My brother asked me to build him an ice fishing rod. Im in Florida and have never ice fished. 
-He fishes for 9-18” trout mostly. 
-His only request was

-fast action, medium power 

-32” roughly with good backbone. 
-2-4 lbs line

Lure is a berkley white powerbait grub on a tiny tungsten jighead. 
 

He also said if I had a better idea after some research to go ahead and make what was best. 

 

how would you build it? Something good quality.
 

He normally uses Abu Garcia Veritas ice rods for reference. 

 

thanks 

I wonder what "good backbone" really means.  

 

Ice fishing rods are the most challenging for me because they are usually so small in diameter and so flimsy that wrapping them is tough.   So I don't do them.  Partially because they are so cheap and available in sporting goods stores.   Mudhole.com has a lot of ice blanks, and Thorne Brothers has a lot of finished rods if you want to look at what is being offered by them.  They are considered pretty "up" on the ice fishing scene. 

 

You have the further challenge of knowing what the requirements of the rod are.  There is a good chance that what you build won't work for him.  If he has a rod which is close to what he wants, it would help for you to handle it.  

 

I have a friend, however, that has mastered them and his grips/handles and wraps are works of art.  So it can be done, but if I had one of his rods, I would put it on the wall and not fish it. 

I am going to try a V-Line 36" Gnarly Noodle and a V-Line 36" The Needle Ice Rod Blank

Check out Basskhang.com. I think a noodle (glass) rod will be good for trout. If you want a rod for more jigging then I'd go with a Medium carbon blank.