My take on using ceramics of fly rods..... When I first started building fly rods, I thought that wire guides were for SILLY old CONSERVATIVE farts who wore tweed jackets and dorky hats while trout fishing, so I used ceramics from stripper to tip. - BAD IDEA! TOO HEAVY! (and too small Internal diameter) So, I then used Minima guides from stripper to tip - BAD IDEA! STILL TOO HEAVY! (but better
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Ideally, I'm looking for a graphite blank to use in the surf with a spinning reel and 30lb braided line: 10 foot 6 in long, cast 3/4 to 4 oz lures 3 piece The closest I can find is the SRF100MMF4 from RODGeeks. It looks good, but it's only 10 foot long and is 4 piece. Can anyone suggest alternatives? (I think I noticed, maybe a few years ago, a Rodbuidling.org sponsor, based in the n
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Thanks Gerard for posting those weights. It was very interesting. I am also putting together the parts for a 10 ft 3# Euro nymph rod. I was planning to use my usual set up - lots of size 1 ,light wire, single foot "snakes", with that guide also used in place of a tip top. (Tube style tip tops are, in my opinion, way too heavy and unnecessary.) But I'm now thinking of trying so
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I don't understand why anyone uses a tip top. I haven't used one for many years (fly, casting and spinning rods). I just bind on a single foot running guide (using a locking wrap) at the very end of the rod, identical to all the other running guides. The weight of the thread plus epoxy is much lighter that the weight of a tube and you can really feel the difference especially on light rods. (Of c
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But what about passing of knots through guides? I usually use single foot Minimas but often fish with quite long (often hand tied) leaders. The fly line leader connection (and other knots) quite often gets inside the tip, but I am frustrated by the ability of single foots to pass the knots. I'm thinking of trying double foots instead. Is it fair to say the snake double foots pass knots bett
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I haven't built a rod with a tip-top for maybe 3 years. I just bind on a single foot guide. (Fly and spinning rods) It's plenty durable, much lighter than a tip-top and it avoids that annoying circumstance where the tip-top tube is the wrong diameter.
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Thanks gentlemen for your responses. I usually use single foot Minimas on all my rods (fly and spinning), but do not like the way the leader knots/connection catch on occasion. I am now building a new 2 weight and will try for the first time some French nymphing techniques using very long hand tied leaders. Knots will be inside the guides much more than usual. I think I'll use size 2# do
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Do (double foot) snakes pass connections/knots better than single foot guides (with same size opening)? Because with (double foot) snakes the guide is not square to the knot?
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Don, I've stopped using tip tops altogether because of the weight. I just bind on a guide (identical to the smallest guide in the set) instead. It's a little more awkward than slipping on a tube style tip-top, but the weight is much less and the rod performs noticeably better. David
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Todd, I'm a big fan too of using a single foot guide (the same as the "runners") instead of a normal tip top. I been doing it for a long time on all my rods (Spinning and fly). I've never had an issue. I see no downside other than it's a little awkward to bind , but not difficult, and it looks a little different. The single foot guide plus the binding and epoxy is much lighter than
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Todd, I'm a big fan too of using a single foot guide (the same as the "runners") instead of a normal tip top. I been doing it for a long time on all my rods (Spinning and fly). I've never had an issue. I see no downside other than it's a little awkward to bind , but not difficult, and it looks a little different. The single foot guide plus the binding and epoxy is much lighter than
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I'm building a 5 weight fly rod to be used in very cold, icy conditions. I'll use traditional (double foot) snake guides. I'm thinking of maybe using slightly larger guides than I would if conditions weren't icy. Is that necessary? What's the smallest size snake guide you would use?
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I just contacted Johnny at Anglers Roost. He recommended a standard 5# or 6# WF line. David
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Thanks to those who responded. I'm well aware that there's quite a difference between a 6# WF line and 6 # Switch line. My question is which line type of 6# it is designed for. I don't think that is at all clear from the labelling. This blank is the heaviest blank they have in this series. There's also a 2/3#, 3/4# and a 4/5#. They sound like blanks designed for nymphing and (standard WF l
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Anglers Roost have a blank "UHM12 Ultra High Modulus 11ft 4pc 5/6wt." which they also sell in a switch rod kit. I'm think of using it for Great Lakes steelhead (mainly nymphing but a little swinging) Has anyone used this blank (or one in the series)? Finding the right line for a rod this length seems bit of a crap shoot. (some 11ft 6# rods are best with about 350 grains!) I
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Ron, I have a spinning rod that is 9'6' that I built from an 8 weight fly rod that I use for Erie steelhead. It's OK for this application but I think 10'6" or 11' would be better. My guess (without much experience of this fishing) though is that a longer rod might be awkward for the MD trout so you might want to compromise and go with 10'. The butt length on my 9'6' rod is 8'' (11.
