Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Ben Dixon

Measured the coastguard rod yesterday, comes out as having ERN of 15.1 & AA of 72, that means it needed to have 400.5 grams hung off the tip to deflect it by 1/3 of its length and, it is very fast  :z4

Cheers

Ben


Ben Dixon

Some pics of the finished rod



Oversized handle as requested





Cheers

Ben

Allan Liddle

Like that Ben, looking good.  :z16

Hamish Young

Ben has put together a very fine rod indeed - talented that lad  :wink
I believe we would agree it's turned out even better than we anticipated, it's a hugely effective casting tool. Recovery is incredibly quick and boy is that rod fast it will take a wee bit of getting used to and it's very different to the factory build on the same blank.
Will be interesting to see how its cousins turn out when they're completed, a side by side test will be in order I think :cool:
By the way folks that's a 'man' handle not over-sized . Fits my hand perfectly :z7 :z4

Come the CLA 2014 I know which rod will be coming with me  :cool:

H :wink

Scolopax

Great post, thanks - I am now really interested in building my own rod.  Trouble is I am a poor struggling artist and the main reason to try, is to obviously save money on an expensive rod.  I have been looking at blanks, but when you take into account all the other bits you need, the savings are not as amazing as one would think.
Are there any really good value blanks out there for me to start with?  The thought of spending around £200 on a blank that might not turn out that well, is not possible for me.
A question: in this post you talk about painting the blanks - are all rods painted as a matter of course ?  I have a SAGE RPL (donated :-)) is that painted ?  When you receive a blank from the supplier, does it come just as rough carbon, or is the finish smooth??
Sorry to ask so much, but I am very new to fishing

Ben Dixon

You probably won't get a home made rod for less than you could buy a cheap built rod from a shop for.  You will probably find that you could get something better for say, a £250 budget if you build yourself on something like a CTS blank.  There are cheaper blanks available but I have no personal experience with them so could neither recommend or advise against their use, quite a few in USA seem to rate the MHX blanks.  All CTS stuff I have used to date, both single and double handed has been good. 

CTS blanks come either painted or as plain carbon, you specify how you want it.  Very few blanks are available truly unfinished (unground), most are sanded smooth even those that are not painted.  I would not recommend trying to paint an unfinished blank yourself, if you want it painted and shiny, buy it that way.  I think an RPL would be painted.

Cheers

Ben

 




Barrio Fly Lines - designed in Scotland - Cast with confidence all over the world

Barrio Fly Lines

Designed in Scotland

Manufactured in the UK

Cast with confidence all over the world

www.flylineshop.com