Building your own fly rod questions

On Aug 13, 8:28 pm, mdk77 wrote:
On Aug 13, 12:17 pm, Mike wrote:



On Aug 13, 4:41 pm, mdk77 wrote:

I ran across this on the internet and wondered what the advantages and
disadvantages are to building your own fly rod. Is this something the
average fisherman should stay away from (too difficult)? Anyone here
fish rods they built themselves? What are some recommended resources
for this (books, web sites etc.).

I'm a guy who is a hopeless DIY person. It's a sickness :-( and an
ongoing source of ribbing from my teenage children when I try to build
everything from our radio's to our furniture. They do think it's cool
that I tie my own flies though. Their friends tell them they're not
sure if I'm a madman or a genius (definitely a madman IMHO).

Thanks in advance for the info.

If you are not very good at DIY, then it is best to leave it. One can
now buy very moderately priced rods of excellent quality. Saving money
as such is not likely on the cheaper blanks. You will "save" some
money if you buy an expensive blank and build the rod yourself, but
only if you completely ignore the time and effort involved as a cost
factor. Also, if you use the very best fittings etc, then the rod may
be even more expensive than a factory finished blank.

It is not really very difficult to do, but there is a learning curve
involved, and although you can do it without any equipment, things
like turning motors etc are of advantage. For most people, it is not
worth it.

If you want to see what is involved, have a look here;

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/

http://globalflyfisher.com/rodbuildi...rod/part-1.php

--
Regards and tight lines!

Mike Connor

http://www.mike-connor.homepage.t-online.de/

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/Flycorner?hl=en

Mike those are both wonderful links. Thank you VERY much for your
help, and thanks to everyone else who responded on this. This is a
really nice newsgroup for newbies like me.

Just wait ten years or so! ( Insider joke)

I think I understand the
downside and risks to building a fly rod. If I would try something
like this it would mostly be for the satisfaction of it and not to
save money. One of the previous posters mentioned that you don't get
a warranty this way, and that IS a good argument for NOT building your
own rod. But I've always been a DIY guy and usually do ok with my
projects. The satisfaction I get doing it myself usually makes it
worthwhile.

Also Mike, thanks for helping me in the other thread regarding a 2nd
fly rod. I'm still thinking all of that through (I was pleasantly
surprised by the number of people who took the time to help).

- Dave

It can involve some difficult decisions. The main one is to decide
whether you want to go the cheapie route for your first rod, in order
to learn a few things, or go for a really good one right away. Quite a
few people ask me that, but I´m afraid I can´t really give any useful
advice on it. It is just a decision you have to make. Even cheap
blanks nowadays are usually very good, but it can be a problem finding
one that suits you, and even more of a problem testing it.

One major advantage of a good quality named blank, is that you can
usually manage to test cast the factory model, before you buy the
blank. ( By the way, Sage, and maybe some other manufacturers, do
give warranties on their blanks).

The main requirements are care and attention to detail. I have built
quite a number of rods over the years, and it is quite satisfying to
use something you built yourself, very similar to using your own
flies. Nice to see somebody else using something you built as well.
However, it is more or less certain that you will NOT save any money
by doing it. If you get exactly what you want as a result of your
efforts, then that is not a problem, but one thing I have noticed
especially with first time rod builders, is that they are often not
satisfied with their efforts.

Whatever you do, take your time deciding, look at all the options,
make sure you handle plenty of rods at the tackle shop, shows etc.

For beginners, who may have only actually used a single rod, or a
couple at most, it is extremely difficult to gauge the feel and
performance of rods. Descriptions are also largely useless, as they
rely on prior knowledge of rod actions etc.

You might also like to have a really good look around this site;

http://www.rodbuilding.org/list.php?2

and also have a study of this;

http://www.common-cents.info/

The more information you have, the easier it is to make decisions.

--
Regards and tight lines!

Mike Connor

http://www.mike-connor.homepage.t-online.de/

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/Flycorner?hl=en