Hello,
I'm new here and did look for this topic but could not find where it's been covered already, if it has. I'm looking to build a saltwater fly rod some between 7'6 and 8'. I can't seem to find many blanks in a reasonable price range. Sage makes the Bass II in that range but they are pricey. From what I understand they also have a very fast action and do best with an aggressive taper line like an outbound short or 40 plus. I'm looking to build a rod this size that is not as fast and casts regular weight lines. I'm shooting for a 6 or 7 at in the finished rod.
The best idea I have come up with to achieve the above goals is to buy a 4 PC switch blank around 10'6 or 10'8 and use only the top three of the four sections. Does anyone know what rod weight I will end up with starting with a 7 weight switch? Any insight on how such a rod would feel or perform? I'm not averse to cutting several inches off the bottom section if needed to achieve a more moderate action as well. The different size rod pieces would not bother me.
I know some will suggest fiberglass. I'm going to try that as well and see which I like best. I've found a 8' 7 wt fiberglass blank at a decent price.
Looking forward to answers or direction to any thread already covering this subject.
Reed

Ralph O'Quinn was a proponent of doing exactly what you suggest. Only thing to keep in mind is that the action will indeed become much, much slower, so you need to start with the fastest action blank you can. You aren't likely to need to cut anything off the butt. I'd consider buying a rod a full size, if not two sizes, under the line weight you intend to use.

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Lots of examples of that in the CC Data site to the left. One of the gentleman who left the info on the Dan Craft blanks fishes them that way successfully in Montana.
Lastly, I think speed has nothing to do with your needs, it's more about power with those Sage Bass blanks. Blank speed doesn't dictate line selection as much as blank power does in your case.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2018 11:29PM by Spencer Phipps.

Reed,

Do not use the top 3 sections of a fly rod. What will become the butt of the fly rod will not be able to handle the load applied to it.
CTS already has the following "short" fly rods designed.

6'6" #5 2pc
6'6" #5 3pc
7'0" #5

5'6" #6 4pc
6'0" #3 2pc


If interested - email
Herb Ladenheim
U.S. Distributor CTS Rod Blanks

Right, drop the top section, not the bottom section.

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Hey guys!

Thanks for the info! I'm going to check for the cc data you mentioned. I looked before and didn't find any.

Herb, I will definitely purchase CTS blanks at some point after all the praise I've seen. I've only built a few rods so far though and don't want to shell out that kind of cash until my skills are honed a bit more.

Was that a joke about dropping the top section??

Reed

Reed
Fly rods are easily "re-done" as skills are better developed - and if you are unhappy with the early results.
If you build on a "price-point" blank as practice - you are wasting your money and time on a project that will sit in the back of your closet.
If you can afford a better blank - go for it and have something you will use into the future.

BTW - it takes a lot of skill to design a "proper" rod blank. Cutting off a meaningful section - tip or butt - will change the way a blank performs.
Regards,
Herb
P.S. - Tom doesn't joke. My opinion - Tom was saying IF you are going to eliminate one end of a rod - it should be the tip - not the butt for reasons I stated in a prior post.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2018 08:13AM by Herb Ladenheim.

Could I make a shorter, lighter, and faster fly rod for close work by discarding the butt section of a 4-piece fly rod and putting a handle, reel seat, and stripping guide on the second section?

That will slow the action by a wide margin.

Any shortening of the rod, from either end, will slow the action.

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You may want to consider using an ultralight spinning rod blank and building it as a fly rod. My personal most popular is the St. Croix ultra lite graphite. From blue gill to bone fish its the best liked. I'm told it tucks nicely into a golf bag. A little casting practice on the back greens I guess.

How about a two piece medium powered 8’ salmon/steelhead rod. NFC has the ST804-2 (IM) rod on sale it’s rated for 1/4 to 3/4 oz. so should have the power you want. The sale price is $72.10, not a bad deal.
Norm

Hey guys,

On the last two posts, which weight fly lines do the two recommended rods cast best? Do they end up with a more traditional fly action or a modern faster action?

