Fly Fishers For Conservation
Fresno, Ca

Rod Building
Rod Building Instructor Dave Burris 

E-mail me with any question you may have 
or if you would like to learn to build your own rod.

 

ROD REPAIR TIP OF THE MONTH

   

This is kind of a lets not repair it if we don't have to:
 Well as I came back to the truck from a long walk up a hill from the San Joaquin River shad outing  I was a bit hot and tired from crawling around on the rocks I opened up the truck grabbed a ice cold water from the cooler and started to take down my fly rod. cut the fly off and took off the reel put it away in it's reel case and then is when the fun started I went to put the rod away and I couldn't get it apart from the furl in seemed as though some one had put glue in the furl so I started thinking  it was cold or cool when I put it together and it had warmed up quit a bit by 1 pm it was over 95 deg here in the parking lot and the rod was a black blank 7wt. out in the sun for 4 hrs.  I thought to myself it must of expanded and that's why I can't get it apart with a cold bottle of water in one hand the rod in the other I thought I will just cool it off with water... Cold water didn't do it so on to ice... Ice didn't do it either... I thought oh no now my 7 wt. is a one piece rod for good. but not being in a rush and not wanting to break the blank I thought I would just take it home and set it in the rod rack and look at it the next day and low and behold I picked it up the next morning and it came right apart it had cooled off and shrunk back to it's unexpanded size and no problem... So when you find your self on a early cool summer morning fly fishing make sure that you don't put your fly rod together with too much force or you wont get it apart until it cools down and always make sure the furl is clean and has some furl lube on it be it Bees Wax or some of the newer furl lubes out there I have seen the new Loone furl treatment and have ordered it now and will be giving it a try I will keep you posted on that one. But if all else fails rub the male furl on the side of your nose before you put your rod  together just the little bit of oil on your skin about your nose will keep it from sticking most of the time...If not don't be in a rush and break the rod just let it cool down and it should come right apart        

Tight Lines… BIG FISH!

Dave B.

 

 

 

 

 

INFO LINKS

Rods and Lines

How to Wrap a Rod

Leaders

Virtual Fly Shop Rod Building Bulletin Board

Indicators

Graphite Rod Building

Insects for Fly Fishermen

Hook & Hackle

Angler's Workshop

Cabela's

EZflyfish.com

Rod Builders Supply .com

Shoff Tackle Company

Elkhorn Fly Rods

 

Why Would I Want A Custom Fly Rod? 
There are several reason as to why you would like to have a custom fly rod. A custom fly rod allows you to identify your rods at a glance, in a rod rack among other fisherman's rods. Or perhaps you have a favorite color or two and you want them on your rod. Or maybe you just want your rod to not be like every other rod out there, you want it to say, "It Belongs To Me".
What better way of doing that then to have your own custom fly rod in the colors you like most. Or how about a full set of rods that match? Or how about matching your rod's colors to the anodized color of your high dollar reels.
Or how about showing your enthusiasm for the great sport of fly fishing by expressing your personal taste in the color on your custom fly rod.  
 Then there are the more 'technical'  and 'comfort seeking' reasons for having a custom fly rod. Such as, "I want bigger guides on my rod so that line will shoot much better. "Or ,"that cork grip doesn't fit in my hand and it gives me a cramp after a hour or so of using it." and "I want a full wells grips on all of my rods they fit my hand". Well ,off the shelf you can't find a 9 foot 3wt with big guides and a full wells cork grip in pink and purple with gold high lights. But if your talking in the world of custom rods, its no problem!  Just place your order and in a month or so you will get the custom rod of your dreams. When you have a custom rod built the rod builder spends elite number of hours making the rod with the component of your choice. Therefore, unlike the major fly rod manufacture the rod builder is not looking to cut corners by putting a lesser quality components: i.e. guilds, handle, thread, or  finish. You can have high quality blank with the very best components on it. For approximately the same price you would by for a high quality leading name rod ,off the shelf with lesser quality components. . 

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