I am looking to build an Ice rod for a guy in my unit as a gift. I have never built one before so I have a few quesitons. It is a gift so I cannot ask him too many questions.
1) a good bluegill/crappy pond rod 31" ultra light sound right?
2) what guides are used for this application? (I have never ice fished before, it gets in the way of steelheading)
3) short handle with slip rings? 7in or so sound good?

Thanks for the help!

Your on the right track, with an ultralight rod, I like wire guides so the foot doesn't hang over the width of the blank.

Eric,
I couple of suggestions.
I have built several hundred ice rods over the years and a couple of things from pat builds.
1. Rather than using any sort of tubular (or hollow) blanks - go with a solid blank.
2. For a blue gill rod, which needs to be quite light generally go with a fiberglass solid rod since it can have a very fine, very flexible tip without fear of breakaqe. There are some solid graphite blanks on the market, but the tips get so fine, that they tend to get fragile.
3. I tend to stay away from any soft of reel seat. Any reel seat contains aluminum or plastic which tends to conduct cold very well. the result is that your hand tends to get colder than it would if you didn't have a reel seat.
4. Rather, use either a foam handle, or a cork handle, and then use tape to tape the reel onto the rod. For either of these materials, it is nice to put a single wrap of tape on the handle where you are going to mount the reel. Then, mount the reel, and put two wraps of tape on the reel to hold it in place. When you go to remove the reel, remove onlyh the two wraps over the reel foot. That way, the tape doesn't grab and pull out chunks of foam or cork when you go to change reels.
5. With respect to guides, you need to ask if the rod is going to be used out of doors at all, or will it be used only in a heated shelter. The reason is that if you are going to use the rod out of doors, the guides should be larger to allow for the formation of ice, and its removal from the rod.

With respect to guides, you can use about any thing that you like. Alex's comment about using narrower foot guides of what ever type is a good one to allow you to have a nice wrap without overhanging the blank.
You can either use snake guides, or you can use single foot fly guides. I have built many rods, which use a single foot stainless fly guide for running guides, and then a simple slip over stainless tip that nicely fits the smaller tip of the blank.

You can check with the sponsors on the left for both guides and blanks.
A couple in particular have a very good selection.

Roger

Thanks for the help. Kinda funny I have a 13' 2pc float rod on the bench and now will have a 17-21" ice rod on there as well, talk about opposites!

I have a few things picked out and looks like I can even use the guided I have on hand (single foot fly H&H, or flex lite) evern better.