What do I need to do?????

[Jim Sentell]

I have an old Abu Garcia 5' spinning rod that I'd like to convert to a fly rod.

How do I do it?

Jim

[brhoff]

You have to remove the reel seat and handle...probably have to soften the glue by boiling it, remove the wraps and guides, clean the blank well with something strong enough to clean it well but not remove the finish...now you'll have a blank to build the new rod on.

You'll have to experiment with guide placement and determine the size depending on what size line you decide the rod might cast....you might have to tape up some guides and throw a few size lines to decide the weight of the rod. Hopefuly your local shop has tip-tops so you can simply bring the rod in a try a few sizes.

[Bass_Bug]

I'd say Brhoff summed it up pretty well. The question is, "is the blank worth it"? Not saying it's not, but you have to consider there is a possibility of damaging the blank by stripping down if you're not very careful. Nick the blank too badly and you could have a "catastrophic failure" when you put a the right load on it. If you just want to build a small lightweight fly rod, one option is to just buy a new blank. About $8 for a similar fiberglass blank, or about $20 for a similar IM6 graphite. An IM6 7' 4wt actual fly rod blank is $32 (all from Jann's). Just some other options to consider

If you're looking for a project with very little investment, stripping your blank will only cost you time.

[Matt Penttila]

Do you know what the original rod specs were? Weigth of lure or line weight? That may help with the idea of what the rod would handle for a line.

[Jim Sentell]

Thanks for the information, guys. I'll look into it a little deeper before starting this project. Or, maybe I'll look for a blank of similar size.

Jim

[hairwing]

Hey Jim,
When we were 12 year old kids we'd convert spinning rigs to fly rods. We didn't know nuttin'. Most of our rods had a full cork grip and all we had to mess with were the guides. They turned out pretty good with some of mom's sewing thread for wrapping and dad's lacquer finish from the garage. Just dive into it. If you screw up, so you learned something.

Want to know how the rod casts? Right now take it out just the way it is and put a fly line on it. You don't need to rig a reel. Chances are a 5 or 6 weight fly line will work it just fine. Some of those short spinning rods will cast really good and you'll wonder what all the fuss about the long rod is about.

So my op: go for it! You'll probably love it to death when your done. And when we were 12 year old kids you better believe we showed it off to our buddies.

[Greg F]

I agree with hairwing: string it up with your fly line and cast it. See if you like it!