Thanks! Both great ideas.

Reed

The first 30’ of a 7wgt line supposedly weighs 185 grains or about .42 oz (~7/16 oz) so that weight is right in the middle of the ST804-2 casting weight range, so it should load well. It will have a fast action, but not sure how fast, since I have not used this particular blank before. In addition it is about the same weight as the sage bass blanks, less than 2 oz.
Norm

Yeah - you can use a spinning rod to cast a fly line - but the design for a spinning blank is totally different than a blank one would want for a fly rod. A spinning rod blank would be best suited for shooting heads. The whole beauty of fly casting would be lost.
Just my opinion.
Herb

I remember when "slow action" rods were supposed to be better for wet flies and streamers while "fast action" rods were better for dry flies, but I haven't heard this in a long time. What today, besides individual taste or casting ability, is the most popular or the most realistic reason to choose a slow action rod over a fast action rod?

I wonder if you could take a more common 8’6” or very common 9’ blank and trim equally from both tip and butt sections to get to an 8 foot rod.

I also wonder if the Nork Fork CB 704 Delta S Glass carbon composite blank would make a decent fly rod kept at 7’ or extended. At $40 shipped right now it is an incredible deal for a USA blank.

Another thought is a low power popping rod blank and there are some 2 piece options out there.

But then 8 foot 6/7 is very ideal for fiberglass. I have a LL Bean rod built on a Fisher 6/7 that I enjoy fishing with very much.

David,
Of course one can trim a blank how ever one might want to trim a blank.

But, but, but - really be careful about trimming the tip section of a fishing rod.

Depending on what sort of blank you are starting with, often 80% of the feel and action of a great fishing rod is in the top 2 feet of the fishing rod.

I build a lot of walleye jigging rods. For these very light biting fish, you can absolutely destroy the goodness of the rod by trimming more than 1 inch off of the tip of the blank.

Conversely, trimming 5 inches or even a foot off the butt of the blank will still leave you with a wonderful - walleye sensitive fishing rod - just in a shorter length.

I often say that if you want to make beautiful pool cues, just trim 5 inches off the tip off a wonderful sensitive medium light walleye blank and you will have the pool cue of your dreams.

Good luck

Phil,
In my opinion - absolutely no reason. But some who like the "Vintage" blanks and some of the Glass blanks would disagree.

My preference is for a fast actioned fly blank. My preferred CTS blank is rated X Fast/Fast. Even CTS' more moderate fly blank is Moderately Fast/Fast. I have some good friends who prefer the latter to the former.
Recently I had CTS build me 5 custom blanks (#'s 5-9) that were even faster than their stock X Fast/Fast blank. I fished the #8 almost exclusively on the Cape Cod beaches last May and June.
But none of then could be considered spin blanks.
CTS does produce a blank that they claim bridges the gap between fly and spin - the REVO Salt.
I did build one to use as a demo for customers - but would not fish it as a fly rod. There is a subtle difference between casting a lure or a fly line with the same weight at 30'.

However, I am very conscience of subtle differences while casting. I can tell the difference with a ceramic tip-top or a REC Recoil tip-top.
Also - I would never consider repairing a rod with a broken section. The influence of the patching material would bother me.
Herb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2018 12:21PM by Herb Ladenheim.

One of my friends has a Sage shop but he had only the Bluegill rod in stock, this may be the rod you're looking for, it by no means needs a special line, though the line that came with it has it's purposes if all your doing is short work with only a backcast snap and shoot style. Otherwise any line we had with us worked just fine casting it like any other rod, they included a 6 wt GPX, Wulff triangle taper 7 wt floating, Teeny T-200 and 300 sink tips, a 6 wt. single spey that was either SA or Cortland, and a double taper 7 wt. shooting head line.

I had a 3wt 10' rod that I was not thrilled with so I lost the butt section and put reel seat cork etc on third section thinking it would be a good thing . Nada, nope , now way. I absolutely hate it now . Waste of a not so good then but better than now rod .