# Fly rod build



## nitsud (May 22, 2010)

I built my first rod recently, and thought I'd share a little about how the process went for me. I went with a US made 9 wt Fly Logic blank, and also went with Fly Logic through the same seller for the grip and reel seat/fighting butt. The Fly Fishing shop was really great to deal with. The first time they shipped the rod (within a day of ordering, arrived within 3), it got crushed by the Postal Service. I took photos of the damage, and they shipped me a new rod and seat immediately. They deserve their 100% positive feedback.

All other components (guides, tip top, thread, seat/grip epoxy, wrap finishing epoxy, etc) were purchased from Mudhole. I went with black everything, no decals, and no hook keeper. I intend to fish with this rod, not put it up on the wall so I can look sophisticated.

The first step I took was to lay everything out and make sure it was all there. I had to build this thing on a deadline, because I had a trip to Naples coming up within a week, and it had to be done for that trip. It would suck pretty bad to realize late that a guide was missing. Everything was there. Rod, butt/seat, grip, guides, thread, epoxy, and wrap finishing epoxy. That's all that's needed.

After laying everything out, I realized I needed to recess the grip in order to allow the seat to fit properly. Here it is before:










After carefully marking the diameter of the portion of the reel seat that needed to be recessed on the grip, I used an air powered rotary tool to cut the cork away until the seat fit cleanly into the grip.










After that, I used two bands of masking tape as a spacers to fit the reel seat properly to the blank.










The next job was fairly difficult. It's necessary to ream the cork grip out in order to allow it to slide down the blank enough to fit properly on the reel seat. It is possible to use a rat tail file to do this, but I didn't have one at the time, so I had to improvise. I made good use of the rod sections that the postal service broke for me by duct taping some emery cloth to them and using them as grip reamers. It was fairly slow going, and a good coarse rat tail would likely be faster, but I don't think there is a better way to insure the taper is right than this way.










After fitting it up, I determined the spine of the butt section of the blank, put a reel on the seat and made sure that the spine was opposite of the center of the reel. Using a ceramic pencil (seemed like a crayon would work just fine too???), I marked the location, then disassembled the whole thing. After cleaning a little with denatured alcohol, epoxy was mixed and applied to everything. I put the butt, then the seat, then the grip in place, and it all seemed to go pretty well.










This was all on the first night, and at this point, I had about 5-6 hours of time invested, and a total of around $175 for components and supplies. Now on to wrapping the guides...


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## nitsud (May 22, 2010)

Let's be clear about one thing. Wrapping the first guide was a pain in the ass, but wrapping the last one was pretty easy. Part of that is probably because I decided to put the tip top on and work down, rather than starting at the grip and working up, but the bigger part is that I got quite a bit better at this over the course of building the rod. It can be frustrating.

In any case, the first thing I did was to build a very simple wrapping setup. I basically used some scrap lumber, a couple of angle brackets, and some felt (all either stuff I had or purchased from Home Depot) to build mine. It's not pretty, but it worked just fine.










Probably the biggest frustration with this was that I had to unscrew and move the brackets holding the thread spool a number of times, but generally, it worked pretty well. I'm not going to go too far into how I built this thing, mostly because it's pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions, PM me.

In any case, the procedure for wrapping started with determining the spine of the top section of the rod, and installing the tip top so that the spine of the rod was opposite the direction that the tip top pointed. After that, guides were prepared using a file. The feet of the guides are not perfect, and need to be filed down so the thread can get on the guides smoothly. The next step is to place the guides using masking tape, then carefully wrap one side, removing the tape as needed. The thread is started basically as you'd start the thread on a fly, but is ended by pulling the thread end under a number of wraps using a loop of thread or fishing line. I used braided line to pull the thread through the wraps in the finishing step, and that worked pretty well, I think. After wrapping one side of a given guide, the second side is wrapped. I found it useful to continually check the alignment of the guides and adjust after every wrapping step.

