Faux Vintage Rod Build

[Paul Roberts]

I've been refurbishing direct-drive casting reels to fish with. It's been a fun ride. I didn't want to put them on a modern rod, and the vintage (glass) rods I've found at good prices leave a lot to be desired as fishing tools. So I decided to work up a few of my own. Here's the first:

I used a CTS 7' Med 1/4-5/8oz S-Glass blank, all the way from New Zealand. 8 to 12lb lines are probably appropriate. Finding acceptable handle components was a challenge, I finally cobbled together something that would suffice: simple chrome plated aluminum seat, full wells handle, burnt cork foregrip and butt cap. The jumping bass on the butt cap is authentic "vintage" being a Hickok cuff link from the 1950's, spray painted nickel silver.

The finished rod is 6'6" and weighs 4.5oz. The action is progressive, which lends itself well to the somewhat high inertia DD reels (compared with modern casting reels). It'll be interesting fishing with a glass rod again; It's been a lot of years. I'm thinking this'll be mostly a treble hook rod. Will be dabbling further with appropriate rods for these reels, likely some graphite blanks too. Will see what I can come up with.

[happyhooker]

Go for it; an interesting take on vintage gear angling.

Frank