Aaron Wilde Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> rick sodke Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I built a spiral wrapped casting rod for float
> > fishing on a discontinued 11'6" 4 piece Batson
> > spey blank.
> > The blank was rated as a 7wt with ERN: 10.16,
> AA:
> > 68.
> >
> > I find it underpowered for casting a 30g float
> > properly balanced, but okay with 25g float.
> >
> > My favorite float rod (Rainshadow XST1263F-2)
> is
> > ERN: 12.55, AA: 77 but of course only 2pc.
> > I would look for a fly blank with an ERN of
> around
> > 12 for your purposes. I don't find the slower
> > action of the fly blank makes much of a
> difference
> > for casting.
>
>
> I searched and found someone measured the
> rainshadow eternity 2, 4 piece, 9 wt blank at ERN
> of 10.1, AA of 70. So assuming the 10 wt version
> would probably be around 10.5 ish ERN? Which,
> would be slightly stronger than your 7 wt spey
> that you said hucked 25grams/float okay. So the 10
> wt eternity 2 would probably be fine for me using
> 15 to 23 grams/floats? Thats the highest weight
> fly rod from my distributer. What fish did you use
> it for/fast coastal rivers?

I would guess that the 10 wt Eternity would be more in the ERN:11-11.5 range. I would be surprised if a manufacturer had two rods within an ERN of 1.0 since they would likely be labeled as the same wt.
I float fish for Steelhead and larger salmon (Chum/Chinook) in Western Canada.

For reference the Mudhole MHX 10' 8wt has ERN: 9.27, AA:68. It is far too light for your purposes.

rick sodke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Aaron Wilde Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > rick sodke Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I built a spiral wrapped casting rod for
> float
> > > fishing on a discontinued 11'6" 4 piece
> Batson
> > > spey blank.
> > > The blank was rated as a 7wt with ERN: 10.16,
> > AA:
> > > 68.
> > >
> > > I find it underpowered for casting a 30g
> float
> > > properly balanced, but okay with 25g float.
> > >
> > > My favorite float rod (Rainshadow XST1263F-2)
> > is
> > > ERN: 12.55, AA: 77 but of course only 2pc.
> > > I would look for a fly blank with an ERN of
> > around
> > > 12 for your purposes. I don't find the slower
> > > action of the fly blank makes much of a
> > difference
> > > for casting.
> >
> >
> > I searched and found someone measured the
> > rainshadow eternity 2, 4 piece, 9 wt blank at
> ERN
> > of 10.1, AA of 70. So assuming the 10 wt
> version
> > would probably be around 10.5 ish ERN? Which,
> > would be slightly stronger than your 7 wt spey
> > that you said hucked 25grams/float okay. So the
> 10
> > wt eternity 2 would probably be fine for me
> using
> > 15 to 23 grams/floats? Thats the highest weight
> > fly rod from my distributer. What fish did you
> use
> > it for/fast coastal rivers?
>
> I would guess that the 10 wt Eternity would be
> more in the ERN:11-11.5 range. I would be
> surprised if a manufacturer had two rods within an
> ERN of 1.0 since they would likely be labeled as
> the same wt.
> I float fish for Steelhead and larger salmon
> (Chum/Chinook) in Western Canada.
>
> For reference the Mudhole MHX 10' 8wt has ERN:
> 9.27, AA:68. It is far too light for your
> purposes.


I ordered the 9 wt one. I've done a lot of digging and lots of people use 7-8 wt ones for steelhead just fine with 1/2 oz lures. Here's a quote from an old post on this forum by a guy who has built many fly blank float rods. "A 7WT fast action four piece fly rod converted to a spinning rod will cast 12lb mono and a 5/8oz spoon or drift rig 200 feet all day long."

I think an 8 wt would be good for me as far as fighting the fish goes, but I think it would be under gunned for chucking 20 grams of lead. I will build the 9 wt into a casting rod and probably limit the float/lead I chuck to 18 grams and 20 gram float. It should be a bit too heavy for fighting Coho/Steelhead in the lower mainland of Vancouver, as people use 7 and 8 weights for the Coho/Steel here, but I feel the 9 weight is probably better for chucking 18 grams of lead than the 8 wt. Keep in mind this is for SMALL systems, not like Chilliwack but city flows where I don't ever need to cast with a lot of force/distance. I almost went with the 10 wt but It's a bit overkill for fighting lower mainland Coho/steelhead



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2020 12:49PM by Aaron Wilde.

I agree the 9wt should be fine for systems with less flow.
Let us know how it goes.

Just hanging it out there, but line and lure rating are arbitrary, there is no set standard. The very popular Lamiglas Certified Pro Dave Vedder (Canadian) 10 1/2 ft. and the Bill Herzog (US) 10 ft. rods of that line weight were rated similarly and are very nice sticks. Saw an awful lot of them used up your way, I used a 10 1/2 ft. XMG 50 version up there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2020 11:53AM by Spencer Phipps.

While I wait for the blank to ship to me (could be 3 weeks) I've been reading up and learning as much as I can about building.

I have been reading into spiral wrapping and am thinking of giving it a go for this casting/drift rod. I already ordered my guides though and wonder if I might still get away with using the same guides but wrapped spiral style?
All are chrome frame with aluminum oxide inserts. I got size 16, 12, and 10 in double foot, 2x size 8 in single foot, then 9x size 6 in single foot, and a size 6 tip top (I got a few extra running guides just in case as i wasn't sure how many I will need/static testing).

I'm probably going to do the simple style of spiral as from all my digging it seems a lot of rod builders say they find there's not much difference in performance/they tested all the styles of spiral, so they do the simple version.

I was going to set my fly blank down beside my 10' casting rod, and sort of roughly mark out a similar guide spacing, place the guides on the marks with elastic band method, placing all the guides on the bottom of the blank besides the very first butt/strip guide, and leaving the 2nd guide off the blank. Then I was going to put the line through the guides, and make a mark for the 2nd guide (transition/spiral) where the line touches the blank. People say you don't need a massive guide for the transition guide and that it just needs to keep the line off the blank, hopefully a size 12 would be okay there? I also hear people say once the line is under the blank you can use less guides, much like a spinning rod as the line won't be riding on the blank as much when the rod is under load. I wonder if my single foot ForeCast F guides in size 8 and 6 will work okay for this as well.. all just ideas for now ;)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2020 06:48AM by Aaron Wilde.

Not sure if you'll all be notified or not, but sorry it took so long to reply with how the rod went. Canada post was late by a few months with the delivery of the parts. I built it a spiral wrap and it turned out great for a 4 piece fly rod blank into a casting rod. It's a very fast action for a fly blank and it was perfect for the Coho season! A little on the lighter side but it landed a few chrome Chums up to 15lbs okay too. Taken a lot of abuse already so the blanks durability is great. I would say this 9 wt fly rod is around 4-12lb rating built with a 13 inch rear cork handle. Cheers and thanks for everyones help.