Dear Board,

I've often thought about building a rod or two but I have never really tried it. I did go as far as to purchase a couple of inexpensive rod blanks off of e-bay a couple of years ago, but I haven't attempted to do anything with them. I'd like to build these two blanks before I tackle building a fly rod that I would be proud to keep and fish.

I only have two problems. One blank is a MH saltwater spinning or casting blank that I want to build into a flounder rod and the other blank is an old Fenwick yellow glass 6'6" medium action spinning rod. I want to build the saltwater rod first and hopefully gain experience so that I can do a good job on the Fenwick. I had a rod just like it when I was younger that a friend built for me that I unfortunately broke. I'd like to come close to duplicating that rod so I can fish for carp and catfish like I did with the old one.

The reason I need help is that I am unfamilar with supply houses for rod building. Most of the fly shops I know offer plenty of stuff for building fly rods but nothing for spinning rods. I have a catalog for Mudhole, but I was wondering if any of you know of other places like Mudhole that offer guides and grips and reel seats for spinning rods that you would be willing to recommend? My knowledge of rod building supply houses went away when Dale Clemens Custom Tackle closed his doors a couple of years ago.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Best Wishes,
Avalon