In the article, he references several blanks to use, anywhere from the 601 to the 721. I decided that I need a short fly rod for use out of my pontoon, and happen to have an older SP661-2 blank in my basement. Since it wasn’t referenced in the article, and I can’t really find any information, does anyone have any idea of what general weight this rod might build into? I might be interested in building it if it is a 6 or less (preferably 5 or less), but if it is going to be heavier than that, I’ll find another purpose for it. From what the article said, I’m inclined to go ahead and build it up and see how it casts.
Does anyone have any experience with this blank? I’ve been in a couple of rod swaps using this style of blank, and like the action of the rods I’ve built so far, but this one is something I haven’t heard reports on yet. Thanks in advance.
I built several rods from that article, using the 601(5 foot), 720 (6 foot) and 721(6 foot) blanks along with the 781(6’6").
Should be able to do a 5/6/7wt off the 661-2 (5’6" 2 piece) I found the 601 cast a 6 weight rather well.
Best thing is oversize the guides by one size, then you can use it as a dula purpose spin/fly rod or just a spinning rod.
My first suggestion would be to run the CCS numbers on it. They will tell you pretty quick how it will line out. But there is another way… It is rough as a dried corn cob, but it gives you a place to start.
If you have a clue as to what weight lure it was designed to use, you can get a rough idea of the line to use. The Batson site says that is built for 1/16-1/4 oz. Work from the high side. figure the number of 16ths in the high number, in this case 4, and try that line first. My guess is that you will be happy with either a 4 or a 5 on that blank.
Tape the guides down so you can change to spinning guides if it doesn’t work. Do the same with a reel just to see how it loads.
It turned out to be a 4 wt. I use a DT4 on it. I built it as a 1 piece rod. Nice little rod, but watch the shorter length…I don’t call it the Ear Piercer for nothing!
I’ll try taping everything onto it and see how it casts. That sounds like the best way to tell if I’m going to like it or not, before I build it up. Thanks for the input.
Don’t mean to hijack this thread, but I was wondering why you went shorter for being on your pontoon boat? The reason I ask is I just built one for my toon but I went longer (10’)
I felt the shorter rods were easier to handle, and with the stealth of the pontoon, distance isn’t really an issue. I definitely want to try something shorter to see how it handles.
I working on one of these blanks now as a scrounge rod project. I had more parts and no blank and thought a $8 blank would keep it cheap. I figured it to be about a 4wt, but glad to see I’m at least in the ball park in guessing line weight.
