Fillin' the gap

Russell Durtschi wrote:

So I am thinking about building this rod. I want to get a 4 piece blank
and am leaning towards the 4wt. Have any of you any experience with this
particular blank?

I believe that Charlie Wilson, an experienced rod-building ROFFer whose
presence here is much missed by yours truly, built a rod with the SLi
blank. He said it was very sweet, IIRC.

Would the action of the 4 piece be much different than
the 2 piece?

No.

SWMBO is never going to go for this. Maybe if I tell her that if I buy
three blanks I get 25 dollars off of each blank. No woman can pass up a
bargin. Right?

Good plan.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

"Russell Durtschi" wrote

So I am thinking about building this rod.

I'm curious ... why build? by the time you buy all the components you will
be at nearly $250 for a $300 rod and not have the guarantee

I'm thinking about getting the same rod ...SLi 9'5wt and have heard really
good things about the blank from several people, btw

"rw" wrote

Building a rod is fun and it's pretty easy. It's something that everyone
who is serious about flyfishing should consider, just for the
entertainment value, if nothing else.



what's needed besides the rod "kit" ... I mean what tools and such? I've
got the Cabelas site open to the SLi rod kit and am twitching to click "buy
now" g but I fear that I'll find out that I need a $698 special tool
gizzmo G

Oh, and I'm a clutz, .... I can tie flies decently enough to catch fish, and
change light bulbs without too much help. I usually manage that level of
"tool and repair" things, OK. But if it requires small motor skills too
much greater than shoe tying I'm in trouble ... when you say "pretty easy"
does that mean easy enough for the "building challenged"?

I build my own rods for 2 main reasons. I can build it as good and better
since I get the components I want and colors. 2nd because I am particular
about the cork handle shape and rarely find the rod I like with the cork
shaped to fit the way I like. I prefer a cigar shape and most rods have a
small taper which my long fingers wrap around too much. I don't build many
rods, but the ones I have suit me well.

Gene

"Larry L" wrote in message
...

"Russell Durtschi" wrote

So I am thinking about building this rod.

I'm curious ... why build? by the time you buy all the components you
will
be at nearly $250 for a $300 rod and not have the guarantee

I'm thinking about getting the same rod ...SLi 9'5wt and have heard really
good things about the blank from several people, btw

On Wed, 01 Oct 2003 00:38:58 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


"rw" wrote

Building a rod is fun and it's pretty easy. It's something that everyone
who is serious about flyfishing should consider, just for the
entertainment value, if nothing else.



what's needed besides the rod "kit" ... I mean what tools and such? I've
got the Cabelas site open to the SLi rod kit and am twitching to click "buy
now" g but I fear that I'll find out that I need a $698 special tool
gizzmo G

Oh, and I'm a clutz, .... I can tie flies decently enough to catch fish, and
change light bulbs without too much help. I usually manage that level of
"tool and repair" things, OK. But if it requires small motor skills too
much greater than shoe tying I'm in trouble ... when you say "pretty easy"
does that mean easy enough for the "building challenged"?


depends on how much patience you have . . . .

get some dowelling and try winding on a guide with some sewing thread
-- should give you enough of an idea.

here's what you're letting yourself in for . . . .

http://www.hookhack.com/buildingsupplies.html



Peter

turn mailhot into hotmail to reply
Eastern Spey Clave, October 4th and 5th, 2003
http://www.easternclave.ca

Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html

Larry L wrote:
"rw" wrote


Building a rod is fun and it's pretty easy. It's something that everyone
who is serious about flyfishing should consider, just for the
entertainment value, if nothing else.




what's needed besides the rod "kit" ... I mean what tools and such? I've
got the Cabelas site open to the SLi rod kit and am twitching to click "buy
now" g but I fear that I'll find out that I need a $698 special tool
gizzmo G

Oh, and I'm a clutz, .... I can tie flies decently enough to catch fish, and
change light bulbs without too much help. I usually manage that level of
"tool and repair" things, OK. But if it requires small motor skills too
much greater than shoe tying I'm in trouble ... when you say "pretty easy"
does that mean easy enough for the "building challenged"?

You don't need any expensive tools. A cardboard box and a heavy
dictionary will serve for doing the wraps. The only place you might get
into trouble w.r.t. equipment is that you need a slow motor drive to
turn the rod while the epoxied wraps are drying. If you have a
rotisserie on your barbeque rig you could probably use that.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

what's needed besides the rod "kit" ... I mean what tools and such? I've
got the Cabelas site open to the SLi rod kit and am twitching to click
"buy
now" g but I fear that I'll find out that I need a $698 special tool
gizzmo G

Oh, and I'm a clutz, .... I can tie flies decently enough to catch fish,
and
change light bulbs without too much help. I usually manage that level of
"tool and repair" things, OK. But if it requires small motor skills too
much greater than shoe tying I'm in trouble ... when you say "pretty easy"
does that mean easy enough for the "building challenged"?



The learning curve to making a fly rod is a lot easier than tying flies. I
just made my first two rods. I ended up taking a rod building class at my
local fly shop which provided me the rod blank, rod componants and class
instruction for $150. The blank was a brown Sage 9' 5wt 2-piece rod. I
substituted their handle and reel seat with a Pac Bay recessed reel seat and
a cork handle that I modified. I put this rod to the test last Saturday at
Heenan Lake and caught a nice 26" Lahontan Cutthroat (a personal best). I
just got into fly fishing 6 months ago.

http://darren.bombs-away.net/flyfish/cutthroat1.jpg

I made my own rod wrapper and drying stand for very little cost. Nothing is
more satisfying than catching a fish on a custom built rod and a fly that is
made by yourself. Making your own rod is cheaper, and quality can be better
over a mass-produced rod from a well known rod making company. It may be
intimidating at first, but after you wrap a couple of rods, it gets easier
and your work gets better.

Here's links to pics of the wrapper and dryer that I built:

http://darren.bombs-away.net/Wrapper/

http://darren.bombs-away.net/Dryer/

Build your own rod... you won't reget it. Stop by www.rodbuilding.org which
is *THE* place for a person just starting out to get all the answers.

Hope this helps!

Darren Evans
Lakewood, CA

"rw" wrote
Building a rod is fun and it's pretty easy. It's something that
everyone
who is serious about flyfishing should consider, just for the
entertainment value, if nothing else.

And if you really want an experience after you do that, build a bamboo rod.
Ernie

rw wrote:

You don't need any expensive tools. A cardboard box and a heavy
dictionary will serve for doing the wraps. The only place you might get
into trouble w.r.t. equipment is that you need a slow motor drive to
turn the rod while the epoxied wraps are drying. If you have a
rotisserie on your barbeque rig you could probably use that.


I used my rotisserie motor when I rebuilt my Sage tip last winter. My
epoxy job didn't turn out that great and I thought it was partly due to
the motor turning too slow. I think it wouldn't be too hard to rig a
little pulley system to speed it up a bit. I'm going to experiment with
it next time. The first time I built the rod, the shop I bought the
blank from let me borrow a motor drive.

Larry, if you can tie flies, I'm sure you can build a rod. Go for it.
There is a certain satisfaction to fishing with a rod you built.

Russell

Ernie wrote:
"rw" wrote

Building a rod is fun and it's pretty easy. It's something that

everyone

who is serious about flyfishing should consider, just for the
entertainment value, if nothing else.


And if you really want an experience after you do that, build a bamboo rod.
Ernie

No thanks. I wouldn't even fish with a bamboo rod, unless one of my best
friends made it, and then only in his presence. :-)

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.