I am planning on making my 3 1/2 yr old son a rod this winter and he wants a red rod. I am thinking of a 5'6" or 6' light power for trout & panfish.

The only place I found a red blank in this size range was Rod Geeks which offers a 6' blank.

Does anyone know of any other vendor?

Thanks,

-Chris

Chris,
Here is a red Spiderman rod with a matching reel for under $10.

[www.walmart.com]

For a 4 year old boy, I would think that this would be the perfect fishing rod.

There are other solid fiberglass short fishing rods on the market in many different variations - all of which work great for a child's first rod.

Simply put, you don't want to spend more for a child's rod, than you want to lose in the water when he/she gets tired of fishing and lets the rod slip overboard.

Be safe

p.s.
When a child gets to around 10 or so, then they will be able to use a better and or longer rod.

The Rod Geeks blank is more expensive than I wanted to spend but I'd rather him have a real rod instead of a toy. Also, I can't get better at building rods if I buy him a Spiderman rod and it's easier to justify the cost of building a rod to my wife if it is for my son. :-)

Right now he uses one of my 5'6" UL rods. I help him cast and he does the rest. He loves flipping through new Mudhole catalogs and already picked out his red reel seat and red camo grip.

I think the biggest danger in building him this rod now is that his favorite color might switch to blue or green in a year!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2016 02:42PM by Christopher Ritter.

Chris, I do agree with Roger that you don't want to spend much money on a child's rod that can be thrown over the gunwale of a boat or mistreated only the way a 4 year old can mistreat it. I will say that I built both of my young sons fishing rods when they were 4 years old, but i did it on the cheap. I picked up a couple of cheap fiberglass blanks from Jann's Netcraft and built them up with inexpensive reel seats and inexpensive guides. I built on 5 foot UL blanks for my boys. You can always paint the blank red with automotive paint (there are lots of threads on this subject). The setup is completely up to you, but I would recommend building it as a spinning rod and trying a triggerspin or underspin type reel. If you want durable look to the fiberglass and you could even build on an ice rod blank if you wanted a shorter build. Right now I am building both of my sons short, light line weight fly rods for panfish at their grandfather's farm pond. These are also fiberglass for durability. They enjoy yard casting dad's fly rods and the youngest one (now 4 1/2) actually has a beautiful form and takes instruction very well. Good luck and just make sure to take the time to fish with him as often as he wants and you are able...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2016 04:53PM by Jared Taylor.

Chris, here is what I would suggest. MHX makes several panfish rods under $20 Brand new good blanks on which I have built many kids rods. If he wants it Red just paint it with Krylon Fusion plastic paint. If you want to clear coat it you will need to let the paint dry for at least a week before doing so. Use EVA grips real inexpensive and there you have it. No big investment and if he changes his mind on color repaint it. My children are in their forties and still have the same preference for color, for what that is worth...lol?

Also you can cut down the blank if you want shorter for now. I use a bait caster seat and a Zebco with only a few guides for the kids. And if you want to get fancy and practice your rod skills add a few inlays to the EVA with craft foam found at Jo Ann's for under a $1

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Tom



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2016 06:28PM by Tom Wewerka.

OR
paint it with Dupli-color Auto Paint drys overnight then they have several clears on there web site
Just find a store that carries the paint
Wash the blank off with some alcohol and then hit it with a fine gray scoff pad Wipe it off with a paper towel - NO ALCOHOL - maybe water DAMP and then dry WELL hit it with a hair dryer to make sure it is DRY

Bill - willierods.com

I agree with Roger. I have a 5 year old and a 10 year old. I built my oldest a rod when she was 5 and she used it once. I built her another when she was 7. She used it a couple times. Now that she is ten I'm building her another rod because she is always using my rods. My $0.02 is if you have an old rod you don't use rebuild it for you child. Or find one at a yard sale. You can cut it down, repaint it, etc. Low cost solution and then you can spend the money on a new rod for yourself. Luckily my 5 year old is using the rods I built for the 10 year old. Good luck, MH

Tom, that looks great and I might have to steal your color scheme for my daughter when she's old enough to reel in a fish. And Chris, Tom is right on the Krylon, it's much cheaper than auto paint. As far as the blanks go, I have used both, the Jann's are a slow action (like a buggy whip) where the MHX panfish blanks are more moderate. So the rod speed would be up to you. Be sure to post pics when you get it built.

Dupli Color Aersol cans -- INEXPENSIVE

Bill - willierods.com

Bill inexpensive is a relative term. What Jared said is based on Chris spending as little as possible. Duplicolor on Amazon for 8 oz is $11 not a bad price, Krylon for 12 oz is $4.63 and on a kids rod why not??

Tom

Thanks for all the info, I appreciate you taking the time to reply!

I've done 5 rods for my grand kids. I would suggest you skip the casting seat / push-button reel and go with a spinning setup and a trigger spin reel. Much easier to use and less chance of throwing the rod in the water. It's also an easy transition into a spinning reel.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]


And let the kids help build! [www.rodbuilding.org]

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

Hello Chris.

Why not buy a pink CRB blank ($21.95) and sand it down and paint it red?

Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

Get him exactly what he wants and let him help you with the build. If he helps with the build he will always love that rod as it will be his "first build". If he changes his favorite color later,then so be it, the rod will still have meaning as it was his "first build". At least that's what happened with my daughter. LOL

Chuck Mills Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've done 5 rods for my grand kids. I would
> suggest you skip the casting seat / push-button
> reel and go with a spinning setup and a trigger
> spin reel. Much easier to use and less chance of
> throwing the rod in the water. It's also an easy
> transition into a spinning reel.
>
> [www.rodbuilding.org]
> /photo/7003/title/mud-hole-pink-26-purple/cat/507
>
> [www.rodbuilding.org]
> /photo/8260/title/granddaughter-27s-rod-in-action/
> cat/506
>
>
> And let the kids help build!
> [www.rodbuilding.org]
> /photo/14820/title/never-too-young/cat/506


Looks really good Chuck