Cabelas sells a fly rod (L-Tech) with a minimalist reel seat. I am guessing I could piece something like that together but is there something available as a turn key product?

Thanks,
Quinn

I remember hearing a duck decoy maker say something about how he managed to carve the fowl --- he just cut away everything that did not look like a duck! I would guess if you took a reel seat and cut off everything that is not really needed for mounting to the rod and for securing the reel, you would have a very minimalist seat.

Quinn, I was eyeing that same rod. I would love to find a source for those seats as well. Sorry, I don't feel like carving away metal seat either. )

Why not use a regular skeleton graphite spinning seat?

You could try a fly or spinning skeleton with graphite arbors.
I thought they were just being cheap and avoiding the cost of exotic wood on their top of the line rod.
Personally I thought it was tacky you used to get a beautiful rosewood with polished aluminum fittings, not plastic.

sorry late night double post...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2009 06:29AM by George Forster.

Quinn,
I liked that idea, too, but didn't want to pay a machinist to make those parts. Here's my attempt at an exposed fly reel seat. I used a flush mount seat because the front hood is machined to hold the foot of the reel (no insert necessary). The threaded barrel was cut to reduce weight (and for aesthetics). I wanted a little longer fighting butt, since this will be used for Pike and Musky. I used dry wall mesh for the arbors, and cut the mesh narrower than the seat parts so that the epoxy would have a "reservoir" to contain it. Sherwin Williams red tint was mixed with Flex Coat to make the ramps.
[www.rodbuilding.org]
George

George, that looks great. I've got an 8wt blank that is waiting to be built and I had planned on doing the same thing you did there. Very nice. What seat did you use?

Andrew,
It is an American Tackle A7. Thank you for the kind words.
George