New to the hobby. Built 20 rods so far. All have been 6'6" or 7' med/lite to lite action rods. Average cost has been about $65 per build. Mostly casting with a few spinning mixed in. Going down to my place on the gulf coast of Louisiana tomorrow for a few days to get on some inside speckled trout, reds and flounder. I am bringing all of my builds for testing and selling.

I gotta say, I've been looking at the photos on this site and I am blown away by the artistry, workmanship, and outright beauty of what you guys are building.

Mark I'm surprised you haven't "up-sold" yourself by now. You need to get with the program! I suggest you head over to NFC immediately and buy a X-ray SJ732, and SJ736 plus a P 704-1. It isn't often you get to buy stuff at a 66% discount. Treat yourself why you can.

Of course you will be ruined for life and will then be forced to give away those $65 rods.

The fish don't care what the rod looks like. In fact all that fancy looking stuff adds weight which hinders absolute performance....or so I like to tell myself because I am too lazy to put all that time and effort into a rod,

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Thats $65 per build. NFC blanks are $75 each.

Mark, you must shop better than I do. I peruse every NFC sale, and my cart always totals to a lot more than that per blank. I need to actually check out one day to give NFC an honest try. The BBB reviews, their alarmingly inadequate responses, and weird spec tables for the ones I’ve perused have prevented me from consummating the deal. However, I’m seeing people here recently reporting much better experiences. The more good blank supplier options, the better. I’m going to do a steelhead float and doggin rod build soon, maybe I’ll give them a try.

The 7' med/lite with 9 double foot eyes plus a tip is awesome on speckled trout. Its pretty much a 1/4oz jighead and rubber combo rod. I build it with 7" double tenant premium cork grip, a 2" fore grip, a composite reel seat. Landed a pair of 15# reds on a lite power with the same components. That took way too long. Need a medium power for that. Just fried up a batch of crispy specks for supper.