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[Hurtin Albertan]

Like the title says I've decided sitting around staring at screens in my golden years wasn't working for me so have got back into building rods, tying flies and jigs and getting out fishing in a 12' tinny I just bought last May.

Currently working on a PacBay, Tradition II, 10' - 2-piece, 5wt that I made my first ever custom fit to my hand modified full-wells grip.  I have 10 rod blanks on order from North Fork Composites.  Seven are fly rods but also two 13' drift/float rods and one 13' for a bait-caster which will be spiral wrapped as that style makes so much sense for easier handling of heavy fish.

A picture should show up here but it's not showing in the preview and I got an account at Imgbb.com just to be able to insert images.
It's at https://ibb.co/5KXsKJd in case anyone wants to see the new rod still under construction.



I'm hunting around for parts for building all these rods preferably from Canadian suppliers but will order from elsewhere if that's all there is.  Things like custom reel seats, cork rings, guides and even rod wrapping/grip turning equipment used or new. 

If I'm going to go thru all the trouble of building my own custom rods I don't want to put no-name cheapo parts on them.  Each rod will be a labour of love and needs my personal touch or why bother eh.

[Dave]

Valley Custom Rods in Chilliwack and Custom Rod building Supplies in Victoria are great sources of components and great people to work with.

[jim]

 good to hear that you have some great hobbies.
I have done rods myself, years ago.
I am curious about the spiral wrapping of the guides up the rod length. Is it just for baitcaster rods? What is the theory and practicality of this spiral wrap?

[Hurtin Albertan]

good to hear that you have some great hobbies.
I have done rods myself, years ago.
I am curious about the spiral wrapping of the guides up the rod length. Is it just for baitcaster rods? What is the theory and practicality of this spiral wrap?

Pretty much for baitcasters or any rod that has the reel and guides on top of the rod in use.  I only found out about this wrapping technique recently when I started searching around for instructions to help me refresh my memory about how to build a rod.

With the guides on top when fighting a fish the rod wants to twist in your hand so you're fighting the rod and the fish.  By routing the line from the top so it runs along the bottom of the top section that torque is eliminated saving a lot of work for the fisher and I'm all about reducing the load wherever possible.

Here's a link for a fuller explanation and more detail about why it makes perfect sense and how to do it.  There's a simple way to do it but I can't seem to find that link but a google search will pop up all sorts of links and how-to videos.  I just strung an extra guide on my baitcaster then set the rod so I could hang a weight on the end of the line to put a good bend in it and moved the loose guide around to find a spot where it flipped the line to the bottom and the line didn't touch the blank.  Marked that spot and wrapped it in place.  I'd recently bought a Solarez UV cure head cement kit with 3 - 5ml tubes of head cement and UV flashlight.  One of the tubes is a flexible one that's good for putting on knots in leaders to smooth their passage through guides so I used a bit to coat the wrap and cured it with the light.  The rod casts just fine but I never did get a pike on it to see how it handled but should work fine.  Spring is only 6 months away so it'll get a workout then.  I should have a new bait rod built by then and it'll be put together with the spiral wrap.

https://www.fishalaskamagazine.com/spiral-wrapped-rod/