ROLL YOUR OWN RODS: PART I:
THEORY
by Louis
Bignami Editor and Publisher
Fishing rods are better than ever.
Wonderful graphite and other exotic materials, sturdy, yet
lightweight guides, durable grips and reel seats at a reasonable
cost make "store-bought" rods great values. However, I
still like to wrap my own blanks, form my own grips and select
and place my own guides to exactly suit my taste. The typical 40
percent savings come as a bonus. So does the satisfaction you
feel when you take a nice fish on a rod you built. Either reason
alone would be enough to justify rolling your own rod; taken
together, they are quite compelling!
Extra long grips balance 12 foot or longer rods that
improve bait fishing results.
PHOTO: LOUIS BIGNAMI
Rod wrapping is much easier now than it
was 10 or 15 years ago. Firms like Orvis, Tackle Craft and others
offer a choice of kits, and mail order sources such as Cabela's
or Bass Pro Shops sell components you can assemble for a custom
result. The process is very simple too. If you buy a kit, it will
certainly come with instructions. If you opt to go the custom
route, you can see exactly how rods are wrapped with two
excellent 3M/Scientific Anglers rod making videos. Dale Clemens' Fiberglass
Rod Making and Advanced Fiberglass Rod Making
books are extremely useful too.
To start, take a step back and examine
your needs. If you are just interested in savings, try ready-made
rods from Fenwick or other manufacturers that sell both rods and
blanks. Then buy a kit or blank that matches the rod you like
best. If you want to go the completely custom route, you need to
think about blank selection, grips, reel seats, ferrules, tip
tops and guides. Then pick a wrap color, spline the rod and add
components. It's here that most beginners fail to insure the best
possible choice. For example, if you can not imagine a custom
design which suits your needs, stick with the ready-made rod
design.
What kind of custom touches might you
use? I like rods with larger diameter grips which suit my large
hands. I make these with cork rings because the foam-type grips
don't come large enough - at least not any I have found. I also
like to form grips asymmetrically with a flat spot for my thumb.
Finally, I like a longer than average grip and rod, so I can cast
two handed. Two handed casting reduces the strain on my elbow and
shoulder - I wore those out as a tennis pro.
Simple cork wraps and the right reel seat offer
one-piece solidity.
PHOTO: LOUIS BIGNAMI
Rod length and action is another area
where the custom choice can help. For example, I use rods up to
15 feet long for trolling and long distance casting. Longer rods
increase the width of the lane you troll and get baits and lures
out of the wake. Longer rods make longer casts easier and help
control the drift of baits and lures in current. Offsetting this,
of course, longer rods are a bit awkward in boats - especially if
you use a net with a short handle. Long rods don't wiggle through
brush well either!
For flats use or "long cast"
freshwater methods you might try eight or ten foot, even 12 foot
flyrod blanks in graphite. Actions on today's ready-made rods run
toward the lure fisherman's needs. With light lines and heavy
lures there is a chance of popping lures off if you don't use a
long shock tippet. Such rods do not suit bait either. So my
longer rods in graphite or, for trolling, even fiberglass, are
selected with a softer parabolic action from grip to tip. This,
in combination with a well-maintained reel drag and light lines,
reduces the chance of breaking off fish and, on the cast,
snapping off soft baits.
Do realize that reel drags
should be let off after every trip so they do not deform drag
washers. This causes uneven drag. More on reel care at another
time.
I find flyrod blanks make wonderful lure
and, in wet fly action, bait rods. Such blanks have numerical
ratings keyed to fly rod line weights. (See Conversion Table) To suit
line blank to your lure or bait/sinker weight you need to change
numerical rating to the line's weight, in grams, and then to your
lure or bait weight in ounces. I use a lot of #8 to #15 blanks
for saltwater. Some of these are a bit too light in the tip, so I
bob off a foot or so after I check the action.
Softer, long rods work nicely with
downriggers too. When the line leaves the release, the length of
the rod keeps the line tight enough to set the hook while
absorbing the shock of the hit. Flat lining trolling with long
rods set at right angles to the boat's keel can increase your
lateral spread from lure to lure up to 35 or more feet!
One-piece rods are well-worth considering. When I spent most
summers casting for stripers off San Francisco beaches years
back, all the pros used custom one-piece rods with clamped on
revolving spool reels that avoided the dubious joys of one's rod
tip following a spooon. Two- and three-piece rods do come apart
at the most inconvenient moments. They are easier to tote if you
don't go with the surf caster's car top holders which tote ready
to cast surf sticks.
If you own a boat, and carry your rods
on board, portability won't be a problem. Casters might consider
rods half the distance between their casting stations to avoid
snagging a buddy, or just give up side casts. Longer rods with
greater casting range also let you stay well away from working
fish and offer better coverage when you cast to swirls as well.
If you have doubts about your ability, or desire, to try a rod
wrapping project, make it easy on yourself with a test
ultralight. Many tackle shops offer mini rod material - much
comes from longer blanks that are trimmed down. So it's easy to
find a four to five foot long ultralight blank that only needs
grip, tip top and guides to be ready for action on all sorts of
small fish. These rods are a great way to catch live baits for
trolling or plonking off oil rigs in saltwater, and they're ideal
as panfish or stream trout rods. And they go for less than ten
bucks!
Guides are another area where
customization helps. I particularly favor light, single-foot Fuji
guides on the upper sections of long rods to improve balance.
Light guides, plus a long, two-handed grip can, with the proper
reel, balance the rod just under the reel to reduce casting
fatigue. Twin foot gathering guides suit all tackle rated for
over 15 pound test and the two guides closest to casting and fly
reels, because these better stand up to lateral stress. Matching
tip tops complete my guide selection.
As a rule I use one or two more guides
in a size or two larger than those you'd find on store-bought
rods. Larger guides increase casting range and seem to wear
slower. The only exception here is on rods over ten feet long
where I use the smallest guides I can find to avoid that tip
heavy effect. Even here it is sometimes necessary to weight the
rod butt with lead so the balance falls under the reel rather
than toward the tip. Rods that are tip heavy tire you more
rapidly than heavier rods which are properly balanced. Check
balance with the reel you intend to use with the rod, and weight
the butt as needed. Lead sinkers, lead tape used by golfers to
weight clubs, and extra heavy butt protection such as crutch tips
all help here. I tape this kind of thing on first, try some casts
and then mount the weights.
If I change reels or reel placement, I
often rebalance rods to suit my particular reel and hand size.
This makes a big difference when you cast all day. It's not the
least bit important if you troll! Trolling rods do last longer
and perform better with roller guides. I use single rollers with
Dacron or Mono lines, and double rollers with wire. These need an
underwrap so they don't punch their feet through the rod. If you
don't want to invest in rollers, at least go for a roller tip if
you troll. Of course, if you roll your own rods you can afford
expensive rollers because they can be moved from rod to rod.
Wraps should suit your needs. I stick to
simple, one color wraps that match the blank, and never use color
preserver. Instead, I let the epoxy wrap finish I prefer sink
into the threads. The result is a more sturdy wrap without flash;
I sometimes sand wraps to rid them of flash and finish rods with
matte finish so I don't scare fish. All sorts of trims as well as
wild diamond wraps can be added too. None of this takes much
time. It takes an evening to add a grip -- much less if you use
preformed foam -- and mount the reel seat. Another evening wraps
on the guides. Singe off the loose fuzz on the wraps by rotating
the wrap beside, not above, a candle and you are ready to mix and
coat on the epoxy.
- Rolling Your Own Rods Part 2:
Construction Tips
The mechanics of wrapping rods for custom
needs at considerable savings.
by Louis Bignami
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