Looking to build 4 or 5 piece pack rods in spinning/fly combo's. I would like to make them like the old (aluminum tube) Wright & McGill trailmasters (reversible combo handle/grip). Max line rating for mono is going to be 6lb test- Not sure about the flyline rating but am guessing about 2 or 3 weight? Will be using spinning or spincast reels. Unsure of flyreel size.

Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Mark

It seems to me that the ferruling of the butt section will be the biggest challenge due to blanks having a taper. If you can improvise a "spigot" ferrule system it may work.

I happen to have one of the W & M Trailmasters, so I broke it out (been hidden in the garage for years) to remind myself how it was constructed. It by the way is a much heavier rod then 2-3wt. It is rated as a 6wt.

It appears that if you use either a 4 or 5 pc blank, you would need to cut the butt section in order to create the grip/handle from a piece of it and then devise a ferruling arrangement to enable you to reverse the handle/grip. You may also remember that the W & M had a removable fighting butt that is used to plug the open ferrule when reversed.

One solution, is to build 2 butt sections (you will need 2 blanks or get the supplier to supply an extra) one set up for using as fly rod, the other set up for spinning. This would avoid having to solve the ferrule issue.

I'm not much help, but am interested in your eventual solution.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2009 11:19PM by Phil Erickson.

I've done several of them with metal ferrules, one female on each end of the handle to match up with the male on the butt end of the blank. Also did one with 2 handles and built in ferrule. To go this route you need to find an old blank that will match up to your ferrule and then build your 2nd handle on it. The one I did I used the original blank for the fly rod and made a short section for the spin handle with the ferrule in front of the foregrip.

I just was told of a very simple method for a handle and not being real smart I did not even think about it. Use a handle with slip rings. Just looked at my fenwick packrod (Model FF 70-4) and it has both a flyreel seat and slip rings on one handle and does not use the reversible handle. Highly intelligent people on all of these rod building sites

Thank you

Mark