Lately, a whole school of fishers, took the plunge. Allow me to first say that this is both my first post here and my first rod building project. Like so many of you, I had the interest stirred up enough to give it a go and ordered a Hook and Hackle rod kit at the advice of another forum's fellow fisher and came here through a web search to get tips on rod building. Found Al's build section and am into my kit already. Found the spine easy enough on the H&H 8ft , 4wt, 2 pc, IM6 charcoal blank. I had wanted a bass and panfish rod this long but with a full wells grip instead of the half wells and came to the realization that I would have to comission it or build it myself. After spining it-and I chose to have the weak side down for more bend in playing fish and the strong side on top for more power in the cast. Easy enough. Over the weekend I assembled and epoxied the reel seat and grip and winding check and have taped on the guides according to the spacing specs I found online for an 8 ft rod. I'm excited about this project and can see sending Bob and the folks at H& H all my business from now on. The Batson blank is tops and the fact that the owner/CEO frequents here and posts as well as stands behind quality products with quality service make me a present and future customer. Thanks guys and gals for the site, here and looking forward to getting to know you folks.

Steve