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I too was frustrated that none of the blank manufacturers (that I'm aware of) seem to make a 7 ft 3 piece blank this light. I built 2 rods like this for myself from fly blanks. One rod is under 7ft and built from the top 3 sections of a 4 piece fly blank. The other rod is about 7ft 6in and also uses the top 3 sections of a 4 piece fly blank, but the handle is built on a larger diameter piece o
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After years of using Flex Coat I recently thought I'd give Lumiseal a try. I have found it stringy and globby and the results have been uneven and unattractive compared to Flex Coat. 1) Does anyone have any tips on getting best results? 2) I'm guessing that Permagloss is basically the same stuff with a different label. Is there a significant difference?
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Mike, I think you also have another couple of options, 1) Buy an 8 ft one piece blank and build your own ferrules or 2) Build the butt from a spinning or casting blank and use a fly blank for the tip sections. I have 7ft7in multi-peice rod that I built this way using a 9' 7 weight blank. It's a little slower than I would like but casts 1/8 oz and up pretty well. I built the butt section (1
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I'm looking for advice regarding the guide set up for a heavy 7 ft spinning rod. I'm using a "500" size spinning reel with a spool diameter of 2.14 inches. (Not huge, but larger than I usually build for.) Using the 27 x spool diameter or the "line the reel shaft up with the edge of the table" method results in the same choke guide position. With this reel I can find n
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I use size 6 ceramics and size 5 Minimas. (I have tried smaller and regretted it and had to replace the guides). I use braided mono loops on the end of my fly line looped to furled (knotless) leaders. If you use hand tied leaders, espeically if the knots are not trimmed close, these guides might give you problems.
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Thanks for the advice - I'll give the citristrip a go. David
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Can anyone suggest an easy and reliable way to remove the paint from a blank (without damaging it)?
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Chuck, What I'm saying is - With the line spool the "right" way,the line goes onto the reel spoil, such that is not twisted while on the reel spool but becomes twisted when it leaves the reel spool when casting. This twisting takes energy from the cast that would otherwise be translated into casting distance. - With the line spool sitting "backwards" the line goes
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I'll be interested in seeing how the guide layout affects the casting distance. It's off subject a bit but...... There are couple of other factors, that may or may not greatly affect casting distance, that won't be covered by this experiment, that I would also like to understand. (More experiments needed!) 1) As was previously mentioned the VS (despite being seriously expensive!) is not c
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Bill, I'm interested in building a rod on that 11 foot 4/5wt blank that came from Anglers Roost that your friend used, but am not sure what line would suit it. Do you know exactly what line your friend is using on it? If one were to use a "standard WF" line what line would be best on it for a) roll casting b) overhead casting?
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Thanks for the advice gentlemen. I will try the size 3 Recoils. By the way, I know a 5 or 6 weight blank sounds light for steelhead but for reasons of stealth in the smaller tribs, I want to use as light fly line as I can - preferrably 7 weight or below. I am going to add a 5th peice to a 4 peice 9ft blank to create a very transportable 10'6" switch/nymphing rod. I figure that the ext
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I'm planning to build on a 5 or 6 weight blank, mainly for Erie steelhead. Probably use a 7, maybe 6 weight line with braided mono loop connections. I have always used single foot ceramics and Minimas in the past, but because the rod will be used in the middle of winter I'll try traditional double foot snakes for the first time, in an effort to minimize icing. 1) What size snakes do you rec
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Thanks gentlemen for your thoughtful responses. David
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I am interested in recommendations for blank and fly line for steelhead in the "steelhead alley" streams around Eerie PA. Streams are narrow, Almost all short roll casts (few overhead casts) Usually only little fly line outside of the tip, Light tippets (4 or 6lb test) Longish leaders Ocassionally fish small streamer flies but it's usually drag free drift fishing mostly with
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