Hey all,

Someone has asked me if I could build and 18 foot drift rod. Kind of out of my wheelhouse as most of my builds have been fly rods and some casters (one 10 foot mooching rod). But I kind of figure, in many ways, as rod is a rod is a rod as far as the build itself goes. I am kind of intrigued. I'd like to do some research on such a rod but straight off it seems blanks that long are a rarity.

Has anyone here built such a monster?

I'd want everything specified in writing, signed, money down. Spey rods would be my first point of interest.

Bob,
Actually, there are a lot of drifting setups that use 15-25 foot drifting length.
Often, these are relatively short rods that are on the ends of 10-20 foot extensions to have the line at the desired distance from the boat.

For example - a trolling boom:

[www.outriggerunlimited.com]

Best wishes

Bob,
I am not sure if this may be of help, but if length is your main concern, B&M [www.bnmpoles.com] has some pretty dang long crappie poles (16ft, maybe longer). I don’t think they sell blanks but the “poles” have no guides, just some type of clip on the tip. While these are low-budget poles and rods, they have been in business for a long time, so they must be doing something right.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Spencer Phipps Wrote:
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> I'd want everything specified in writing, signed,
> money down. Spey rods would be my first point of
> interest.

Good advice...

NFC has a 15 foot 10 wt spey but it's 3 feet short hahaha. I thought maybe I could buy two blanks and cut the bottom three feet off one and stent it to the main blank as a wierd reverse taper handle section but thankfully the thought went away. I don't think it will go anywhere to be honest. Who knows though. I looked at some 18 foot match rods from cadence and they are so beefy looking!

roger wilson Wrote:
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> Bob,
> Actually, there are a lot of drifting setups that
> use 15-25 foot drifting length.
> Often, these are relatively short rods that are on
> the ends of 10-20 foot extensions to have the
> line at the desired distance from the boat.
>
> For example - a trolling boom:
>
> [www.outriggerunlimited.com]
>
> Best wishes

I've not seen this type setup before if I'm being honest. It seems there are many ways to skin a fish

Mark Talmo Wrote:
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> Bob,
> I am not sure if this may be of help, but if
> length is your main concern, B&M
> [www.bnmpoles.com]
> has some pretty dang long crappie poles (16ft,
> maybe longer). I don’t think they sell blanks
> but the “poles” have no guides, just some type
> of clip on the tip. While these are low-budget
> poles and rods, they have been in business for a
> long time, so they must be doing something right.

Those are kind of interesting. They are so cheap! So cheap they throw me off somehow. If they asked 150 bucks for them I'd probably be "well there's your answer" haha. Still not an uninteresting solution. For that money you could build two just in case they are as cheap as the price seems to indicate. It could be like a one time replacement warranty.

B’n’M rod are a mainstay down here in the South for crappie fishing. They are actually a very good buy and hold up surprisingly well. I modify a bunch of them every year. They do make a trolling models of 16’, 18’ , and 20’
[www.bnmpoles.com]
Norm

Sometimes customers ask for impractical or even impossible products to build for them. This may be one of those situations. I would think a 13-14 foot center pin rod comes the closest to what is possible in this case (long drift rod). Maybe this could be presented as the best available alternative.

Norman Miller Wrote:
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> B’n’M rod are a mainstay down here in the
> South for crappie fishing. They are actually a
> very good buy and hold up surprisingly well. I
> modify a bunch of them every year. They do make a
> trolling models of 16’, 18’ , and 20’
> [www.bnmpoles.com]
> /products/pstlong
> Norm

Thanks for this Norm. This site seems to represent some options in the long rod realm.

If it's ok to ask what does modify mean in your context. I understand if you'd rather not elaborate but I was curious if you meant reguiding the rods, specifically. Asking such a thing has the risk associated with teetering on the edge of a rabbit hole within a rabbit hole but I am curious

Thanks again,

Ross Pearson Wrote:
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> Sometimes customers ask for impractical or even
> impossible products to build for them. This may be
> one of those situations. I would think a 13-14
> foot center pin rod comes the closest to what is
> possible in this case (long drift rod). Maybe this
> could be presented as the best available
> alternative.

There is a 15 foot 10 wt blank on nfc that I saw but blanks out at 18 feet seem a rarity. I gave him a website to cadence that sells an 18 foot match rod and allowed that there might be custom options but it would probably require some footwork. Also mentioned the 15 foot rod based on a 10 wt fly blank (nfc) option. It would be an interesting build but doubt it will go anywhere, not to be pessimistic of course, one never knows...

I own some of the 16' B&M Pro Staff Trolling Rods and have used them quite a bit for crappie fishing. The 16 footers are three piece rods. They are intended primarily for either longline trolling where you maybe don't want to use planer boards but you want to stagger your spread or use for the Spider rigging technique where you have rod holders up in bow of boat that fan out rods kind of like spider legs and you slowly use trolling motor to cover water. I used them mostly for spider rigging and they work quite well for that. They are in rod holders a big portion of the time and at that length are pretty unwieldy to hold for long periods of time. With either of those techniques very little casting or reeling of fish. For the most part you just let out a bit of line and then when you have a fish you pull tight and swing 'em into boat.

I'd be asking some more question on what exactly your customer wanted to do with a rod like that. If holding in hand for long period of time going to be hard to make something comfortable.