I've seen photos here and in Rodmaker of combo rods with removeable or reversable butt grips built to be used as either fly or spinning rods. I did some searching but could not find any thing about what guides have been used for this type rod. Anybody have any recomendations?

Thanks
Brian

Hi Brian. I can only offer what I have in the rod rack as examples and experiences.

1. An old 2 pc., 7' JC Higgins combo with a down-locking reel seat and a Tennessee grip with slip rings, of medium action with wire frame guide/tip top setup that is straight out the table for spinning rods. Although this rod can chuck a spinner a mile the fly line slaps a bit against the blank so distance and presentation are not good.
2. An old 4 pc., 7' Orvis Full Flex with a Tennessee handle (makes it a combo for me) and aluminum slide rings of slow action with wire frame and snake guide/tip top setup that is straight out the table for fly rods. All snake guides are over-sized by one size. This rod performs very well for light spinning and with a #6 fly line.
3. A new 4 pc., 7'6" Micro Lite from Bass Pro Shop with a reversible handle and an ultra-light spinning guide/tip top setup with single foot, guides with inserts of slow action. This rod also performs very well for light spinning and #5 fly line. This rod is wicked lightweight and this likely helps the fly part of the combo.

If I were to build one I would tend toward the Orvis or Microlite setups since they work for me in situations when I want a combo. I would be happy to share the guide sizes and layout of either rod should you be interested.

Good luck!
Chris

I built one of these for myself and set the guides up for fly except that I used a high frame stripper. It works well for both fly and spinning.

Hi, I'm building what I call in reverse, "Spin/Fly" rod and have purchased two "closed faced" reels with trigger for fishing like a spinning rod. The reels are Diawa "underspin 40xC and Pflueger Underspin Microspin "U" I used a 7'6" two pc rod and build tha handle like a fly rod except I put a short cork butt behind the reel seat. I used Fuji Concept guides. I havent finished the rod yet, but did a mock up with the guides in place and it cast very well. One could still use a fly reel too. Reggie m. Finch

As it happens, I am in the process of building a combo rod at the moment.

My customer wanted a rod to cast 8# fly line and 3kg to 4kg braid, with unweighted soft plastics.

Tough ask I thought. I have some great old blanks in my workshop which I really love.

9ft, 8#, Mitsubishi, MR40-HR. No longer made unfortunately.

The plan is to turn a wooden grip, around 11 inches long and use FUJI FRS Cam Lock Graphite Pipe seats. ( no longer made I am told. I have the last 2 pair in Aus.)

The guides will be alconite single foot and built on the same pattern as a fly rod.

I do not expect this rod to do both jobs as well as it should, but from my experiments, it looks as if it will do both jobs adequately.

Paul

I fish therefore I am.
www.hookeduprods.com

I like this topic, I have a friend that is wanting one of these and have been curious as to what others did. I was intending to use a Tennessee grip.

I have an old spinning/fly rod in my stash that was built many moons ago.

I made it on a fiberglass spinning blank and used small, equal sized, singlefooted fly guides with a larg(er) stripper. It works fine still.

I made the handle from a piece of fiberglass blank with a spinning seat installed, I put an EVA grip on it and flared both ends to make ferrules to match blank. I reinforced the ferrules with fiberglass. It reverses to meet the desired fishing technique. I made a cute little butt plug from rubber to fit into the unused end of the handle.

I don't know why I quit using it as I pulled in many a good fish with it. Maybe because I started surf fishing with the long rod and moved away from it.