Hi all,

I am looking to build a pair of fly rods, one for me and one for the brother in law.

Looking for suggestions on a good budget blank that will make a nice rod. Neither of us are 'avid' fly fisherman so we don't need anything fancy - just looking for an affordable, quality, lightweight rod blank. ($50-$80 range) I hear the suggested universal size is 9 ft 5 wt, does that sound about right? Fish species would be stream trout, panfish, and the occasional smallmouth/largemouth venture.

I also would appreciate any guidance or recommendations on handles, guide styles/sizes, and the like!


Thanks a lot all!

For general use that’s not perfect for everything you mention , a 9’ 5wt fits the bill. Once you get more involved you may find a 6 -8wt more suitable for bass and a 3 or 4wt better for trout and panfish but that’s down the road. Personally for a first build to avoid confusion, I’d search out rod kits that include all the necessary components ready sized for your blank. Check the list to the left, lots of them have this service.

I've had great success with the Rainshadow products. I've built at least 8 of them for myself and family. Another option Ross suggested is look for a kit from one of the major distributors.

Chris
Your email is hidden.so I can't contact you directly.
I have 2 fly rod blanks that may interest you.
One is a 9'0", 4 piece Dan Craft #5.
The 2nd is a ('0", 4 piece Gatti (italy) #6.
The Gatti was $240 and the Dan Craft was $220.
Both have been in my rack for years.
I will sell both for $150 just to get them out of my rack.
Click on my name to get email
Herb

NFC is having a big sale. The classic is in your price range. I just built a couple and they are my favorite casting rods.

If you have no experience building, a kit is the way to go! If you have experience, working with your supplier, you can put together all the components required. As mentioned above NFC is currently having a sale with substantial discounts and their blanks are very good. You are correct in building the 9' 5wt as a pretty universal rod.

X2 North Fork Composites. The discount is taken in the basket. Many to choose from. A 5 weight is a great starter rod for what you want to catch and 8'6"-9' is a good length. Batson / Rainshadow is also a good choice.

Repeat



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2020 08:36PM by Lance Schreckenbach.

Herb Ladenheim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Chris
> Your email is hidden.so I can't contact you
> directly.
> I have 2 fly rod blanks that may interest you.
> One is a 9'0", 4 piece Dan Craft #5.
> The 2nd is a ('0", 4 piece Gatti (italy) #6.
> The Gatti was $240 and the Dan Craft was $220.
> Both have been in my rack for years.
> I will sell both for $150 just to get them out of
> my rack.
> Click on my name to get email
> Herb

Thanks for the offer herb, I'll consider it!

Thanks for the recs everyone, I'll look into the NFC blanks.
For the record, I've built rods before, just not fly rods. Is there a general consensus on handle material or style that I should know about? Also some question for guide sets. Thanks!

Handle style or shape for a 5wt is your personal preference. Cork is the most popular handle material with carbon fiber becoming more and more so.

As for guides, my preference (I only build fly rods) are single foot.

I would agree on 9ft. 5wt.

Look for a sale on Batson Unity rods, PacBay Arctos, NFC (on sale now), Other options would be Rod Geeks Hook and Hackle rotates sales on Unity and Arctos every few weeks, and their in house Xi blanks are also good. There are plenty of blanks on @#$%& as well. Great buy on Diamondback blanks here: [rodbuilderswarehouse.com]

If these are to be "working" rods I suggest you use short wraps on your guides and add as little extra weight as possible. Avoid embellishment. Weight slows a rod down and tires the caster. With false-casts and line pick-ups the fly caster tires his casting arm several times as quickly as the spin or bait caster. If you must embellish your fly rod do so around the butt end of the rod. Further out is leveraged weight, which will fatigue the caster at an accelerated rate.

like Phil says..use short wraps and don,t forget the ferruls, use short wraps here too,or better don,t use frrrule wraps at all, they are not needed since the blank maker has already reinforced them..

Phil Ewanicki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If these are to be "working" rods I suggest you
> use short wraps on your guides and add as little
> extra weight as possible. Avoid embellishment.
> Weight slows a rod down and tires the caster. With
> false-casts and line pick-ups the fly caster tires
> his casting arm several times as quickly as the
> spin or bait caster. If you must embellish your
> fly rod do so around the butt end of the rod.
> Further out is leveraged weight, which will
> fatigue the caster at an accelerated rate.



Thanks for the tip, do you know if a wooden wells grip would add too much weight to the rod? I've seen wooden handles online and am intrigued by them.

As the handle is far removed from the portion doing most of the swinging it is not as critical weightwise. Many of us that build wood grips hollow out approximately 3/4" diameter and fill it with foam reel seat cores. This greatly reduces the weight!

Phil Erickson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As the handle is far removed from the portion
> doing most of the swinging it is not as critical
> weightwise. Many of us that build wood grips
> hollow out approximately 3/4" diameter and fill it
> with foam reel seat cores. This greatly reduces
> the weight!


Thanks, that is very helpful!

Another question, When picking out reel seats and handles, does it matter which ones you buy (in terms of compatibility)? I have seen some handles have built in cut outs to recess the reel seat in a little, I am not interested in that however. I am looking at a reel seat that says it is a size 16 with the following measurements. Is it safe to say that any just about any old full wells or reverse half wells would mate fine with the reel seat? Or is there some factoring that needs to be done?

Thanks in advance.

Check out Proof Fly Fishing. I have built a few of their blanks and really like them. Shipping is fast and customer service is excellent. Here is a 9' 5wt rod that you can add the hardware to. I just recently built it and really like how it turned out.

[www.proofflyfishing.com]