converting spinning to baitcasting - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

kingr · 11-15-2005, 10:22 AM

Can any of you rod builders tell me if it makes since to convert a spinning rod to baitcasting. I have a nice St. Croix that is 10' spinning I have since changed to baitcasting reels and really like this rod so I was thinking of having it converted to baitcasting does this seem resonable?

SeaWolf · 11-15-2005, 10:46 AM

personally and as a biz, it makes more sense to keep that rod as it is and buy the same one as a caster. or sell the spinner and buy a caster. plus, to realy do it right, you may need to cut off the reel seat and spin 180 degrees (depending on how it came from the factory). but, anything is possible.

kingr · 11-15-2005, 02:09 PM

Thanks for your input I thought that might be the case.

fcap60 · 11-15-2005, 07:53 PM

Kingr:

I have to agree with Seawolf. years ago, I upgraded from a single wrapped spinning rod to a double wrap..and that was a real chore.

Seawolf's advise is about as reasonable as it gets.

Mike P · 11-15-2005, 08:04 PM

Most of the custom rods I have were built by two people--Mike Thomas and a guy down here, Bobby Tutorello at Causeway B&T. The guides are usually aligned along the spine no matter what style of rod it is.

Back in the day when I could only afford one rod, it was an old Harnell my dad had re-wrapped spinning. I cut my teeth on a Squidder using that rod with spinning guides.

It's not worth re-wrapping a spinner as conventional. You can put a casting reel on it. I'm not sure whether that 10' St Croix has a 40 or 50 first guide, but either way, I was casting my Squidder on that Harnel when it had a 75 mm Mildrum as the first guide.

The fact that the 10' St Croix spinner has only 4 guides plus a tip means you will get line contact with the blank between guides. It may even get below the blank. I've never found this to be that big a deal, either. Way back when, most builders at the Cape used 4 wire guides on a 10' conventional, and all of my first conventional customs were built that way. The thinking back then was that fewer guides = less guide friction and a longer cast. Some old school guys up there still build them that way. The line will touch the blank in 3 or 4 places under a load. They don't care.

marky1 · 11-19-2005, 12:29 PM

Save yourself some aggrevation,...Just BUY a new conventional rod,and it's all done!

baldwin · 12-02-2005, 01:28 PM

Conventional guides are on the opposite side from Spinning guides. You want the rod to load easier when casting, but have more backbone when fighting fish. These two jobs are done by the rod flexing in opposite directions. What makes the opposite guide placement necessary is that spinning reels hang below the blank, while conventional reels sit on top.
Friction between line and blank causes more loss of distance than does contact between line and guides.