Roll Your Own

[BlueNorther]

Well I finally took the plunge.For a few years now I've been talking about making my own flyrod.I was at the fly fishing show in Calgary today and my and my fishing pard each bought fly rod blanks and spit the cost of a jig for wrapping a rod blank.

I bought a 9 foot 5 weight in gray with a rosewood reel seat and anodized aluminum components.The eyes are ceramic lined stainless steel.

The blanks are made by Rainshadow Forecast out of Washington state.

The whole set up for the rod cost me $150.00 Canuck,the jig and a reference book will cost me another $50.00,my split with my freind.

I can't wait to tackle this project and it's gonna be an even longer wait to get out and start using it

[Bucktales]

Blue, your getting into a costly adventure. I have wrapped several rods, and I really enjoy it. Its very satisfying to catch a fish on something that you made yourself. Just be careful, soon all your friends will want you to wrap a rod here, a couple there, and it can take up alot of your time.
The costly part is when you start justifying serval flyrods for yourself, then its a spinning rod here, a trolling rod there. Before you know it, you have a bunch of rods that sit somewhere and look pretty.

If you run in to a snag and need some help, I will try to lend you some of my limited knowledge. I am still wanting to tackle the fancy patterns in the wraps, and all that fun stuff.

The rod cradle is something that you can build yourself out of scrap wood, and save a pile of money. Good luck, your going to enjoy it.

I dont know if you have ever seen a Jann's Netcraft catalog, but they EVERYTHING that you could possible need or want to wrap up rods.

[Bucktales]

Blue, if you go to www.jannsnetcraft.com/Content.aspx?src=home.htm that should take you to Jann's homepage.

[BlueNorther]

Thanks for the link Kip,appreciate it.And I'll definately take you up on your offer of help.

I've already promised myself (and the wife) that it'll only be this one for this year .Next year it's going to be a 4 wt. 7 footer ;D. A man can't have too many flyrods ;D.

[Bucktales]

Hey, if your looking for a low cost, high quality flyrod blank, check out the St. Croix line. I bought a 8'6" 6wt blank 2 yrs ago for $25. I have caught 20+ pound steelhead on it. They are very sensitive, and can really handle abuse.

[flyfisher18]

I "built " a 9ft. 4 wt. on a Sage blank in November. It is neat to be able to catch something you crafted, but boy is it time consuming! I think I'm gonna do a salt rod later in the year.