Rod building kit

[bfish]

Shoe box with grooves cut in the ends and turn by hand works fine, no need for a rod dyer.

Tom Kirkman has a good pamphlet/short book on the how-to's.

If you have rod builders in your area, often they will offer classes (community college or churches), or just let you watch them work. They will often help you make your own kit, better components than a "standard" kit and better suited to what you want in a rod. There is a list of rod builders, I believe at tackle dot org.

[jigfisherx]

If you are just starting out they have some advantages. A kit will give you the exact measurements for line guide measurements as well as instructions about which side of the rod to place the guides. It’s really nice to sit down with an experienced rod builder one time as well.


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[wicklundrh]

Rod kits, whether it be Mudhole, St. Croix, Sage or the many other companies are designed as one stop shopping for the hobbyist builder. The company puts together a selection of components that you would need to build and finish the rod. Many of the components are built by the company selling the kit, or have direct deals with the company so they are pennys.

First: the purpose of a custom rod is to get a rod built or to build one EXACTLY as you want it. Normal companies producing COTS (commercial off the shelf) rods have a million combinations to please everyone. It can't be done. Building your own ensures it is built for a purpose. If you are building a jigging rod, you might go with a 4 inch fore grip because you grip above the reel seat. You might go with 10 micro eyes instead of a rod built to cast having 7. You get what you want.

Second: yes, you can buy rods cheaper off the shelf. That isn't the point. The point is to get exactly what you want. Once you start building rods, you will no longer consider a rod as utilitarian. They each have a purpose. That isn't to say you can't built a UTV of sorts where it does multiple things well.

Third: I live by this. NEVER buy a blank from a company that produces COTS rods. Their main job is to build and sell. Their blanks are secondary thus seconds. Normally, it will cost you more money to build than what you can buy. There is one very popular company that comes to mind here that I won't mention.

Building custom rods is a great hobby during the winter and comes with the satisfaction of catching something with a rod you built. When I build a rod for someone, they must know that they can buy something much cheaper off the shelf but, they are getting EXACTLY what they want, built for a specific purpose, and with a lifetime warranty.

MHX rods from Mudhole are great rods. I own several. Batson rods are also good blanks as are a ton on the market. Look at it this way, if you buy a hundred dollar blank, a full rod sold in a store built on it is probably 400 bucks! Hope that helps muddy the water

[Fish on Line]

I built my own for building Rods. I used an old door Threshold , Sections from Track Lighting that will slide into the Threshold and is adjustable to Leignth , and a rod Drier and made my own thread holder. You will need a Fly Tying Thread Bobbin for wrapping guides towards the tip of a Rod on Micro-Guides.. Go Online and get Mud Hole and Jans Netcraft Catalogs... My Mud Hole Cat. does not have a selection of Rod Blanks, Jans has lots to choose from but dont expect to find 12 or 14 foot blanks.. Start by just replacing broken or missing guides --- Watch dozens of U-Tube Videos on Rod wrapping before you start... Also the Epoxy in cool weather looks like it has set up in the Bottle.. Don't throw it away like I did once. It needs to be over 75 degrees on the Resin. Put it under your Arm for a few Minutes and it is ready to use -- Hope this helps