thorarinna:

A friend of mine who owns a fly shop showed me several years ago that I could just take the tip section of a fly rod and tie some thick yarn to the tip. It seemed too simple, but it worked fine. I used the same thing when I was teaching a Boy Scout flyfishing class. Doesn't look very elegant without the grip but it works. I was using the tip section of a 2 piece rod; if I were using a 4 piece rod, I would probably use the last 2 sections. Basically, that's what Joan Wulff uses. She just had a grip section put on.

Larry Compton