I was looking through Cabela's online catalog tonight at their Rod kits. They actually sell kits for Loomis rods, St. Croix, their brand, and some others. And they sell Fly rod kits as well. And they have just the blanks. I'm actually thinking about building one of their steelhead rods. Not for steelheads but our striped friends. They look like good rods for throwing light swimmers. They have single foot AL Oxide guides which I would probably upgrade them to Fuji Hard-a-loys or SIC. I think it would be best to stay with single footed guides because steel head rods are rather whippy and I'm afraid if I put double footed guids on there the whippyness is going to make the flexcoat crack.
Anyways, I noticed there has been a lot of interest in rod building and I came across rod wrapper on their catalog for 100 bucks. It's just a V-notch style but it has felt in there to let the rod slide easier. Plus it has the turning motor, motor mount. The wrapper has tension guides and all on it. Let me see if I can get a link to it.
Cabela's Rod Wrapper
I think that should do it. They have a bunch of wrappers but that one looks like the most bang for your buck.
I'm thinking of starting to make all my own stuff. Lures, Teasers, and Rods. The main teaser I think I'm going to stick with is the Deciever so I wouldn't need too many materials. That looks like a relatively easy fly to tie. Of course I would need a teaser that looks like an eel too.
The rod building would save me some coinage too. I wouldn't build them often, unless I got a customer or something. I have a few guys asking me to build them rods.
And then for lures, I plan on making a templet so my lures come out uniform. I really want to create a 1/2 or 5/8 oz metal lip. It's so hard to find a metal lipped swimmer under an oz. I think it would be cool if we all wrote in to Norm Abrams and asked if he would do a show on it. He's in the MA right? I think we should get some people to send in pictures of the craftsmanship they do and see what he can do. He's a pretty crafty guy. I'm sure he would decline because you can only do so much but it's worth a try.
Allright, enough yapping. The trip to the fly shop has got me all bugging to get out there lol.
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