I'm building a 2 wt. 6'6" fly rod and was given a Battenkill Bar Stock #1 reel as a retirement gift. Planed on using a down lock slide band reel seat. Problem is the BBS 1's foot will not fit under the slide ring on the Bellinger & REC seats I have. Orvis says all their reel feet are the same dimensions and have no suggestions. Returning reel is not a good option. Can anyone recommend an appropriate seat?

Thanks, John


Problem Solved ! I found a high end, slide band seat that will do the job. Thanks for all the suggestions, I appreciate your time.

John



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2010 09:20AM by John Straight.

John,
The simple thing to do would be to take your reel to a fly rod shop and try your reel in various rods until you find one that fit and one that you like. Then, determine the manufacturer of that reel seat.

Roger

or you can file the feet to fit the seat ??

Bill - willierods.com

You may have to make your own (or have one made to your spec's) skeleton insert with a deeper mortise.

If you are not set on a slide band seat, I have built a number of the very same rods using both Batson's BUL 5 and American Tackle's U with many different reels used.

. I don't like a down lock as it puts the reel in the dirt if you stand the rod somewhere while fishing.

I'm pretty sure the foot for that reel meets the AAFTA dimensions released some years ago (see link below). I just finished a build using a Struble D27 Cap & Ring and had no issues with the BBSI, but I made my own insert.

[www.rec.com]

Walt Natzke
Ripon, CA

John,

If you're stuck on the slide band seat with a Battenkill reel, modifying the reel feet is your easiest option. I've even had difficulty getting the Orvis feet into certain mortised seats, and re-mortising the inserts is difficult without the right tools.

For what it's worth, TFO reels have some of the "thinnest" feet I've come across and their reels as large as 5wt (maybe larger) will fit under almost any "wedding band' or slide ring style seat.

Mark Griffin
[]
C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

John,
I have a Battenkill 8/9 and I just checked about five different reels seats including the A7, series, A8 series, the Batson RY series, the Pac Bay DL5 series, and the Angler's Workshop ADD (made by Struble). If you can live without the sliding band, there are a large number of reel seats that will work. The ones I mentioned are moderately priced. I suspect some of the Bellinger and Rec reel seats would also fit quite well. I also checked a reel seat I purchased from "Inserts by Les" a few years ago and it worked as well. I am making the assumption that Orvis is correct that all their reels use the same sized foot for their fly reels. Good luck.

Mike Blomme

I am in the middle of building two, 2 weight , 2 piece fly rods. I am using a Batson RX7 6' 6" dark grey blank and a 6' St. Croix Imperial burgundy blank. I recently purchased an Orvis titanium colored BBS I reel.

After much searching, at least three purchases, and a couple of returns (I am very picky) I decided to go with a REC CRAS-NSA reel seat with anodized aluminum hardware and a impregnated charcoal colored wood insert for the Batson blank and a Struble D2-S polished aluminum reel seat with a cocabolo insert. I believe you can upgrade to nickle silver components for either reel seats, but given I am using Batson chrome light wire single foot guides it isn't necessary. The impregnated wood spacer from REC is a little heavy to my liking so I may substitute a cork insert from Struble or fashion one of my own. Either way, when I am done, these two rods will look as good and perform nearly as well as any high end graphite rod costing $450 or more. Good Luck!