I have been thinking about this for awhile, and am ready to give it a try. These will be pan fish and smaller trout rods. Small Jigs, and Mepp's size O to 1. Can anyone that has done this give me some idea about how to figure out the fly line weight to jig weight thing? The Batson blanks I am looking at go down to 2 weight, and up to 5 weight. I am sort of thinking 2 weight might be too light, and 5 weight too heavy.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho

As a rule of thumb you can convert the fly rod weight to 16th's. a 3 wt would be rated for 3/16 oz, a 4 wt to 4/16 and so on. This is not exact but will get you started. I believe you will find fly blanks will meet your needs extremely well.

Don:

Thanks for the info. Is this sort of the Maximum they will handle? I am looking for something that will cast 1/32 oz. on the low side. 2 to 4 pound test line. I am looking more for the low side to high side thing.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho

The problem is that no rated fly rod "weight" is accountable to any particular scale. One company's 4-weight rod may be more powerful than another company's 6-weight rod. CCS ERN numbers will put you a lot closer, but they won't be available for all makes.

Regardless, you'll need to look at a fairly light blank, something in the 2 or 3-weight realm.

..............

Thanks Tom. I was looking at the 6'6" 2 WT. and 7'6" 3-5 WT. Batson Forecast 6 blanks.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho

If you really want to cast 1/32 ounce, I'd look hard at the 2-weight.

.................

Thanks Tom.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho

I have built quite a few spinning rods, using fly rods for pan fish and always use a 2 wt rod.

It works well.


be safe

I have to agree with Tom and Roger on the 2wt, possibly even a 1wt if you want a lot of fun with them

Ron Weber

Unless space is an issue, go long rather than short.

Fly rod blanks, like all other blanks, are rated by how much weight they cast best. Whether this weight is provided by a lure or a length of fly line makes no difference. Here are the ideal weight ranges for fly rod blanks as determined by the old AFTMA standard (the only one we have):
3wt. - .215 - .242 oz.
4wt. - .261 - .288 oz.
5wt. - .306 - .334 oz.
6wt. - .347 - .384 oz.
7wt. - .405 - .441 oz.
8wt. - .462 - .498 oz.
9wt. - .526 - .571 oz.

Phil:

Thanks for the numbers. I did a quick search and came up with the AFTMA numbers for the 2 Wt. blank. They are:

2WT.-.169-.196 oz.

I know I am not the smartest, and am sure I am simply looking at things the wrong way. I mostly use small tube skirt jigs in the 1/32 to 1/8 oz. area the lighter the better. I also know that this is the lead head and hook weight. The tube will add to this. The Mepp's size 0 lure weighs 1/12th oz. This works out to a lure weight range of between .0312-.125 oz. Even the 2wt. blank appears to be too heavy to throw even the 1/8 oz. jig. What am I missing here?

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho

Mike:

I would say you are missing out on the fun of fly fishing, but then I'm prejudiced.

Phil:

I am happy to say that you might be wrong. I love building fly rods, tying flies, and fishing them. I like catching fish more, and am not ashamed to say that I have drowned my fair share of worms. I am just trying to figure how light I need to go with the fly blanks to cast these jigs and lures.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho