, split grip and an aluminum butt cap. The reel seat weighs more than the blank, but it just feels right in my hand. I have 2 more spinning rods planned with the Alps seats.

I recently built a Lamiglas XMG LMB844 casting rod and it is very comfortable. I split the seat and it has a split grip. The guides are Fuji Hardloys and are spiraled, but I built another just like it with straight guides to test the difference. I put a Shimano 50 mg on it and it feels amazing. It is very light and comfortable. I let a friend that is a Loomis sponsored full time guide try it and he was very impressed.

I think it is so comfortable because it is light and when palming the reel, 3 fingers are directly on the blank. My only problem is now I want to try to top it and make one that is even lighter.

use micros... instant weight savings.

How do the Titanium casting guides compare to the micro guides my guess is they would be around the same and you can get bigger knots through without any dramas. I am talking a size 16 stripper down to a size 8.
Most of the lighter rods I build are for Barra and about the lightest leader that you would use is about 50 or 60lb up to 80lb in the timber in impoundments so I cant really use the micro guides. About the smallest guides we use are size 8 if you use anything smaller the knot usually ends up popping the ring out after a while.

Simon;
For what you are doing, Micro's would not work.
But comparing 6mm titanium guides to 3mm micros. It will take at least 4 of the 3mm micros to weigh about the same as 1 of the 6mm titanium’s

Comfort may not be a term that is associated with fly rods very often but I'd like to try. For me a comfortable fly rod is one that tells me where my fly line is at all times. If I have to think about where my fly line is (whether I have a small amount of line out or a lot of line out) or if I have to start whipping the rod back and forth to feel where the line is, the rod is not comfortable.

I don’t think comfort as described above relates to the action of the rod. Slow, medium and fast rods can all be fun to fish. Comfort seems more related to proper line weight selection. Over powered rods or under lined rods usually result in low comfort. This is why I first select the line weight I want to cast in specific fishing situations (fly size and average distance) and then back into the power rating of the blank I want. Notice that I didn’t say rod or blank manufacturer line designation.


Jeff Shafer

Good topic, so much time is spent in a Lab discussing the Physics of a rod blank, and so little time is spent actually discussing fishing the rod.My favorite spinning set up is pictured here: [www.rodbuilding.org] That was the first one I did taht style, but I modified it a little this Spring and the rod I'm using now doesnt' even feel like I'm holding the rod. What I did differently was used a size 20 NPS seat, and a matchign size 20 KDPS locking foregrip (not avail in the US, whihc makes it more comfortable). I trimmed the back of the NPS seat so that my hand rested on teh cork. Siince the reel seat was thicker, there wasn't that valley the seat and cork formed, so it's much more comfy. I also made teh back grip a little thicker so it's more comfy to hold while casting.

My most comfortable rod to fish with is simple spiral wrap built on a 3C68MXF Avid blank, Carbon fiber split grips, Fuji IPS seat, Fuji SIC guides DF8, SF6 Bumper, SF5 first 180, SF 4,s for running guides, Zirconi gold size 4 tip top. Daiwa Alpha reel with ceramic bearings. I use it with six pound P-Line even though it is rated 8-14 lb. Pretty much covers all my needs from 5" wacky rigged Senkos to spinnerbaits and topwater.

If for pure comfort for all day casting , I would go with a 6ft set up that is light as possible with the old style pistol grip.