A Good Place to Start

[GBurgFisher]

So I'm really new to rod building/refurbishing. I have read a ton on the internet, and a ton on FAOL. I have a fairly good idea of what I'm doing, and have laid out some good plans on where I would like to start. I am a visual learner. Sometimes the internet just doesn't do it for me, and I'm intimidated to get started without really knowing what I'm doing. Does anyone know of any good videos out there? I have seen some for sale, but they are pricy and I want to know if its really worth it before I dive in and buy one. Also any good book suggestions or other sites on the web would be welcome. I have noticed that most of the books out there deal predominantly with building from the ground up. Would these be good references for refurbishing? Any help would be appreciated.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

GBurg,

You might want to contact Jack Hise here on the BB. I'm pretty sure it was him that had some loaner videos available.

REE

[Orthoman]

Gberg-

I know there are videos out there that you can use --but they aren't really necessary. A book I found useful was Fly Rod Building Made Easy by ARt Scheck.
Also read the Al Campbell information on the FAOL site.

I would recommend buying a kit from Hook and Hackle -- go with something kind of inexpensive -- about $100 or so. I believe some of their kits come with rod building videos. Follow the Al Campbell series on this site -- and just do it.

All you are really doing is assembling a bunch of parts and the worst that can happen is that it doesn't come out very good -- big deal -- worst case scenario is that you kind of wasted $100. I say kind of wasted because it will still work - it just might not be real pretty and perfect -- which by the way it probably won't be on the first couple of attempts anyway. My guess is that it will come out much better than you every expected.

For me, probably the hardest thing to do really well - and it isn't really hard, is align the guides. Wrapping the ferrules and guides isn't difficult it is just time consuming. Applying the epoxy finish was a little tense until I figured out that this was very easy -- just need to learn the process and how to handle epoxy. I would recommend buying a cheap graphite arrow and some cheap guides and practice on them -- especially the epoxy application. This will also let you see how thread colors change (or don't change with stabilizer applied) when epoxy is applied and give you a sense of how to handle/apply it and the working time.

Take your time. If you get into a jam, post the problem on this site and do what the guys tell you. These folks give some phenominal (SP?) advice.

Good luck and don't get too stressed out over this process.

[Dave_Fulton]

GBurg,

I see you are in Frederick, MD. You should check out the Potomac Valley Fly Fishers (PVFF). A really nice bunch of people with very diverse fly fishing interests, i.e., trout, warm water, salt water, etc.

The club offers rod building and fly tying classes in the winter. I have taken both classes and learned a lot. This past winter I took the rod building class and built a nice 4 WT that I love.

Our monthly meeting is tonight, see our web site for details: http://www.pvflyfish.org/index.htm

If you come, be sure to introduce yourself.

Dave Fulton

[GBurgFisher]

Thank you all for the direction. My little project is plugging along nicely now.
Dave, Great to see another Frederick guy on FAOL! I will not be able to make tonights meeting, but hopefully will be able to in the future. I had been wondering about a local organization like that but had not taken the time to seek one out. Thanks for the info and I will make sure to keep my eye on the calendar.
Best,
Andrew

[Dave_Fulton]

Andrew,

Sounds great! I make it to most meetings, so I am sure that I will see you there in the future. It is nice to find local people that like to fly fish.

Speaking of local, are there any good streams around Gburg? I've been meaning to explore the area, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Take it easy!

Dave.

[GBurgFisher]

There are quite a few up this way. If I leave from work to go fishing, I usually stay around Gettysburg - mostly on the Connewago. If I'm leaving from Frederick to come up this way, I usually drive all the way up to Carlisle for the breeches or one of the spring creeks in the area. I have not really had too much experience with any of the non "catch and release, FF only" streams around this area. Some of them look pretty nice, but I have never really heard of anyone forgoing the nicer streams in Carlisle, or the connewago. I would be more than happy to get you some directions or provide some more info if needed. Do you ever do any fishing on the Monacay? I just realized that it was there (still kind of new to the area) about two months ago. I've been curious since then but have not had the time to get out and look around.

[Dave_Fulton]

Andrew,

Sorry for the delayed response ... work has been hectic.

The Monocacy River has some decent spots for Small Mouth Bass, Rock Bass, and assorted Pan Fish. I have heard of people catching some trout in it early in the season, and the concensus seems to be that they are stockers put in the local creeks in the spring by the DNR. It's nice because it's convenient if you have limited time, like after work. The Potomac is better though. If you want more info., just let me know.

I have family in the Camp Hill area and go up to fish the Breeches whenever I can. See my post about the Breeches under Fishing Reports. I've heard that the Connewego is good, and have been wanting to check it out, but if I'm in the Gettysburg area, it's usually as I'm passing through on Rt. 15. I am not very experienced with spring creeks. I would love some more info. on the Gettysburg streams, especially Connewego.

It's too bad that you couldn't make the PVFF meeting. The guest speaker was a guy from some federal conservation agency (I forget the agency's name), who specializes in entemology. He's also a fly fisher. He had slide show and preserved specimens of various bugs in their various stages. I found it very educational.

Dave

[Terry Lightle]

My middle son builds the rods for our family.He followed Al Campbells instructions from here and the rods came out great.He built me a Sage TXL and built the youngest son a Sage V2,Along with a host of spinning and casting rods for himself.