Somebody Talk me out of it!
 

Ok, I have gotten the bug to build my own fly rod. I am a new member of the Mid-Sotuh Fly Fishers and in our monthly newsletter they announced a rod building class. I have never been remotely interested in building a rod, but now for some reason I can't get it out of my head. To make it worse, I have the itch to build a glass rod. Am I crazy! SOmebody talk me out of it. I need another hobby like a hole in my head!

Build it! And build a glass rod if you want. If you don't like it when you are done, build a graphite rod. You can never build just one.

How hard is it? Am I going to get addicted and end up spending more money on gear? If so, I am in!!!

Just Do It
 

:cool:Just Do It.....(hmmmm, that could be a great advertisement for someone), anyways Christmas 2007 I built my fist fly rod from a kit. I wanted something special to give to my Daughter (who moved to the Smokies before the ole man did) and I love it and she loved it. I even built the jig for wrapping the eyelets and it works really good.....I plan on making a Sage rod for myself (don't know why but I've always wanted a Sage) and then a few sprinning rods for my Father.....You should love it and anyone who may get a rod from you as a gift with cherish it......


God Bless & Good Fishing
Bob

Putting a graphite rod together is not difficult at all. If you tie flies and have a some attention to detail your rods will most likely come out looking better than factory rods. I never paid any attention to the quality of manufacured rods before I started building and now I look at them with a close eye. It is amazing at the poor quality that some big manufacturers put out.

I do tie flies so I guess I can handle it. What about fiberglass, is it more difficult? I was looking at buying a Lamiglass blank (the honey colored one). Does anyone know if they come in 7 weight? I want to make it a warm water rod.

I don't think fiberglass will differ any from a graphite rod. If you are going to buy all of the components, it will be a very easy build. Now you can make it more complicated and buy cork rings and shape the grip yourself. If you have a lathe, you can turn your own wood insert. Other than that, it is only a matter of wrapping the guides and gluing the handle and reel seat on. There are a lot of books and info on the web about rod building. If you go to www.rodbuildingforum.com, you will get all of your questions answered by some very knowledgeable builders.

The lamiglass honey blanks are from 3-5 wt only. They are full flexing rods. I have a 7' 3wt 2piece and a 7'6" 4wt 3piece. The 4wt is actually slower than the 3wt due to the extra length and spigot ferrules. Honeys are e-glass which is thicker and more flexing than the lighter and faster s-glass.
I have owned a glass 8' 7wt before and it worked well for bass but sold it and now use a 7.5 ft 6wt. I throw up to a size 1 popper out to normal fishing ranges of 40-60 ft. These are older 1970s models of the fenwick feralite series. Fiberglass works best in the 3-6 wt range and from 7-8 ft lengths.
You should go to fiberglass flyrodders forum for more info on building and choosing a rod if your interested in glass.
Here is a pict. of my lamiglass honeys and the other is of my Fenwick glass.
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...n/reels003.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...ies08047-1.jpg

Troutman - Those are beautiful rods. I think I will go with a 4wt to fill in some of my rod gaps. What do you call the type of grip you have on your Lami rods. Those look very cool.

I had the 4wt built for me by a custom rod maker out in Wyoming. I told him what I wanted and sent some pictures of what I liked. He did a great job and I am very pleased with it. He hand shaped the cork grip.
The 3wt (lower rod in the top picture) is one I did. I bought the handle kit from janns net craft cat # 250734 http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/fly-rod-handle-kits/ and installed it myself.
I use the 4wt for tailwater trout and the 3wt for mtn fishing and bream in the warmwaters. nothing like a bluegill on a full flexing rod!
The handles are called cigar grips
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...odpicts011.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...OUT2009012.jpg