I've only built a couple of ice rods, I live in AZ and have never been ice fishing. A buddy wants a gift rod for his brother for lake trout thru the ice. He describes what he wants as:

1. 36" or a little longer, no shorter
2. A lot of backbone but some flexibility in the tip
3. 6 to 8 guides, more is better
4. baitcasting reel seat

Any suggestions on a blank? Mudhole has a couple rated up to 8 lb, would that do it? 6-8 guides seems silly to me but any recommendations on spacing? How far forward of the reel should I place the first guide? In the alternative, it seems like this would lend itself to a spiral wrap, has anyone spiral wrapped an ice rod?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, I'm a little out of my wheelhouse.

thanks,
frank

How big of trout he is catching? If it's he 2-8lb class a MH Walleye blank should work. For a 36" rod I'd say no more than 6 guides which is what I have on my 36" MH walleye rods. I'd go for solid carbon or solid fiberglass fort he blank.

Frank,

For lake trout, the medium heavy recipe sounds right on. I doubt that there is any need for any more than 5 guides.

For such a short rod, I certainly would not do a spiral wrap on it. The conventional wrap will be just great on such a rod.

First of where is he fishing? If you look to Dave Orr's post about lake trout he uses a solid fiberglass blank from Rainshadow and cuts them to size. I use the same blank for large walleye in the Bay of Quinte. The rainshadow solid glass 385X.105X72 blank.

Rolly Beenen
Rovic Custom Rods

Rolly,
X10 on that blank.

I have used the same blank for building hundreds of heavy duty ice fishing rods for Lake Trout and big Walleye.

When I use this blank, I cut only from the butt of the rod to achieve the desired length.

As a matter of fact, I just happen to have a bunch of casting rod reel seats that I purchased for this blank that are perfect for your use. The internal diameter of these reel seats with a finger on the blank feature are sized just right for these blanks. If you want one or more - just let me know and I will send you what you need for the cost of postage.

By the way, here is a picture of a client with the really nice lake trout that he caught on his first day using one of the ice rods that we mention:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Here are a bunch of the same rods - in the dryer - after finish application and build completion:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Wow. Great responses, thanks. I'll find and order the blanks. Any suggestions on guide size and spacing for a bait casting set up?

Roger, thanks for the offer but, if you have reel seats to fit, I'd like 2. I'd like to send you the $ for both the retail price and shipping. I don't spend a lot of time on message boards so I don't know how to go off line and get your mailing address to send the $. Do you want me to post my personal e mail address so you can send it off line?

Thanks again for all of your help,

frank

Roger
Do you use the 9mm or the 9.5 mm reel seat for this blank? I usually only use the top 32 to 36 inches.

Rolly Beenen
Rovic Custom Rods