# Wade Fishing Rod



## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

You see a lot of rods shown on this forum but no reason for why or how they were built. I've never read a book or took lessons on rod building just friends telling me things and now reading this forum. I may be shooting myself in the foot but I know there's people starting or experts that build rods may pick something up from this thread. The blank is 6'6'' medium flex. I paid 10 dollars for it and majority of my other supplies at FTU. I selected this flex so as to cast artificials as far as I can with the least effort. The eyes I selected because they have inserts and I like the traditional style and the look not to mention price as was with the blank. Keep in mind this rod was built totally by hand, no calipers, drills or jigs. The most complex tool used was a wooden ruler and my craft knife to cut the threads. I built this rod backwards. I found the backbone (the dirrection the blank wanted to flex the easiest ) and marked it so as to align all the rod on that point. I then used my ruler and marked my spaces where I planed to put all that went on the finished rod. The first thing I put on the blank was my decorative wrap which would be on the front of the reel seat if it were there. I put one coat of flex coat on the finished wrap and let it harden. The next thing I did was glue on the small foregrip cork/foam. I usually use all cork individual rings but the cost of tree bark is getting crazy so I mixed it up a little. They too can be slid on from the rear or slide them down over the deco wrap and glue them. You will not hurt the flex coat on the wrap and if it does scratch up the secound coat will cover it up. The big advantage of doing this is to cover up the area where the deco wrap started and it gives the look of it was tucked under the grips. This can be also done with no fore grip by just sliding the reel seat over the wrap to hide the starting point of the wrap again, that's if it's slid on from the rear. The next thing was the reel seat. Normally I buy reel seats big enough to slide on from the rear and build up the area where they go and glue them in place against the fore grip. I was fortunate this time because the diamiter of the blank was almost the same from the rear to the area where the reel seat was to go so I just used a little force to slide it on from the rear and glue it down. Again the advantage of this is to be able to align the reel seat flat and straight as possible with the wrap pattern on the deco wrap. I then started sliding on the cork rngs from the rear and glued them in place. The cork rings I bore out using a welders rat tail file and made the hole to where it was very tight getting on but just snugg where I was to glue them down. Cork is tree bark and fitting it on too tight on permanently will cause it to crack and fall apart over time. I slid on the foam next. I heated the foam in a coffee cup full of hot water to make it more ellastic. I did dry it off as much as I could and applied epoxy where the foam was to rest and the epoxy helped also to be able to slide it on. Use light films of epoxy or you'll have a big mess. I got a piece of wood about 2'' by 5'' to use as a hand sanding board. This will keep he sandpaper flat to give you a flat surface where all the joints on the cork and foam meet. Sometimes I use a drill and drill bit with a wad of electrical tape slide in the rear of the blank to spin the blank and sand conture on the handles. I cut off as much as need to the rear part of the grip to apply the cap. After fishing many years I prefer the hard plastic caps, they won't grab your shirts or cloths as much when work your baits and they won't tear up as much when using rod holders. I made the rear grip 6 1/2'' long for a reason other than just looks. I try to use my fishing experience and add it to my personal use on my rods. I've found out that the weight of the rod (excluding offshore and surf rods) is not as big of an issue as everyone makes up to be. Realisticly most trout rods are plenty light and where a lot of rod builders stumble is they stick to fundamentals. Such as the basic 8-10'' rear grip, most of the time you don't power cast where you need both hands. With a small rear grip you gain lengh to cast further, by way of using a 6'6'' rod you slide the reel sea back 2'' and you just got another two inchs of lenth for the same weight. Another issue people don't think about is that a standard trout rod weight isn't what's wearing you out at the end of a long day casting, it's holding your arms up. Your arms weigh together probably 30 times what a rod and reel weighs. So to remedy you bring arms and rod and reel closer to your body where you have better leverage (shorter handle). When working a bait the rear handle should stay clear your body. Everybody is different and what I'm saying here is to add to what you might want or need or not at all. I then add my base wraps for my eyes. I use base wraps because I don't like the idea of the sharp steel on the feet of the eyes touching my rod blank. There are those apposed to base wraps because of weight or what ever and this is my reasoning. When I wrap an eye on I use a piece of tape on one foot to hold it down while I wrap the other end. I take the tape off and finish wrapping the other end. The residue on the tape on the base wrap has never been a issue when applying flex coat. I then coat my wraps with three thin coats including my deco wrap. After the first coat take a razor or very sharp knife and cut off or flatten the tips where thread might of stuck up and made a peak. I don't do weaves (so far) but may get froggy some day. Keep your mind open because there is more than one way to skin a cat. I hope this helps somebody out a little.


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## Terry G. (Jul 17, 2006)

i dont see any thing wrong with the rod being a beginner my self but my friend it sure is hard to read when you dont use line breaks and paragraphs .

but your sure did much better then i on your eye wrap work, congrats..


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## Terrynj (Jun 27, 2006)

It really came out nice John! Very clean for sure, no epoxy tell tell signs anywhere!
Yoour crosswrap really came out too! Did you use the braid?


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

If you mean the the filler, not this time.


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

Terry G. said:


> i dont see any thing wrong with the rod being a beginner my self but my friend it sure is hard to read when you dont use line breaks and paragraphs .
> 
> but your sure did much better then i on your eye wrap work, congrats..


 You're right Terry, like my pictures my writing skills need improvement.


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## fishhardtx (Jan 23, 2010)

It looks great.....Good Job.


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