A friend and client who lives in Bozeman MT and fishes 3 times a week, has been using a GLoomis G2 561S TJR 4'8" fast action 2-6 lbs 1/32-3/16 oz lure weight for years and broken it twice. Asked me to build him a 1 piece, 5’ spinning rod to fit behind the seat of his pickup. I have been searching NFC and there FW 501-1 SM and IM. I don’t have any experience with these blanks, but they list action as moderate and full with ultralight power.

I would appreciate any comments or suggestions on these or other blanks,

Thanks,

Mike

Hey Mike,

no personal experience, but heres a few NFC blanks from the CCS Data log

IM-SB540- IP 210.87 AA 71.9

IM-FW461- IP 54 96.44 AA 56.3

IM-FW501- IP 103.68 AA 58.7

SM-SJ481- IP 109.4 AA 29.8

SM-SJ541- IP 115.8 AA 29.

Building rods in MA, daydreaming of fishing in CA

Check out Utmost Enterprises. They handle Batson products. Rainshadow makes a few to your specs and are durable.

Take a look at Mudhole Custom Tackle- Their blanks in the CRB series amy fit what your wanting
They are a supporter in the left column. Good Luck

I have built on this blank. I built what I called a grayling rod for my wife. I paired it with a zebco spincaster and she really likes the rod but one thing we / she did notice is that the action is a little slow (the rod is firm?) and unless she is right on top of watching the slack, the fish will flip off the hook. She has gotten used to it but initially she found it frustrating as the rod did not seem to have enough flex in reserve to manage the fight without losing the hook.

I'm not buying the AA numbers on the NFC jig blanks, being half the action angle of some of my moderate steelhead rods makes me think we have a data error. Another of the AA numbers on a SJ blank is 494.

Mike,
This is pretty easy.
Just pick up a nice ultra light rod with the tip action you desire, and trim the butt to the length needed for the rod and go ahead and build it.

I went to school at Bozeman and at that time was just getting into fishing. But, I do recall that my friend and I caught a lot of nice trout using simple general purpose 6 foot rods that today we would simply call ultra light moderate action rods. We certainly never had any issues putting fish on the table. In particular - when fishing for trout, I will always use a moderate action before ever using a fast action rod. The reason is that I want enough give in the upper half of the rod to allow the hard fighting trout with the soft mouths get hooked and not get off the hook while being brought to the bank.

Take care