Hi Everyone,

Hoping for a little advice and direction on a rod build. I'd like to build a medium or medium light casting rod using an NFC iconoglass fiberglass blank. Something light and lively, for tossing 1/16-1/2 lures at sm bass, on Ontario lakes and rivers. My questions are as follow.

1. How would fly rod weight ratings translate to casting rod ratings? Would a 4wt iconoglass be roughly equal to a medium light? Be able to throw 1/16 lures? How about the 5wt?
2. Is it foolish to go in this direction? Both from a materials standpoint (fiberglass) and repurposing a fly rod blank for a baitcaster?

Thanks,

SK

Steve,
I think I know what you are hoping to do, build a 4 piece short, handy travel rod. If you look just a few posts down you will see posts on bass finesse system rod blanks and the power and action angle are displayed there, as you can see the power, line and lure ratings don't match your needs, you are looking to light and I imagine you are doing so to keep the length and weight down. All is not lost however, there are a few 4 piece travel rod blanks out there that can help you get closer to your needs, though I don't think you will find any blank that will of any configuration that will throw your low and high lure needs well especially if you most manipulate the lure while retrieving, ie: jigging, etc.
Take a peek at the Rainshadow SB720-4, it is a Spin Bass blank, ( mag bass' little brother) that they list as a panfish rod, they are off the mark in my opinion, and I bet others here will also agree, it is more powerfully constructed then they lead you to believe and will do much more, it would be on my list for a portage and pack rod. Still a rod that throws 1/16 oz well will be starting to show it's lack of power at 3/8 oz in anything I have used. I hsve seen 1/8- 1/2 oz rods but none in 4 piece.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2022 11:09AM by Spencer Phipps.

Steve,

A number of OEMs use the Iconoglas blanks as travel spinning / casting models. You can take a look at some of their pictures here, and their work is stunning.

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The Iconoglas blanks and APFG blanks are made out of a fiber called zentron - its a high mod glass that yields and extra fast blank action (unlike a traditional fiberglass blank)

I fish the high lakes a lot in the Pacific NW, I take my IG spinning builds with me. The 4 wt is a hair lighter than a L and the 5 Wt is somewhere in between a L and ML. Both cast a 1/16oz, but the 5wt is better if you are throwing spoons / spinners as it rips them through the water a bit easier.

I am looking forward to your feedback when you are done with the build.

Best,
Aleks

A little late after Aleks on point response. Happened To be rolling a 4wt this weekend, so I taped on some guides and tried it. Definitely feels like UL+-L. I don’t have a 5wt to compare.

Aleks, how would you compare the different fly blanks power wise to the APG? Say 4,5,8 if you know.

Help me out here, what are the benefits going back from graphite to glass?

Thanks Aleks, I think I might want to shoot for a 6wt Iconoglass. Appreciate the tip.

A glass blank, particularly a slow glass blank, makes the ideal rod for casting delicate bait, and might easily allow you to make longer casts without losing bait. And the slower rod blank bends more easily, which makes it easier to detect light bites.

I have to say I did go to a glass blank when I needed to do a particular thing. Fishing from the bank for COHO where I am casting a Herring with no weight. I figured if you have a snappy Graphite, the herring would be thrown off after about the 2nd cast, where as a softer rod wouldn't do that, so I got a 12' glass Spey blank, extened the butt and made a very long spinning blank. Worked great. having said that, I remember casting with a bait caster for Steelhead and Springers from dawn to almost dusk and casting my old G Loomis 9 1/2' 8-12 lb rod I made was great, a lot less fatigue than with a heaver rod.