# Does anyone make their own rods or lures?



## Dodger

Just wondering if anyone on the forum makes fishing rods or lures.

I've made a couple rods and I enjoy that quite a bit. I have also made some trout lures that have actually caught a few fish.

I turned a spanish cedar down into a conical shape and tied some bucktail on the back. I through wired it (a little over kill), put some sticky eyes on it and did a split ring to a treble hook, with a stinger. I've done pink, green, and yellow. Pink and green have been the best.

The lure hasn't caught anything large, but it has caught a brown, rainbow, and a kokanee.

Anyone else?

[attachment=17m2oamo]Lure1.JPG[/attachment7m2oamo]

[attachment=07m2oamo]Lure2.JPG[/attachment7m2oamo]


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## Tigru

I know Tubedude does!


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## Rockhopper

So do you make your rods from kits, or is everything 100% custom?


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## wyogoob

I have made custom fishing rods for over 30 years. Still do a few.....retirement presents, bamboo rebuilds, repairs. I don't have time to do any for myself anymore.

Rod building can get tedious, boring like fly tying flies. I like custom thread weaving:














My last new/rebuild rod was #503.


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## Dodger

Rockhopper said:


> So do you make your rods from kits, or is everything 100% custom?


I've done both. When I started out I did a kit or two. Then I started doing more custom stuff.

Right now I'm working on a wood handled fly rod that will be 100% custom. I think it will be pretty cool when it is done.


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## Dodger

wyogoob said:


> I have made custom fishing rods for over 30 years. Still do a few.....retirement presents, bamboo rebuilds, repairs. I don't have time to do any for myself anymore.
> 
> Rod building can get tedious, boring like fly tying flies. I like custom thread weaving:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My last new/rebuild rod was #503.


WOW! :shock:

Those are great looking rods Wyogoob! I love the Gorge weave. That is a very cool idea.

I agree that some of it can get tedious, and I like weaving as well. I'm still working on making it look good though. I've done some one color weaves, but I want to get into some multicolor stuff.

Great work though. I'm really impressed!


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## Tigru

wyogoob said:


> I have made custom fishing rods for over 30 years. Still do a few.....retirement presents, bamboo rebuilds, repairs. I don't have time to do any for myself anymore.
> 
> Rod building can get tedious, boring like fly tying flies. I like custom thread weaving:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My last new/rebuild rod was #503.


 

Those are some pretty cool looking rods!


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## wyogoob

A jigging rod for the Gorge:


Close-up of Kokanee - two color thread:


Rod is getting a little scratched up.


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## troutwhisperer

:shock: WOW! Those rods are cool,and impressive wyogoob I heard through the grapevine of a few homemade lures out there by a UWN member,but they are keeping tight lipped about it and out of respect so am I. On another note I have a two piece, 9 foot, 8 weight made for me by a guy in Sandy. I am planning on posting it on KSL.com in about a week and the Trading Post.


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## wyogoob

troutwhisperer said:


> :shock: WOW! Those rods are cool,and impressive wyogoob I heard through the grapevine of a few homemade lures out there by a UWN member,but they are keeping tight lipped about it and out of respect so am I. On another note I have a two piece, 9 foot, 8 weight made for me by a guy in Sandy. I am planning on posting it on KSL.com in about a week and the Trading Post.


Thanks TWererer. When I retire I will get back into it more.

There are some good rodcrafters in the Valley.


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## Grandpa D

Wyogood, great work.
I love the thread knitting.
That kokanee rod is awesome!


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## wyogoob

Grandpa D said:


> Wyogood, great work.
> I love the thread knitting.
> That kokanee rod is awesome!


Thanks Grandpa.

It's a 5 foot, 2-piece casting jig rod, 12-20lb test, Seeker blank.

I should post pics of the handle and guides in addition to all the girly stuff.

It was my go-to rod for Flaming Gorge ice fishing. Now it seems I'm gone throughout the ice fishing season.


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## Dodger

wyogoob said:


> Grandpa D said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wyogood, great work.
> I love the thread knitting.
> That kokanee rod is awesome!
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Grandpa.
> 
> It's a 5 foot, 2-piece casting jig rod, 12-20lb test, Seeker blank.
> 
> I should post pics of the handle and guides in addition to all the girly stuff.
> 
> It was my go-to rod for Flaming Gorge ice fishing. Now it seems I'm gone throughout the ice fishing season.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if you have more pictures, I think we'd all like to see them.

How long is each rod taking you to finish now?


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## wyogoob

Dodger said:


> .....................................
> 
> Yeah, if you have more pictures, I think we'd all like to see them.
> 
> How long is each rod taking you to finish now?


Jig rod andle, modular casting, nothing fancy, outdated now really:



Guide, then again, nothing fancy:


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## wyogoob

Dodger said:


> ..............................
> 
> How long is each rod taking you to finish now?


I try to make each rod better than the one before; better as in tighter threads, no glue lines, best guide types, guide sizes and guide placements, and a finish free of dust and air bubbles.

A simple ice rod may take 3 hours, most of the time is applying a finish and cleean-up. I made a rod for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation that took 68 hours. I have a pair of matching trolling rods that took 65 hours each. A fly rod similar to a high end store bought takes 4 or 5 hours, then again much of the time is in the finish. I don't do rods like you can buy over the counter anymore, not worth my time. As a matter of fact, I just buy rods for every day use, especially backpacking and longer rods I carry as checked baggage on airlines.

Multi-color thread weaving is a killer. It's easy to cross threads and you may not find the mistake till later causing hours of re-work. here's a simple multi-color weave, the University of Illinois logo, before pulling and locking the threads down:




Here it is after lock-down before applying the finish:

This simple two color weave eats up the better part of a day to complete. If it was one color it would take 2 hours.


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## wyogoob

I've been asked to bump this thread.

I made all my rod wrapping tools:

The rod finish gear motor was taken off an old revolving Timex watch display case:




Takes a lot of masking tape of various sizes to build a rod:




Thread carriage is a must-have:






wrapping motor and rod stand


wrapping central, all homemade tools


thread carriage


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## wyogoob

easy weaves:


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## wyogoob

Diamond wraps really class up a fishing rod:






Some are easy:




Some are hard:


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## longbow

Now that's impressive Goob!


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## Dodger

I just finished wrapping 2 rods for an anniversary present. I didn't have a lot of time so they were fairly simple but they are going to catch a lot of kokanee this summer!


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