Jacks Grampa 0 Report post Posted April 17, 2020 built a 3wt. flyrod blank into a micro-lite spinning rod? I did and it's a lot of fun for small and the occasional large fish in streams too wooded for a back cast. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
knotjoe 0 Report post Posted April 17, 2020 Yeah, I do this on flyrod blanks. Have a 9' 3wt SC Avid built as a spinning rod, couple 7-8 wts as well. Great fun. Most interesting aspect is you realize just how light a 3 wt actually is in terms of power when built and fished as spinning tackle. Doesn't seem as such with a flyline, but once there's the mechanical speed of a spinning reel and low stretch braid involved, the true nature of the blank is revealed. Ain't much to 'em. I prefer them for bobber rods/float fishing because they are a bit tip soft for any heavier jigs or rigs. Lighter jigs/beadheads can be thrown and worked pretty well albeit at closer distances. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jacks Grampa 0 Report post Posted April 18, 2020 Mine is a 6' SC 3wt. that Joe Robinson helped me with. I put an Orvis 50A bail-less reel on it and spooled it with 7X tippet material. It'll cast a 1/64oz. jig to the next zip code. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Philly 0 Report post Posted April 18, 2020 In a way, all my fly rods are spinning rods. When I started building fly rods I wasn't a great caster, still not that great. Rather than blame myself I blamed the rod and the snake guides I had on it. At the time, Fuji had just introduced it's single foot guides for made specifically for fly rods. They didn't work well on the 8 wgt I was building. I talked with the owner of place where I brought my blanks and components and he suggested using single foot spinning guides. I've been using them on my rods ever since. It made the transition from ultra-light spin fishing to fly fishing easier. I haven't done it with my 5 or 6 wgts but both my 8 wgts are set up for a screw in fighting butt. The original fighting butt I made was 3 inches. I've since made 5 inch, 7 inch and 10 inch fighting butts for them. Either of the 8 wgts make an excellent spinning rod and the 10 inch one turns the rods into two handed ones. When I broke an inch or two from the tip of my fly rod over the years it was very easy to convert them to spinning rods. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steeldrifter 0 Report post Posted April 18, 2020 Yep have built quite a few UL rods on 2-3wt fly blanks. Also build spin rods on 10' 7wt fly blanks for steelhead and bass, they work great. When it comes to blanks it's all about the feel/action rather than what the manufacture says to you it is to be used for. Probably one of the neatest ones I did was for a guy about 5 yrs ago that did some true micro stream trout fishing. He wanted a tiny rod for that. Built him a 28" micro spin rod using the tip section from a 5wt blank. He loved it and used it all the time for tiny streams. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jacks Grampa 0 Report post Posted April 19, 2020 Is building a rod using just the tip section called a bantam rod? I know that some of the bamboo rods we're rebuilt using just the middle and tip of a 3 piece rod. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jaydub 0 Report post Posted April 19, 2020 At the other end of the weight spectrum, Gary Loomis got his start refitting fly rods with extended handles and spinning guides for Salmon and Steelhead fishing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steeldrifter 0 Report post Posted April 22, 2020 On 4/19/2020 at 10:38 AM, Jacks Grampa said: Is building a rod using just the tip section called a bantam rod? I know that some of the bamboo rods we're rebuilt using just the middle and tip of a 3 piece rod. Never heard that term before. Very well could be, but just never heard that exact term used for them myself. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
