Custom Fishing Rod Building
Build Your Own Fishing Rod
If your an avid angler, have you ever considered making your own fishing rod, tying your own flies, or making your own lures? There is nothing more rewarding for me to hook and land fish using flies I’ve tied and with a fly rod I’ve built for myself. If you’re serious about your fishing, building your own rod should be a major consideration.
Building your own rod does not have to be difficult and is fairly easy to learn how to do. One of the great things about building your own rod is that you can customize everything from the shape and length of the handle grip, choose your own blank to build your rod on, and select higher quality guides (sometimes referred to as “eyes,” that the line runs through) than what you might find in a rod off the rack. Although there are many manufacturers that make some very good fishing rods, you have to remember that they are made for the “average” angler, whatever that is. When you build one for yourself, you can turn a fishing rod into a real fishing tool that can outperform most anything you’ll buy at the local hardware store.
Building a rod is not that difficult, either. You don’t need any fancy tools although some of the specialty rod building equipment can be helpful if you decide to build more than a few rods. When I built my first rod about 30 years ago, the only tool I used was a round file that I needed in order to make the hole in the cork grip larger to slide down the rod blank and glue into place. Everything else I used were things found in any kitchen and livingroom: Medium size books for thread tension (nylon thread is used to hold the guides in place on the rod) and a mug to hold the thread.
One good reason to build your own rod is that you have a lot of choice as to the components that build it with! Maybe you’ve found the perfect rod that has the action that is just right for you but you don’t like the shape or length of the handle. Perhaps the guides are poor quality or you would like a heavier duty reel seat. When you build your own with the components and fishing rod blanks you’ve selected, you can consider these things right from the start and get exactly what you want in a fishing rod.
Will a custom fishing rod you’ve built help you catch more fish? I’d suggest that yes, it can. If you have confidence in the tools you are using, that confidence will spill over into how you fish, for one thing. Further, when a rod is built correctly, it will outperform and outcast other similar rods off the rack, which means your lure or fly can be in the water, where the fish are, longer. As well, once you have hooked a fish, a properly built custom rod can give you an edge in fighting that fish and bringing it to hand or the net.
Today, there are a number of retailers that specialize in providing custom fishing rod components and who will be happy to help you select the right components for your own custom built fishing rod. You might even end up saving a bit of money too, by building one yourself!
Be sure to check out these custom rod building resources I’ve provided for you while you consider the idea of building your own rod.
About the Author
Ian Scott is a free lance writer who spends much of his time when not working and writing about a variety of topics, with a fly rod in hand. He is a frequent contributor to About Fly Fishing.
Home Made Fishing Rod Building Lathe – Drying Mode
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Fishing rod custom building spine finder blank tool $24.99 |
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2012 FUJI Japan New Fishing Rod Parts Catalog Custom Rod Building Gear Gide Rods $14.95 |
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2 VHS How To Repair Rods & Advanced Rod Building Techniques Custom FISHING pole $29.99 |
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Aluminum hand rod wrapper winding wrapping custom fishing rod building $99.99 |
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Inside Sportfishing DVD Custom Rod Building with Doc Ski $19.95 Everything on how to build a custom rod, from a to z. Doc Ski covers it all. From finding the spline and aligning the guides. Considered by many to be the best rod building video ever produced…. |
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Flex Coat Rod Building Start-up Kit $199.00 This kit has the tools, supplies and instructional materials you need to start a small business building and repairing custom rods. Earn extra money, keep your equipment in tip-top shape and get inside fishing information from your customers. This package includes everything you need and will save you $$. Kit Includes: 1-Flex Coat Professional Drying/Finishin… |
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Rod Building Guide: Fly, Spinning, Casting, Trolling $9.25 … |
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Advanced Custom Rod Building $40.00 “Informative, well-written. It covers the subject of rod building in a concise manner. It should be in every rod builder’s library.”Fly FishermanDale P. Clemens’s Advanced Custom Rod Building is the book that sent American fishermen back to their workshops. Clemens believes that, both practically and philosophically, a rod is an “extension of the angler’s hand.” Accordingly, Clemens explains the… |
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Custom Rod Thread Art $21.98 Clemens continues his tradition of writing thorough and artful guides for the angler who is also a do-it-himselfer.”Hand a person a custom made rod,” says expert rod maker Dale P. Clemens, “and in almost every instance one of the first things he looks at is the decorative thread work,” because a handsome rod is more desirable to own and fish. Clemens guides his readers through the organizational p… |
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Complete Rod Building Start-Up Kit $159.95 This kit has the tools, supplies, and instructional materials you need to start a small business building and repairing custom rods. Earn extra money, keep your equipment in tip-top shape, and get inside fishing information from your customers: the expert fishermen who purchase custom rods and have rods repaired in your shop. You can trade rod repair services or custom rods for fishing trips with … |
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Thread Tool Combo Package $3.95 Contains one burnishing tool, one pair of clippers and one thread pick…. |
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ProKöte Rod Building Thread Finish, Preloaded Syringe Kit $13.95 Designed “For Rod Builders By Rod Builders” Experienced rod builders know what they want in a rod finish: extended working time, easy leveling, good bubble release, thread saturation, ultimate clarity and protection from UV yellowing. ProKöte answers these needs while providing the industry’s first medium build epoxy. This starter kit includes everything you need to get started applying finish to… |
