Hello,
I am wondering what the best rod building kit for under 200 dollars. I want a five wt rod . I was looking at the GL3 rods by G. Loomis. Is it worth ti to build your own rod.
Hello,
I am wondering what the best rod building kit for under 200 dollars. I want a five wt rod . I was looking at the GL3 rods by G. Loomis. Is it worth ti to build your own rod.
Hook and Hackle has the best prices for a kit 5 weight. Check out their site and if you have any questions call. they are wonderful to talk to. Is it worth it to build your own rod. I think so yes but that is just me. It depends on what you want out of a rod. Cost wise your time is worth something. That being said think about this. You are fly fishing your favorite spiecies with a rod you built yourself, leader you did yourself, and a fly you tied. You catch a fish. How much money would you spend for that. Me that is priceless. We all have our own opinions on building and I hope others express theirs here. My advise GO FOR IT!!!
WAY too much is dependent upon LOTS of data you didn’t provide … type of waterbody, species of fish, type of fly, experience level, etc.
Your question CAN be answered properly with more information.
TJ -
Hello,
Mostly smaller rivers maybe some lake fishing. I will be fishing trout and bluegill. As for flies i fish everything.
you did pick a good blank to start with,now putting it together is something else,go for it
IMO, spend just a tad bit more money and buy a St Croix SCIII 4-piece. It IS a better blank than the GL3, especially in lower line classes AND you will VERY much appreciate the four-piece design over the two-piece option.
BTW, if you really have to stay under $200 and you don’t mind an offshore blank … look at TFO’s Professional Series.
Take your time on the wrapping. Make sure it is as close to perfect as you think you can get before you apply the epoxy. Easy to back up before the epoxy. Practicing on a dowel could help. Also, taper the guide feet well. Before long you could be building rods with better workmanship than you can buy.
Good lighting is a must if you’re going to do good (or even decent) work.
Greybeard
A couple of rods I did, I was having trouble getting the thread to “jump” up onto the guide foot, then finally figured out that you need to taper the foot horizontally as well as vertically, that is you want the foot to come to a point, but you also want the area over the point to be quite thin.
The GL3 rod is a great rod to start with, it was my first build. I wrapped and unwrapped the guides a few times until I had something I was satisfied with. You will end up with a functional fishing rod that fishes well. The GL3 is a good value in my opinion.
Bill
I’m just going to answer your question first , then add some food for thought. The question was : “is it worth it to build your own rod”.
Depends on your definition of worth. If it’s the satisfaction of building the rod your way, rather than just buying a store bought rod…then I’d say absolutley
If your looking to save money and do it fast I’d say …buy the store bought rod.
Realisticly …people who build custom rods are not usually trying to save a lot of money. They build for satisfaction, and for the most part try to build a better rod than you can buy off the shelf. Another note of interest is that people get hung up on so called name brand blanks and a lot of times overlook private label ones. It always amazes me that they always seem to limit their search without looking at all the options…Ed
CD,
I have wrapped up a couple of GL3s. They are great rods for the price. I had a tip break off one while wrapping one. It was a defect and Loomis sent me a new blank free of charge after sending back the defective one. TampaJim has a good suggestion about a 4 piece blank though. Always nice for travel concerns.
Beaver
Like Beaver, I’ve tied up a couple of GL3s too. I like rods that are on the fast side, and for the price, the GL3 is a good fit. I actually prefer 2 piece over 4 piece rods. The 4 piece rods come apart while casting too often for me. It never happens with my 2 piece rods.
Every post here has some validity. I think you can save some money building comparatively priced factory rods. But, as previously suggested, the real payoff is in the satisfaction of knowing you built your own stick. Also, after fishing enough rods, I know what I like and what I’d like to add to my rods to better suit my needs. On some of my rods I have placed 15 and 20-inch marks to quickly measure fish. I can place a hook keeper on my rod, the type I like or none at all. I can choose the guides I like or experiment with different ones. Don’t forget the handle. I make my from scratch by gluing cork rings together and shaping them to fit my hand. I think if you get good enough you can sell some builds for some extra cash. I guess the true beauty in building your own is the flexibility it gives you. Hope that helps a bit. One more thing. Through this web site and rod building I have made a good friend who has been teaching me how to build rods. There’s another benefit!
Bruce
I have a problem with people saying “it’s a great xxxx for the money”. I can understand if it was a rod that was “cosmetically challenged”, but how can you like a rod that was made from a 35.00 blank but doesn’t cast as well as a rod that was made from a 100.00 blank and casts very nicely? Am I missing something?
Do you use some kind of ferrule wax on the ferrules ?? It will eliminate the sections coming apart, almost for sure.
You can buy a $125 famous brand rod blank and put $50 worth of components on it. You might pay $300 or $400 for that same blank finished by a name manufacturer. I think my logic is accurate. Example: A 9 ft., 5 wt. St. Croix Avid Fly Rod is made with SCIII graphite and sells for about $260 at a store or in a catalog. You can buythat same rod blank for $80 or $90. A sponsor of this site will sell you a component kit (winding check, guides, stripping guides and handles) that are plenty fine for $40. So, not counting your time to make it as money, you would now have a $260 rod made by yourself for about $130. There are professional builders here that would be glad to help you and they can correct me if my thinking is wrong because I don’t want to mislead.
I am not a proponent of paraffin wax. However, I do use and recommend U40’s Ferrule Lube. It is inexpensive and does a great job.
As far as multi-piece rods staying together - 99.5% of the time, I find the issue to be the method used to assemble the sections. Each section should be joined at a 90 degrees, gently pushed to the stopping point, turned 90 degrees to proper alignment and THEN snugged up. Reverse the process for disassembly. Every 2-3 hours during the day, check the sections to ensure they are snug.
BTW, there is a HUGE difference between snug and tight … learn it and the issues related to disassembly will also lessen.
TJ -
Have to agree with Tampa on this one. All I own are muti-piece rods. I only ever had one come apart early in my FFishing career. Since then his recommendations are on the money. I’ve never had a rod come apart since. Good advice there.
Buying blanks: you must know how the blank or blanks that you purchase will cast, what their action is and how they will hold up over the long haul. This only comes with experience and feedback. Most new builders or one time builders do not have the time , money or the patience to research blanks like this. My suggestion is cast the factory rod first! If you like the action and the blank is available buy it, you will save some money building it yourself.
I know for a fact that certain private label blanks will match the color, action , and durabilty of a $600. plus factory rod and although the blank didnt cost $35. it didnt approach $300. either. I have laid the factory rod next to the custom I have built and had people pick the rods up (asking them not to look at the name) and cast them each. Most of these folks were experienced casters… None could tell the difference.
You may say this is hokie, but some people hate to admit they paid 3 times more for a rod that sported a big name…ah the power of marketing!