Alrighty,

I am going to make an attempt at building my first fly rod soon. I just started fly fishing last summer and dont have a heavy enough rod for the steelhead and salmon. All I have is a 5-6 wt.

What I need to know is what is a good rod blank for around or under $100? It does not have to be something fancy. Like I said this is my first attempt at building a rod. Thanks for any advice.

Shawn

Give anglers workshop in Woodland a call. They have tons of blanks and kits for building a rod.

Ditto: Rainshadow- 9' 8 weight
I'd also want a small extension butt below the reel seat.

Thanks for the help so far guys. Appreciate it. I have been perusing the Cabela's catalog just ot get an idea of the stuff I need to get a hold. Not going to buy it from them. I think that I am going to make all my own stuff too. Like the rod dryer and the wrapping setup. Seems pretty easy to make and alot less expensive to do that.

I'd go with a Rainshadow RX-6 Forecast blank. I'd also agree to go with the 9' 8 weight & add a fighting butt. Great all around steelie bug rod...

The Forecast blank is a dark blue, a 2 pc. blank runs for $ 44.00

If you want to upgrade to the RX-7 blank it runs $62.00 & comes in green or gray... but with all the other stuff you will need that would put you over your budget.

You also have the option of going with a 4 pc. blank (travel rod) but, they again are more $$.

You can call the boys @ Batson & talk to Kerry. 1-877-875-2381


c/22

Pug,

I haven't made a single hand rod in a long time now, but I bought close out Lamiglass blanks for $50 and $55 at Angler's Workshop. They don't offer that option any longer. I didn't know about Rainshadow then, but I've since built 3 rods on their blanks. The blanks were inexpensive, and made really nice rods.
I don't know if Rainshadow makes a 9 1/2' for 8 wt, but that length and wt make a nice steelhead rod. FWIW, 9 & 9 1/2' 8 wts are the two most popular rods for steelhead in the PNW in single hand rods. If you decide to have a fighting butt, make that an add-on from an extra piece of rod blank. Don't waste any length of a 9' blank for that.

I seldom make more than a couple rods a year, so I never bought any special equipment. I put the thread on a fly tying bobbin and hold it in my fly tying vise while I wrap the guides on the rod blank. It's easy to adjust the tension (you can wrap the thread once or twice around a leg of the bobbin if you need higher tension, but I usually don't). For a rod drier, I just cut "vee" notches in the ends of a cardboard box and rest the finished rod sections in that, and turn them a quarter turn every 10 or 15 minutes until they're dry enough to not sag. I usually make the grip from individual cork sections rather than preformed grips. I made a simple jig to hold one end of the rod blank while the reel seat end fits a wooden dowel that gets chucked into my drill motor that's held in my bench vise. Not as fancy as a lathe, but works just fine to sand the corks into a shaped rod grip.

Have fun and enjoy.

Sg

Rainshadow makes the 9' 6" 8 weight in both blank types too.

Just a bit more $$...

c/22

Well I was looking at spending $100 or less for the blank itself. So I guess I have a good variety of options. This is just going to complicate my decision to be made even more. Dear God.

I appreciate all the info guys, thanks.

Pug, it just keeps getting worse. Or better as you look at it.....

I'm putting together my first rod now, with the help of an old hand.


After the blank you gotta pick out cork,reel seats, guides, wraps.......

c/22

Yeah, you're on a road straight to hell now. Then you choose a reel - a newfangled disc drag model or old school spring and pawl real deal. Then you choose your flyline(s). Factory made sink tip? Versa-tip (multi-tip line)? Or home made custom job that will take every sink tip you can make for yourself?

Not to mention, what fly? Bright day, bright fly? Dark day, dark fly. Or vice versa? Weighted or unweighted? Solid shank, Waddington shank, or tube fly? Or . . . . ?

You're doomed Pug.

Sg

Dear god man!!!!!

I just started fly fishing last summer and bought the rod I am using for $200. That includes a decent Cortland reel with interchangable cassettes, rod (custom made), line on the reel, case (which is in the Payette river somewhere after being misinformed on the amount of time to drift on pontoons and rowing for four hours in the dark, it fell off somewhere), and a couple of flys.

$100 for line, I dont think so. I am definitely going to be the fly fisherman that proves that you can do it all on a small budget and still have nice stuff. And catch fish with it.

Oh yeah, you can do it quite well without spending a fortune. But like most good drugs, you get sorta' addicted and buy more stuff than you need. I found I enjoyed rod building, so I've got between 30 and 40 fly rods, and could probably find reason to make a few more.

If you're gonna' fish steelhead and salmon, the cassette reel may not be up to the task. I'm not positive, but I don't think many guys use them in that service. If you decide to get another, I still think the best value freshwater fly reel continues to be the discontinued Ross Colorado off Ebay. Just bend the spring a scoosh to firm up the drag resistance, and it's perfect. If you can't live without an unnecessary disc drag, then pay a little more for the Ross Cimmaron.

The $100 SA Sharkskin line might be more than hype, but I don't care for it sounding like a saw blade running through the rod guides. Save a bundle and buy an SA Air Cell Supreme at $30 (Sportco) or a Cortland 444 Peach for less than $40. Those lines have been around close to 40 years, they handle well, last a long time, and are better values than any of the $59 and up lines. Not that there's anything wrong with the more expensive lines; it's just that they're no where near as good a value. Kinda' like a $600 Sage flyrod is good, but not as good a value as the one you build on a $60-70 Rainshadow blank.

Oh and for the $$$ equals quality and more effective fishing, etc., I like to point out on the fly fishing boards from time to time that I've caught more steelhead on an old 8 1/2' 8 wt fiberglass fly rod I built in 1979 for about $25 than all the graphite rods and Spey rods combined that I've owned since. Whenever possible, I stress that the most important place for a fly fisherman to invest in high quality gear is not his rod, reel, or line; it's his waders. Good waders and so-so rod, reel, and lines will help an angler catch more fish than any amount spent on the other stuff.

Sg