I did a little fishing today and had some luck. But it occurred to me that unlike most fishermen that concentrate on the hooked fish and getting it in and landed, I seem to concentrate on my rod when I have a fish on. I watch the way it bends and how the line flows through the guides, making sure the stress distribution is right. I notice the sound of the line when it goes through the guides on a cast. I feel the rod as I use it and how fits me and what I do. It seems that as a custom rod builder my main thing when fishing is no longer catching the fish but instead enjoying how well a rod I designed and built works. Is it just me???

Perfectly normal behavior.

I seem to "observe" all of the rods that I have built for friends while they are fighting and landing fish. Not so much when I have a fish on. It's not just you!
Rog

You mean every rod builder doesn't do this? I think it'd be odd not to do this.

Worried about it on my first few rods and mostly about one I took on an Alaska trip for kings. But it held up fine and after that I had enough confidence not to question if you can actually build as good or better a rod than you can buy. You can.

Ken


Quite normal, be careful it does not become an obsession.

To modify a quote I heard "There are two things worth living for, one is a good fishing rod, and the other is a better one".

ENJOY

John

Being a new rod builder for myself i know i tend to watch what the rod is doing more than the fish i have on, even when i cast or using a lure i watch my rod...lol

When I started building I had those feelings and observations then it kind of wore off when every rod seemed to work the same. I kind of got disenchanted, rod technology; blanks, materials, guides and grips, just seemed to stagnate. The high modules blanks that soon came out seemed too fragile to build on. I quit, I had a quiver of rods that worked good enough and they still do. So after a lull of about 10 years I started seeing smaller guides, better HM blanks, the internet and Youtube! I began building again, the blanks had changed especially the actions or at least the variety that was offered. I knew that on my casting rods back when I started the guides needed to be higher near the reel so I used single foot spinning guides to get the line as straight as possible from the reel. The concept system came out (I would say the company but Jim will probably take care of that) and put all the pieces together for me. I embraced the new technology and try to bring it all in. I did however hold on to two things from the past that to me are superior materials: natural cork and titanium guide frames. One day I was building a rod for a friend using micro guides, new generation blank, etc., and after I set the guides and the epoxy had hardened, the stripper guide had somehow gotten bumped during the setting time on my dryer so I started cutting the stripper guide off and made a little cut too deep. Oh well start over with a new blank. I cut the remaining guides off and looking at the rod with a nice new split grip and no guides, I decided to do a spiral wrap. The first time I fished it gave that feeling that you Ken describe so eloquently. The fun was back and so was that feeling of everything working in harmony. When the feeling goes away push on your boundaries and try to find it again.

I built a spiral wrap and after using i have decided all my casting rod's will be spiral wrapped.

I occasionally do the same thing. Then I remind myself the rod does not "know" what is deflecting it, only that it is being deflected. So I tie my line to a brick, pull and jerk on the line, and watch how the rod responds. That satisfies my curiosity for several fishing sessions and several hook-ups.

Yes that is very odd behavior.. but quite normal for us.

Bruce,
Don't jump to conclusions on an all or nothing type situation.

Yes, spiral wrapped casting rods do have their place, but, as with anything, you will find, that there are some applications by some folks which - for those folks - simply work better as a conventional casting rod as opposed to a spiral wrapped rod.

Good luck

Sounds normal to me.

So happy to hear others confess this obsession, thought I might have to go to Rod Builders Anonymous!!

A different view. I am a fisherman first. I enjoy the sport and have fished my entire life. I became a rod builder when a friend introduced me to it. I build rods that are functional, sensitive, light, powerful and catch fish. I am also an art major and enjoy the aesthetics of a beautiful tool like a hand built rod with a simple, but well-done butt wrap. I rarely, if ever notice the "bend" or the line when I'm reeling in a fish. My smile gets in the way. After reading the above I know what will happen next, Drat.