FD.

If I have to pick one only, then I would say RodGeeks Carbon 4 series. Close seconds are MHX high mod Gen 2 and Rainshadow Imortal. All are in the $100 range.

Jigs catch fish... Colors catch fisherman...

If you can tie tie your shoes and follow a few directions you can build rods equal to or better than 90% of the rods on a shelf. The main performance factor is the blank you start with. For example. Last month I bought a discontinued, new old stock blank for $38. It would have retailed around $90 a couple of years ago. I have around $10 in the handle and reel seat. I put a used set of guides that came off an old BPS rod. I wrapped the guides all crooked. I have maybe two hours total build time in it. The reason I did this was 1. I was bored and 2. I wanted to see how much performance difference the build makes. Not as much as you would think. It fishes equivalent to a St Croix legend that I gave to my nephew. The point is, you can do it. Start with a cheap rod kit available from several suppliers and build your first one. You will see.

Is anyone going? I've never been so I called and they actually are going to let me in, closely supervised by Nicole of course. $75 a head to get in...the problem is how much is it going to cost me by the time I get out.

Another thing I forgot to mention is the supreme self satisfaction of catching a fish on a rod you either designed or built yourself. Be warned though, it is more addicting than crack....

Batson is dead on the money when it comes to cost savings for your personal use. You can build a $300 (retail) rod for $150 in parts. Less if you shop around and are not in a hurry. I built my first 10 or so rods on a hand wrapper with a basic start up kit and a few extra tools that will cost you under $200. That's $10 a rod for ten rods. This is one example http://www.mudhole.com/Rod-Building/Supply-Kits-Tool-Kits/All-In-One-Rod-Building-Supply-Kit Custom built (but not crazy custom) rods are in the $10 - $15 per foot range to have someone else build it for you. Still under the cost of a higher performance retail rod.

I don't like the locking wraps either. And they are not necessary with Micro Wave guides. They are built with a notch in the foot that locks the guides into the wrap.

Soooo..... Turn it already. You are driving us nuts.

Start here http://www.mudhole.com/Rod-Building-101 Read everything. No really, read EVERYTHING Since you are 15 and I still have animals in my house like you... READ EVERYTHING now watch all the videos and then let us know when you are done. Everyone here will gladly teach you everything we know. But you will have to put some effort in for yourself. Most of the basic questions will be covered somewhere in the videos. There are a bunch others on youtube but the mudhole series is pretty complete.

The triggers on the casting rods are between 10 3/4 and 11 1/2 for reference.

Somewhere between 11" and 13" for mine personally for the center of the reel seat. That has more to do with the length of my forearm and where the butt hits while fighting fish.

Yep. Pro Wrap color fast #807 size A. I put a very light color of epoxy on, then the vinyl print. No CP necessary with the color fast. The cork is fun but time consuming.

Good Job captain obvious. For making a point that did not need to be made.

I was not arguing...You were. I used it as an exaggerated and unrealistic example to make a point. Everyone else but you seemed to grasp that concept. And since I have only built 6 spinning rods with MicroWave guides this year, I obviously don't know what I'm talking about.

+2

hy·per·bo·le hīˈpərbəlē/ noun exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. It's up to the reader, but, it could have been a sim·i·le ˈsiməlē/ noun a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox )

Me too!

Nope. I ordered it. Actually I ordered 2 different sizes. A 3x3 and 5x5. I wound up using the 3x3. The other was just too large for this blank. They were like $3.99 each with free shipping from CafePress.com. You have to look through a lot of crap you will never use to find a good one, but this one was worth it.

If you truly want a high performance spinning rod, then have someone build one for you on a RodGeeks C473MHXS with Micro Wave guides. I built one for myself this spring and it is unbelievable. The extra soft tip and micro wave guides allow me to cast an unweighted grub like it's a 3 oz swimbait. You're looking at less than $200 in parts plus labor and you can NOT buy a better spinning rod, period.

I started this rod a couple of months ago. I built the cork set and installed the handle and reel seat, then it sat. I could not decide what to do with it. Then I went of Cafe Press last week and found some really cool art. So here it is. Castaway IFS 764 Heavy Moderate Fast Telescopic blank FDX Custom cork ATC Graphite reel seat ATC Gold NanoPlasma/ Black guides and tip The blank and handle is the second from the top. I did a white underwrap because the art is done on clear vinyl. Added tan and dark chocolate trim bands.

If you don't like it, send it south.

It's the current trend in rod building.

The difference between F and XF is the length of the action in the tip. The faster the action, the shorter amount of blank is bending while casting or hook setting. XF is typically used for jerk baits and top water but you can find other uses for it.

Anyone have one of these... http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/h2o-xpress-realtree-max-4-mettle-mt2-baitcast-reel-right-handed/pid-946076?N=274871093 Looking for a review. It matches up to a color scheme on a rod I'm building and wanted to know how it fishes.