Ice rod building

[so haaad]

Do any of you build your own icefishing rods? Is it worth the effort? I'm guessing there's a few companies other than St. Croix that sell rod blanks for ice fishing. Anyone have any experience here?

[Big D 1]

I have made several (along with fly rods, walleye rods, and a musky rod) and I think the satisfaction of catching a fish on a rod made with your own hands is aweseome...watching your son and daughter catch fish on poles that you made for them is "PRICELESS"

[harvey lee]

I would give Thorne Bros in the cities a call.You can even take classes I believe.I always thought of building my own rods as it would be kind of cool to catch fish on the custom rod you built.

[HarryG]

I took a class and built a couple of open water rods. I found some good deals on blanks and made some ice rods as well. I like them better than the manufactured ones and the quality is comparable to the one bought at Thorne brothers. If you are going to build Ice rods, it may be better to buy a high quality one than to build your own. The cost of the Blanks, Handles, Glue, Thread, & Guides it is not worth it. If I ever catch a trophy Eye, I would be glad I made the rod myself.

[so haaad]

Guys,

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking of going over to Thorne Bros, or checking out a St. Croix blank. I figured I wouldn't save a ton of money. I'm interested in doing it more as a hobby, kind of like tying flies for flyfishing.

[Dark Cloud]

Your not gonna save money but it is a nice hobby and fun to use stuff you make. Make great gifts to buddys also...

I have ordered stuff from Thorne Bros, also try cabelas and netcraft.

Not very dificult to make useable stuff at all...

Heres a pict of some I made. What I like is that I like shorter rods and shorter handles so thats what I make...

[Captain B.R.K]

Looks like a good series of rods you made there Dark Cloud.

When I was in college, a buddy of mine got our hunting and fishing group some St.Croix blanks. We got some glue, thread, guides, epoxy and handles and away we went tying/threading our rods. They weren't the prettiest rods to ever meet the eye, but sure were fun to catch fish on em'!

[SteveWilson]

I've made a few ice-rods. The St. Croix blanks are good but I'm more interested in longer blanks for working outside (I really don't like sitting in the fish house). The one thing that I like about building my own ice rods is that I can match guide spacing, guide size, and handle configuration to the specific reel I'm going to use with the rod. The first guide on most factory rods choke the line too much for me, so I like to build handles with a bit of a taper to increase the angle of attack that the spinning reel makes to the line. This, along with using a fairly high frame guide allows me to avoid choking the line down at the first guide and free's up the action of the reel.

[ripstick]

This is 1 idea you can try. If you or afrind has a soft water rod that is broken and out of warrenty dont throw it away. take the tip section and turn it to a ice rod. Some times you can get the old epoxy off and make it look good.

[so haaad]

Dark Cloud,

I'm looking to make the same kind of rods that you prefer. I do most of my fishing inside my portable, so I like shorter rods too. Actually, my favorite rod is a 28" medium-light graphite that had the tip accidentally burned off. So now it's a 25" med light that fishes more like a medium. Maybe I should burn the tip off all my rods!

[so haaad]

Anyone know of companies that have a catalog or Web site showing or listing their ice rod blanks? I have some catalogs like Mud Hole, but they don't ever have ice rod blanks.

[SteveWilson]

Mudhole carries the St Croix blanks. Jan's Netcraft has more ice blanks.

[rod-man]

how many are you looking for?

[so haaad]

Right now I'm just looking for one or two blanks for personal use. It will be my first attempt at building. I thought they would also serve as great practice, as I'm hoping to move on to building a fly rod (or two) this winter.