Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Who builds their own rods?

With all this heart stuff going on for me right now, I'm getting bored sitting around the house, so it's time to get a hobby going. 'Thinking about building fishing rods. Who here makes their own rods? I'm interested in getting set up with entry level equipment. We'll see how the first one comes out, and if this looks good, maybe invest in some better gear. Can anyone tell me a good supplier of rodmaking equipment and supplies, and possibly set me up with a list of what I need to pick up to get started? I'm interested in making graphite spinning and baitcasting gear. 2 pc. rods with IM6 or composite blanks.

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate your input.

I don't build them but really like the IM6 rods.

Yeah, I really like the feel-especially for walleyes.

I did it in the past, as part of a rod-building class we had in our fly fishing club. That was 20+ years ago, but I still use and like that fly rod.

It's fun, not too difficult, and it's now a lot easier to learn the little "tricks" from online videos. It had to be hands-on personal instruction back then; the books didn't explain things as well as an expert showing you.

Choice of reel seat, grips and thread wrapping is where you can get really creative - or keep it simple but functional. Start with the latter, of course.

My first attempt would be to just build a function rod. After that, I'd like to start playing around with doing some neat wraps on the guides. The rods today all tend to look the same. I'd like to go back to the day when they had a little character. A good cork handle, and some neat work on the guide and handle wrappings would really make for a nice rod.

I've built several rods and replaced guides on others. Like Rocky said it's not difficult and you can get a little fancy by using two colors of thread and/or gold accents.

I did it using just cardboard boxes with V cuts to hold the rod and a fly tying bobbin for the spools of thread. The one must have is something to rotate the rod to apply Flex Coat. I used a BBQ rotisserie motor and duct taped the rod to it. It worked fine.

I have been building rods for twenty years.My favorite supplier is Mud Hole 400 Kane Court, Oviedo, Fl. 32765

Visit www.MudHole.com for a very detailed catalog. The catalog will take you through the basics and offer dedicated tutorial books that are very well done.
You can start with bare bone home made equipment e.g V notched boxes, Telephone books under various weights to control tension etc.
When you can repair(replace guides on a GL-LOOMIS that look better than the originals , your there.

Tack

I've been in communication with them and was impressed with their response. I asked them if they could please put together a comprehensive list of bare bones, entry level necessities to get me started. They were back in touch with me in less than 8 hours and are sending me, free of charge a book and DVD on rod building. Anyone willing to go that far will get some business off me.

You might send a pm to stxhunter, he's built some beautiful rods.

Well, were in to see the heart doctor yesterday, and it looks like I won't be going back to work any time soon, unfortunately, so I'm going to start rounding this stuff up and see how badly I can screw up a fishing rod. First round of purchases today. I found a "starter" kit I like, and will need a finishing motor, and then a rod kit. 'Looks like the starter kit comes with wrapping thread, but I think I'll buy a big spool of black thread to get started too as I will be working with IM6 graphite in black mostly. Thinking I might use a little bright colored thread near the tip just as a strike indicator.

I do.

If you ever get into making top end stuff, you may want to look up thorne brothers in blaine mn. They do a lot of custom rod building and have some really nice blanks that are made to their own specs. I don't build rods but I use their custom rods and they are the best rods I've ever used.

It looks like I'm going to order a rod kit from Netcraft today as a good starter project. I got a little turned off by Mud Hole. I tried to order a rod dryer kit from them and it turned into a clusterphuck. Three weeks after placing the order, I still didn't have it and was at that point informed it was on back order for a month and a half. I said I'd wait on it, if they'd just ship it next day when they got it in. They refused to do that, and after several contacts back and forth, I cancelled the order. AcidRods.com had me a dryer kit in my hands in 5 days.

My first rod will be a 7 ft. 2 pc. IM6 Medium Light jig rod for walleye fishing. 'Went with the Netcraft kit because it comes with all the wrapping thread, epoxy, etc.

I haven't done much in the last couple years but I used to build quite a few rods. I like to use anglers Workshop for most of my supplies, but sometimes I did use Mudhole, Schoffs, and Jans.
Start with basic gear, you can always upgrade to a power wrapper later, I have both but still use the old flex-coat v block setup quite a bit too.

I've got all the stuff rounded up now, but as is often the other case, other projects have interceded. I'm working on putting my boat back together. It sat in the yard for 10 years unattended, and the mice and squirrels had their way with it. The wiring's all shot and the the styrofoam floatation in the seats is all chewed up. I'm focused on getting it together for our walleye opener on Mother's Day weekend. My daughter got wrapped up in fastpitch 10 years ago, and we've spent the last decade chasing her across the upper midwest to games, practices, tournaments, pitching lessons and clinics. She's done playing now after a brief stint playing college ball, and I'm looking forward to hitting the water again.