Fly rod to spinning rod conversion???

[2Bass2Furious]

That's right, I've said something way out of the ordinary!

Ive seen some guys trout fishing with really long poles. I talked to several of these guys and said they converted a fly rod blank (3-4 wt.) into a 2 or 3 piece spinning rod. The question is, how hard is it to convert a 3-4 wt. 6'9" fly rod into a spinning rod for panfish?

Also so to note, I have no experience in rod building, but I'll give a hand at it. I do have a junky 3-4 wt. that I have in my closet that I rarely use anymore and I was wondering if I could just strip the eyes off, re-cork the butt, new reel seat, and put light spinning reel eyes on it.

Thanks guys!

"Calm Sease, My Friend."

[deathb4disco]

... I was wondering if I could just strip the eyes off, re-cork the butt, new reel seat, and put light spinning reel eyes on it.

You don't have to go to all that trouble. You could just fish it "as is" with a spinning reel. I have.

[2Bass2Furious]

Never thought of that. I'll look into it. Thank you!

[Cray]

Only thing I would do if you want to try is take off rear most guide and add a larger spinning guide. Not really necessary, I cast far as I want to with jigging pole and small guides. If your interested lots of videos on YouTube on rod building..

[CrappiePappy]

"Many Moons ago" ---
I taped a spinning reel to the cork handle of a 8' fly rod (Grandpa hand me down rod) and taped off the rear reel seat (so it wouldn't scratch me or hang up in anything). I used that outfit for several years, and caught quite a few fish on it. Though I mostly used it for slip float/minner fishing among standing trees, with Spiderwire 20/6 braid ... I could just as easily have used it to cast jigs and other baits, or vertical jig with it.

... cp

[skeetbum]

Run what ya brung. Small reels work a little better but light line makes it easier to cast with the smaller guides.

[Crestliner08]

Back in the '60's, I bought an 8' "wet fly" (soft, totally parabolic action) fiberglass blank from the old Netcraft catalog. Had a local bait shop owner (yeah, that's where you use to always have to go to buy fishing stuff!) build it into a Tennessee handled spinning rod. I did this for trout fishing local streams. It served me well for many, many years. I use to use an old Johnson Century spin-cast reel, rigged under the rod, and filled with 2# test Stren monofilament.

I still have that rod today as a matter of fact. And earlier in 2015, I took it out for crappie. Wow! What a difference between the old fiberglas rods of yesteryear and today's modern graphites! This old rod felt soooooo darn heavy and cumbersome. But.....that's all we had to deal with back then. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes, you can use a fly rod blank for a crappie rod. And I'll bet it'll be a whole lot better than what I had to use way back when!

[wicklundrh]

I have a closet full of these conversions. Back in my steelhead days, we used to build our rods out of fly rods all the time. Best rods for the money were built on a 2 pieces Sage Blank. You can no longer get that blank anymore. We built them just like a fly rod with three stripper eyes and the rest all in snake eyes. Makes them really light.

Most days, you will find both my dad and I crappie fishing with these same setups. 10.5 foot will cast a jig a heck of a long ways.

You can re-tie the rod if you prefer. I recommend going to Youtube and looking for "Getbit Outdoors". Captain Kevin Brotz has an instructional series on how to build a rod. He does a great job.

The easiest way however to convert your fly rod to a spinning rod is to simply purchase a "fighting but". This was though of long ago in the fly fishing world for people that could get multiple uses out of the same rods. Most of my steelhead rods are actually built like a fly rod with a removable butt "fighting but". They have a rubber o-ring to help hold them in place and can be purchased in several lengths. If you fly rod doesn't have the ability to do it, the other option would be to add on a chub piece to the back and create a rear handle. Way easier than re-doing the entire rod.

[2Bass2Furious]

Back in the '60's, I bought an 8' "wet fly" (soft, totally parabolic action) fiberglass blank from the old Netcraft catalog. Had a local bait shop owner (yeah, that's where you use to always have to go to buy fishing stuff!) build it into a Tennessee handled spinning rod. I did this for trout fishing local streams. It served me well for many, many years. I use to use an old Johnson Century spin-cast reel, rigged under the rod, and filled with 2# test Stren monofilament.

I still have that rod today as a matter of fact. And earlier in 2015, I took it out for crappie. Wow! What a difference between the old fiberglas rods of yesteryear and today's modern graphites! This old rod felt soooooo darn heavy and cumbersome. But.....that's all we had to deal with back then. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes, you can use a fly rod blank for a crappie rod. And I'll bet it'll be a whole lot better than what I had to use way back when!

Although I grew up in the '90s, I still remember old bait shops with old owners. I remember there was a little shop not too far from a prime smallmouth lake that my father and I would get night crawlers and shiners from it, and his lady running it was in her late 80s to early 90s. Super nice woman!

I just wish there were more "mom and pop" bait shops now... They always sold the best gear and provided a nice shopping experience.

[2Bass2Furious]

I have a closet full of these conversions. Back in my steelhead days, we used to build our rods out of fly rods all the time. Best rods for the money were built on a 2 pieces Sage Blank. You can no longer get that blank anymore. We built them just like a fly rod with three stripper eyes and the rest all in snake eyes. Makes them really light.

Most days, you will find both my dad and I crappie fishing with these same setups. 10.5 foot will cast a jig a heck of a long ways.

You can re-tie the rod if you prefer. I recommend going to Youtube and looking for "Getbit Outdoors". Captain Kevin Brotz has an instructional series on how to build a rod. He does a great job.

The easiest way however to convert your fly rod to a spinning rod is to simply purchase a "fighting but". This was though of long ago in the fly fishing world for people that could get multiple uses out of the same rods. Most of my steelhead rods are actually built like a fly rod with a removable butt "fighting but". They have a rubber o-ring to help hold them in place and can be purchased in several lengths. If you fly rod doesn't have the ability to do it, the other option would be to add on a chub piece to the back and create a rear handle. Way easier than re-doing the entire rod.

This is might be a stupid question but the pole I have has one stripper eye and the rest snakes. Could I use the snake eyes instead or would those have to be stripped off and converted? Most of the fishing I'll be doing is float and jigging, I'm not casting and retrieving.