i have recently been energized to the thought of building a rod myself for flyfishing i have wanted to build rods for some time and havn't had the gall to get the stuff to try it . I just feel i may not be artistic enough to make it a worthy rod . i realize it is much like anything else gotta do it to get better but i am afraid to drop the dough and not utilize it. Any thoughts on this subject would be apprecated . i know nic from this board has just got some stuff to satrt one and it has had me thinking .... HMMM

Artistic!?  What in the hell would that have to do with anything?  It is a fishing rod, so ultimately it could be an "ugly stick" and it wouldn't matter as long as it is functional.

I've never looked into it.  Maybe someday, but at the moment I'm pretty wrapped up in other aspects of fly fishing.

I'd love to hear how it goes as you guys give it a whirl though.

Theron

Never did a fly rod but did a pair of one piece 12 foot surf rods that I found blanks for on the Cape. I was in to long distance casting and couldn't find a rod to hit my goal of a 150 meter cast.

John Holden in the UK was my mentor in the quest of the goal. He was the best on the planet at the time. He tested blanks by tapeing guides on and using hose clamps to hold on the reels. I thought that was pretty crude so decided to try my hand at doing a rod or two.

I had no issue at all with the wraps, simply followed the instructions on the thread package. In fact, I got pretty fancy with the very first rod having 3 colors, black with red and white tips.

Believe you will need some type of powered mechanical roller gizmo so the coating on the thread wraps dries on even without droops or sags. These days you can get turned cork grip assemblies so you don't have to invest in a lathe.

It's kind of like doing your own flies. There is something special about busting fish with a rod you rolled yourself.

I did meet my goal, in fact bettered it a bit. One of the 12 footers I built with a Penn Squidder that was running STP for bearing grease. Two guys held my feet down on the Jetty when I powered the rod over and the wind was right that day

If I was going to take on a fly rod these days I'd do it on bamboo. You can get bamboo blanks in just about any taper and length for under $200. A lot of US rod builders do this trick and nail you $1800 and up for a rod.

If you intend to get the components and complete a rod in a day or two after work it probably won't come out all that wonderful. But if you take your time and practice on dowels until you figure it out your first rod will be a keeper. It's not rocket science.

When the economy went to crap a few years back anybody who ever wrapped a thread on a rod decided to become a rod builder and make a killing. I know of none of them that made the grade as the big boys have it pretty well sewed up. Sad, as a Z Axix blank runs $57 OEM from Hiti Kiti land. You could pork quite a few rods before you got one where you wanted it and still be way ahead of the game.

 Well I don't classify as a rod builder.....but I did stay at a Holiday Inn...err...I'm starting my first rod soon!  I'll be building a 7' fiberglass 3wt rod.  It's "sulphur yellow" in color.  I also ordered the same blank in a reddish brown color and will be building that as a gift for my dad for christmas.  It's going to be my small stream brookie rod.  

The overall process doesn't seem overly complicated.  I plan to spread it out over a week or two an hour or two at a time.  The time consuming part will be wrapping the guides, and honestly until I put epoxy on nothing in permanant.  If I don't like the look of the wraps I'll just cut them off and re-wrap.

I've just started getting in some components.  I'll be sure to post pictures of the progress once I get everything in!

-Nic

Wow!  I just read through that article by Joel.  His construction of the bamboo rod is truly inspiring.  I am very tempted to try building one as a winter project.  The only part of the process that I am struggling with is creating a good taper without investing in an expensive planing form.  If I can figure out ways to get through each step with tools and equpipment that I have on hand I would really like to try it.  Any thoughts on getting by without a planing form?

-Matt