Fly rod building

[Rolan Duffield]

Building your own Fly Rod is a lot of fun and it's not difficult. I build all of my rods and enjoy building them as well as fishing them. Here are some basics to get you started.

The first and most important item when starting to build a rod is to locate the "spline" of the rod. Start by resting the tip of the blank in your hand and press the but end against a hard surface. Press down until a slight bow is achieved. Now rotate the blank. You will notice a "jump" or what will be identified as the high side of the blank. Mark the top side of this high side as this is the side of the fly rod used to wrap the guides on. --- This is a very important detail as it establishes the alignment, trueness and improves the action of the rod.

The second most important item is to identify the guide placement and spacing for the rod. Hopefully the manufacturer has given you good info for guide spacing.

Cabelas has a very good handout for building their rods that includes good general details for rod building.

They include thisl six page handout with their rods. I don't know if it's readily available otherwise as ther is no catalog number on it and I couldn't find a listing any where else.

Another important point is to be sure to place a wrap on the ferrule end of the rod.

Make certain you use good fly rod guides. My favorite is the Fuji single foot guides as they will last many years.

[Danoinark]

Another important point is to be sure to place a wrap on the ferrule end of the rod.

As Roland said this is a very important step...you don't want the rod breaking or cracking at the ferrules. I also have found it's actually easier to build a 3 or 4 piece rod than a two piece. I like working with the shorter blank pieces and uses less room. Find yourself a good rod turner...I made one from a slow speed motor. If you have access to one of those old BBQ grill rotisserie motors that would be ideal. Let the rod turn for several hours between each time that you epoxy the wraps. Give it a good 24 hours after the drying process is completed before you try er out.

Check the flext coat site, they have an excellent beginner instruction manual.

Dano