Hello all,

I received many good comments and help for building my first ice rod,
so I thought I should show how it turned out.

This is how it looks with the reel I plan to pair up with.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Because I want to use the baitcasting reel, I am using spiral wrapping.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Close up image of some of the guides.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

The blank I bought was too stiff (although it said it was "light") to my liking
(30 in long), so I had to sand it down. I just sanded it down without thinking
too much, hoping that at one point, it will become close to what I would like.
Wrong! The tip diameter was becoming almost too small, while the power
was still not light enough to my liking.

I thought if I sanded down the blank a bit too much somewhere so that if
the blank was to have "backward" taper, it would break there (some fibers
would not connect to the butt of the blank!). So my primary concern was to
maintain the right taper. I guess to have a decent light power, unless your
bare blank is somewhat thin to start with, you really have to have a near-
parallel profile near the tip. Since the smallest ice tip guides have tubes
ranging from 0.9 mm to 1.0 mm or 2.5/64 inch, I am guessing I should not
sand the tip down below this size. Once you form a nice tip area, then you
continue sanding to form some taper toward the butt, making smooth transition
to the butt. I guess, to have such a delicate forward taper, I must have
a caliper and keep checking the profile, since I believe having backward
taper would potentially ruin the blank. I just used my fingers and "feel" to
keep the taper right when I was sanding down the 1st blank.

This rod bends almost 90 deg. when 0.45 - 0.5 lbs is hanging at the tip. My
reference rod (Fenwick ML 28 in) bends 90 deg. with 0.25-0.3 lbs of weight,
so that is the range I will try next time. Although it feels too stiff, I think I will
be OK to use 2 lbs line, since my drag setting will be about 1/3 of 2 lbs (=0.67 lbs),
meaning the line should not break while I use the rod's full bending power
(90 deg. bend?).

I could not find a short pistol grip handle for an ice fishing application, so
I had to cut the cork grip to reduce the overall handle length. That was not
very easy, since the pistol grip is not rotation-symmetric. I think I will be
able to do a better job next time.

Selecting guides wasn't very easy. I decided that keeping the line as far away
as reasonably possible from the blank was the first priority, I ended up
picking some guides for a spinning application. It looks a bit awkward, but
it seems to function OK, so I guess it is OK as it is. Also spiral wrapping
and determining where they need to go were tricky. The original blank came
with a recommended guide spacing, but since I sanded it down, I had to
check the spacing by myself. But at the end, I think it turned out OK.

Besides the blank being too stiff, the rod makes very slight noise from the
fore grip when bent. I think the epoxy didn't quite fill all loose voids and
something is still slightly loose. I don't feel/observe any looseness, so it is
probably OK, but "I" know that it makes funky noise, which will keep upsetting
me!

I will be using this rod soon, so I will see if I will like it more or not. This
setup is for panfish/perch fishing. I just hate spinning reels so much,
I want to use my favorite bait casting reel, Morrum 1601 IVCB-4, for everything
including ice fishing. That is the motivation of this rod building. This reel
(and probably any other "finesse" bait casting reels) with properly maintained/
oiled spool bearings can free spool (although slowly) to drop a size 14 Gill Pill
tied to a 2 lbs nylon line.

So all these findings will be incorporated in my second rod (this is a bad
hobby!).

Thank you very much for all the help!

Momo

good job looks very nice

just a tip when you decide to sand down a blank so that you don't loose the taper sand fro the chuck of drill or lathe to the tip and check the flex as you go and you will eventually get what you want

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

Nice job! I remember my 1st custom sanded ice rod build-still in my arsenal today. I like your reel setup as long as you can keep it ice free you will be able to get on the fish faster. As far as the rod stiffness goes you may be pleasantly surprised to as how sensitive it can be on those finicky biters yet how well it holds up when you get slammed by that rogue walleye or northern.
If I may I'd recommend trying out PAC Bay minima guides on your next build. The guides (excluding the TI series) are inexpensive yet are light weight and have minimal effect on blank actions.
Congratulations on your build and be forewarned...it's not your last :).

Momo, have you seen the straight-line ice reels?

Hello Matthew,

I do agree with you! I did pretty much what you did (started sanding from the butt to the tip in general). However, since I kept positive taper (must be too much taper) in the blank, although the tip went down less than 1 mm (less than 2.5/64 in), I could not sand it down quite to the power I wanted. It wasn't quite like what you said like "keep sanding down carefully, then eventually you will get what you want" as you stated. Once the very tip came down to 1 mm, I tried to continue sanding down near the tip area, but I felt that I was going to lose the positive taper, so that the blank would break when it is loaded.

I didn't have a caliper (now I need it!) to keep track of the blank profile especially near the tip and maintaining the positive taper was done by my feeling. That was not good enough, I think... My observation is that a caliper is a must item (at least for me) while aggressively sanding down the 2-3 inches section near the tip (close to almost parallel = near zero taper) to around 1 mm to have a nice light/UL power near the tip with a good backbone. I am a beginner. That is probably why I feel that I need a caliper. I don't know enough tricks like you!

Patrick,

Thank you for your comments. I will check with PAC guides! This is a very dangerous hobby...

Ben,

Well, have you ice-fished with a finesse bait casting reel? I played with a fly-reel-like reel setup as you said before. I guess if you are a fly-fisherman/fisherwoman, you will probably like to use that type of reel (maybe?), but since I use a bait casting reel most of the time, I have to confess that I like bait casting reels better than the fly-reel-like reels... I just don't know why the bait casting reel style is not as common in ice fishing as the spinning reel style!

hi Momo..yes, at one time all i used was a bantam 50 the little silver reel..i had two.and eventually stripped the gears in both but i started using spin more when they came out with gel spun yarns which didn,t seem to mind the cold..i still use the newer shimano bantams too..about sanding rods, i used to sand ugly sticks, only tthe clear glass tip, to soften the power on my cold water spin bait rods..instead of sanding in the round i would sand just on one side of the tip just down to where it turns into graphite.. this weakened the tip plus the flat side made it easier to ty on the guide..do the sanding outdoors..just some thoughts..i like your spiral rod but you need two or three more.lol.

Ben,

Bantam 50! That was my friend's reel and mine was Daiwa Millionaire at the time... Good old
memories in 80's.

I agree that sanding just one side must be a pretty good approach to obtain a nice softer power, but
isn't it a lot trickier than sanding a blank round with a drill? By the way, I saw new ice rods with
a rectangular cross section at some outdoor shops, too. I would definitely need a caliper to keep
track of the profile... About sanding, yes, I did it outside and I also wet-sanded while I kept cleaning
the sand papers with a bucket of water. It seemed to work pretty good for me.

I will be leaving for an ice fishing trip. I will see how the rod works. After that I am sure I will have
some better ideas about what to do to make the next rod(s)!

Good luck Momo on the fishing trip..