I'd like to do some custom grips on 3 to 6 wt. fly rods, and possibly not to do a hidden hood. I have built one with the Pac Bay A7 seat, and it's rock solid.

Any other seat types you guys would recomend for non-hidden hood fly set ups?

Before I moved to the nylon style exclusively, my favorite was the old Powell seat. Landmark had a really close knock-off. Neither is available now, I don't think, but I'm told Pacific Bay has one that's pretty close. American Tackle and Batson Ent. might also have one that's close.

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Is the old Powell seat like the Pac Bay A7 - that sounds familiar for some reason?

Not sure, I'd have to go find a photo of the A7. It might be.

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Marc,
I built a fly rod several years ago using a Powell rod blank and a Powell real seat. The Pac Bay A7, A8, A10 series of real seats are built very similarly to the Powell real seat. Batson also has a couple of models that that is similar to the Powell real seat as well. I like to buy the skeleton forms of the real seat so that I can make my own inserts. i hope this helps.

Mike Blomme

The PacBay A7 is quite heavy for the lighter rods in your range of 3 to 6. More appropriate for the lighter weights might be their UL5 or DL5, depending upon whether you prefer up or down locking. American Tackle does have an equivalent to the A7.

The Pac Bay A7, Batsons A7 and Amtak A7 are all very similar. I agree with Phil that they are a little heavy for the lighter weight rods. There are hidden hood options in all those suppliers for lighter weight choices, probably 3 Wt and below. I would still use the A7 style for 5 Wt and up and longer 4 wt as well.

Terry

Why not a Lemke LC1 in the downlocking style

Ron Weber

Marc,
Pac Bay has an AWG fly reel seat for use without cutouts.
If you are having problems Cabela's sells the reel seat or the grip and reel seat as a package.
Attractive price for the combo.