One of my biggest passions is building fly rods. I work for a smaller rod company, but I also really enjoy building rods on the side for friends, family, and of course myself. Thought it could be cool to start a thread where we can all share some of our personal rod builds — if custom rod building is something you’re into.
This was my very first fly rod build, it was a 7'6" 4wt, built using the Rainshadow Revelation RX7 fly blank. The rod is very simple but seem to bring together who I am. It had the kuru arrow wrap underlay (favorite camo), it had a gold hook keeper as an ode to Browning's gold trigger and an elk antler just as a personal touch.
This next rod that I built was a fun build, it was a personal fly rod that built as an ode to one of my favorite places to spend time either fishing or hunting which is out near Hamma Hamma. The rod is a 7'6" 3wt. At this point I started exploring with different thread wrapping techniques. For this rod it is very simple trim bands and inlays. I am still very basic with thread wrapping compared to some of the pro's out there! At this point in time also, I was playing around a lot with a laser engraver we got at work.
The reel seat on this rod is a pac bay champagne colored reel seat, with a cork half well grip (some patterns laser engraved in) and a carbon fighting butt since this r/s didn't come with a cap.
This rod was one that I coined "where the wild things are". I built it for my first trip over to Montana to go fish with Atlas Outfitters and it is built using a Rainshadow RX10 9'0" 6wt. I ended up gifting the rod to one of our guides after the trip. Again, it has the kuru arrow wraps underneath, with a trim-colored guide wrap. The rod also has titanium guides and a custom grip we had built for us at work from a company called Piscari. The grip itself we call the "Hammer grip" since the design was based off a hammer we had lying around.
The reel seat on this is also a ALPS reel seat that I airbrushed the insert on.
This is a rod I originally built for a streamer rod that I ended up gifting to a friend. It is a 9'0" 7wt, again using the RX10 rain shadow blank. On this rod I tried to get a bit fancy and did some splatter paint over a light grey thread wrap.
This rod I built out was for our local chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation as a donation piece for their banquet. I wanted it to be something special that blended fly fishing with a little personal touch and outdoors heritage.
The build started on a Rainshadow Eternity RX9 9'0" 5wt platform paired with a half wells cork grip, stainless steel ALPS stripping guides and wire guides, and a reel seat from Fly Rod Crafters. One of the coolest details on the rod, though, is the antler burl butt cap — made from a blacktail deer I had harvested a few years back. Thought it was a fitting way to tie in the hunting side of things for an RMEF piece and give the rod some story and individuality. Someone was giving a little bit of flack regarding the antler burl being uncomfortable but I figured it was a 5 weight, so your won't really need to truly lock it in since the caliber of fish most people will be fighting are not a "big game species".
The second rod was built on the same blank platform but this time for a prize at a golf tournament over in Eastern Washington. Again, I stuck with the Rainshadow Eternity RX9 9'0" 5wt along with the same ALPS stripping guides and wire guides setup. For the grip, I used another Fly Rod Crafters cork half wells grip. I’m slowly getting into building my own cork grips now, but at the time of building these two rods I hadn’t quite gotten there yet. This build also featured an ALPS reel seat and another antler burl insert, this one coming from a mule deer I had taken years prior.
This was my very first fly rod build, it was a 7'6" 4wt, built using the Rainshadow Revelation RX7 fly blank. The rod is very simple but seem to bring together who I am. It had the kuru arrow wrap underlay (favorite camo), it had a gold hook keeper as an ode to Browning's gold trigger and an elk antler just as a personal touch.
This next rod that I built was a fun build, it was a personal fly rod that built as an ode to one of my favorite places to spend time either fishing or hunting which is out near Hamma Hamma. The rod is a 7'6" 3wt. At this point I started exploring with different thread wrapping techniques. For this rod it is very simple trim bands and inlays. I am still very basic with thread wrapping compared to some of the pro's out there! At this point in time also, I was playing around a lot with a laser engraver we got at work.
The reel seat on this rod is a pac bay champagne colored reel seat, with a cork half well grip (some patterns laser engraved in) and a carbon fighting butt since this r/s didn't come with a cap.
This rod was one that I coined "where the wild things are". I built it for my first trip over to Montana to go fish with Atlas Outfitters and it is built using a Rainshadow RX10 9'0" 6wt. I ended up gifting the rod to one of our guides after the trip. Again, it has the kuru arrow wraps underneath, with a trim-colored guide wrap. The rod also has titanium guides and a custom grip we had built for us at work from a company called Piscari. The grip itself we call the "Hammer grip" since the design was based off a hammer we had lying around.
The reel seat on this is also a ALPS reel seat that I airbrushed the insert on.
This is a rod I originally built for a streamer rod that I ended up gifting to a friend. It is a 9'0" 7wt, again using the RX10 rain shadow blank. On this rod I tried to get a bit fancy and did some splatter paint over a light grey thread wrap.
This rod I built out was for our local chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation as a donation piece for their banquet. I wanted it to be something special that blended fly fishing with a little personal touch and outdoors heritage.
The build started on a Rainshadow Eternity RX9 9'0" 5wt platform paired with a half wells cork grip, stainless steel ALPS stripping guides and wire guides, and a reel seat from Fly Rod Crafters. One of the coolest details on the rod, though, is the antler burl butt cap — made from a blacktail deer I had harvested a few years back. Thought it was a fitting way to tie in the hunting side of things for an RMEF piece and give the rod some story and individuality. Someone was giving a little bit of flack regarding the antler burl being uncomfortable but I figured it was a 5 weight, so your won't really need to truly lock it in since the caliber of fish most people will be fighting are not a "big game species".
The second rod was built on the same blank platform but this time for a prize at a golf tournament over in Eastern Washington. Again, I stuck with the Rainshadow Eternity RX9 9'0" 5wt along with the same ALPS stripping guides and wire guides setup. For the grip, I used another Fly Rod Crafters cork half wells grip. I’m slowly getting into building my own cork grips now, but at the time of building these two rods I hadn’t quite gotten there yet. This build also featured an ALPS reel seat and another antler burl insert, this one coming from a mule deer I had taken years prior.
unfortunately there isn't much money to be made in the forum biz