Wrapping is a fairly difficult process, but I completed it for the entire rod in two long evenings. After wrapping, the rod is basically complete, but one final step is necessary. The thread wraps must be protected using a second epoxy compound. This is another two part epoxy. I found it useful to make a little aluminum foil bowl to put the epoxy in after it had been mixed in a mixing cup. This helps to eliminate bubbles. The finishing epoxy is applied by brush, and the high end rod builders use fancy lathelike building jigs to apply the finishing and also to insure that it doesn't slump by rotating the rod at around 7 rpm for the first couple of hours after the epoxy is applied. I don't have one of those machines, so I just used my wrapping jig and a rubber band to secure the rod and rotated it every 5-10 minutes for the first two hours after the finish was applied. It seemed to work fine, and after letting that cure for a full 24 hours, the rod was done.


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## nitsud (May 22, 2010)

The morning after I flew down to Naples, I hit the beach with my new rod.










The wind was approximately 15 mph that day, but I was able to make some decent casts with and across the wind. Working with the much heavier line was a new experience (I've only used 5 wt in the past). I do not have much of a reference point, but I found the rod to cast just fine. I can get it out there quite a bit further than I would be able to with the 5 wt, and it handled the wind admirably.

In any case, no fish were caught that day. Later on, I headed inland to a canal and caught this little guy:











Not a big fish, but the first tarpon I've caught, and the first fish on the new rod. Of course, I caught him on a bugger! This is one of the target species I had in mind when putting this thing together.

On the rest of the trip, I caught a couple of sea trout, and some ladyfish. One day, I met another guy fly fishing from a yak. We started talking and he offered to let me borrow a yak of his and join him for some night fishing in the canals. The snook gather around the lights in the intercoastal to feed, and I got into two very nice fish, but both came unbuttoned. I don't have any pictures, but the memory of fighting snook on a fly rod, from a yak, will stay with me forever. 

I've learned a lot in the process of building this rod, and fishing it in the salt. Next time, I will catch one of those snook, and hopefully another poon!!


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## flyman (Aug 9, 2007)

Great job! No better feeling that fishing with a rod you built yourself! My first project was Cabelas SLi 7wt, then Cabelas Traditional 5wt. While the instructions were good, I noticed that if you want the rod to cast slightly better, the spine should be facing down, same direction as the guides. But since the 7wt handles steelhead and smallies and doesn't need to cast a mile, also because I didn't any better, I did it the opposite, but it still is fine. I foresee another build in your future


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Very nice Dustin!


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## nitsud (May 22, 2010)

I think there are differing ideas on which side of the spine the guides should go on, but the important part is to have them either on or opposite of the spine to prevent a torque. Honestly, I'm not sure how important that really is, as compared with the quality of the blank, but it certainly doesn't hurt. I'm already looking to the next build... and one after that! I want a nice ul spinner, but I'm also thinking about an ul fly rod (2 or 3 wt). Eventually, I will replace my beaten up 5 wt, but I expect that to be my primary rod, so I want to get some more experience before taking that one on.


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## fishmerf (Mar 28, 2008)

Very nice! Keep it up. There is a great deal of satisifaction in fishing with a rod you built. I do not own a fly rod that I have not built.


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## nitsud (May 22, 2010)

Did some hybrid fishing in the summer. Man, remember summer. Summer was awesome...










The rod held against this one, even with my jackbooted thug method of pulling the things in. I typically don't let the things take line too much. Turn their head upcurrent quick, use saltwater strength leaders, and pray the rod holds together. Makes for a brutal fight, but I'm convinced it's best for the fish, and it's so... very... much... fun.

Still love the rod, and it's held up like a tank. It's not perfect, and I'm looking forward to building the next, better one!


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## treefrog (Sep 15, 2005)

When using grit make sure you blow it out or some grit may be left behind and scratch your blank as you slide it on.a rat tail in a drill set on reverse works really well


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