I plan on building several jig poles on a NFC 2-piece fly blank. It has a .31 butt diameter. I've never used the NFC carbon grips but it would be a nice addition for these rods. Looking at all of the possible selections on the NFC site is overwhelming. The plan is to use a split grip configuration with a small fore grip. A small graphite spinning reel seat will complete the handle section. The reel seat will be positioned about 15"-18" from the butt.

Any advice? I know Norm has plenty of experience with this type of build so I'd really like to hear from him on this one.

Mark, are you planning on using this rod to cast small jigs using a spinning reel, or just use it as a jig pole where you don’t cast the jig but rather just flip out and fish it straight down? For my jig poles I use two piece 10’ 5 and 6 wgt Revelation fly rod blanks. and they work great. The reason I use the the Revelation fly rod blanks was I got a bunch of them at half price and they work well for what I wanted. I have also used some Proof 11’ 4 piece 5/6 wgt switch rods for some friend who wanted a longer rod. They make a good jig pole for a good price. If I want a long rod for casting small jigs I use L and ML steelhead blanks from 7’6” to 10’6”. These have a faster action and feel crisper than a fly rod blank when casting. I find fly rod blanks just too sloppy for my liking when casting. Some people like this sloppy feel, but I don’t. I should mention that long blanks suitable for crappie fishing are hard to find. Because of this I have stripped down a lot of commercial crappie rods and rebuilt them for friends to their liking. I am a fan of carbon fiber grips and like them a lot.
Norm

i had to look up what a sacalait was. never heard that before. thx

These will be just for flipping and vertical jigging. The reel seat could be used for any number of small reels and or spools. You're right about the slop. They don't cast very well. I'm using 7'-8' two piece blanks for casting the small jigs both direct and under a cork.

I want to experiment with the carbon fiber grips on these rods.

For my jig poles, I mount my reel seat at the butt end like a fly rod, and use a full Wells carbon fiber grip, which I like a lot. For your poles mounting the reel seat further up the blank will work well and help with the balance. There are a number of NFC regular carbon fiber grips that can be used for a split spinning grip using a standard DPS pipe type of reel seat. For the fighting butt there are a number of option from long to short, any of these would work. For the rear grip and fore grip there also a number of options from short to long. For these you want to use the ones that don’t have a tenon. They also make CF split grips to specifically fit the Fuji VSS, IPS, and TVS spinning reel seats, as well as the AmTac Aero reel seat, as well as for the Alps MVT spinning seats. If you want to use a hidden thread hood, there are a number of CF hood sleeves to fit the various kinds of hidden thread hoods. So a lot of options available. In the soft touch grips they only have ones specific for the Fuji VSS16 and IPS reel seats. Hope this helps, if not let me know exactly what you are looking for.
Norm

Thanks, Norm. I am going with the 2" butt, the 2" grip and the 1" fore grip. I was a bit confused by the tenons on some of the grips. Just butting the tenonless grips up against the top and bottom of the reel seat sounds easy enough.

For my personal jig poles I like to place the spinning seat flush with the bottom of the blank and add a rubber plug. A 6" tapered EVA grip just above the seat seems to work well. Paired with a Zebco Trigger Spin for a line reservoir it works like a charm.
The only time I actually use the reel while fishing is when a big ole cat, bass or choupique eats the jig.