GungasUncle
Well-known member
I am building a new rod, a 6'6" 2 weight, and I'm going light on the build - short (6 inch) coke bottle grip with cork reel seat with light weight sliding bands (described as blued nickle-silver. Didn't know you could blue nickle, but what the hell, they look good and they're light weight). I'm going with small, single foot snake guides (using the Winston approach of slightly smaller than typical guides), small stripping guide, no hook keeper, no winding check, and a 2 piece blank vs my now standard 4 piece preference for less blank material. I don't think I'll be able to match Orvis with a 1.1oz rod - but I'm trying to get as close to that as possible.
Big Blue Santa (aka US Postal Service) delivered the rod blank, sliding bands, and cork already so tonight when I got home from work, I set about turning the grip and reel seat. I managed to only destroy my first attempt at the reel seat by going too thin for the bands. Only $3 in cork wasted there. 2nd attempt was far better, then I tackled the grip. Must've had enough cork dust when I was done to equal the six wasted rings from the first reel seat
. Wife was really impressed with that, as I was doing said sanding work at the kitchen table. Over her new table cloth. And covered the whole damn kitchen floor with a brownish orange layer of fine cork dust. Thankfully it cleans up really easy.
So now, thanks to fast drying wood glue, I've got the handle and reel seat on the blank and curing. I'm still awaiting my tip top and guides, along with the black thread with which to attach them (opting for blackened guides and black thread for the stealth approach)
Now I find myself to the point of contemplating what reel to mate up to this thing. The smallest reel I have right now is an Orvis Rocky Mountain 3/4. It's a pretty light reel and counter balances my 3 and 4 weight rods nicely, but it's like a fat girl on a teeter totter when I dry fit it onto the 2 wt blank.
I think the Rocky Mountain weighs somewhere in the ball park of 4 ounces, and I'm thinking this thing needs something no more than 3. I've looked at the Bass Pro White River Ultra Light - it's pretty tiny and only weighs something like 2.4 ounces. I've never seen one in person though - so I'm not sure on quality. Retails for $100. I've also looked at the TFO BVK online, it's another small reel, but it's a large arbor vs. standard arbor on the BP reel - and the BVK lists that it only holds 50 yards of 20lb backing when matched with a #1 WF line. I'm guessing that would go down to about 20 yards with a DT #2 line, like what I plan to pair with the new rod. I could cut the DT in half and get more, but I get paranoid about having so little backing line.
Anyone have any experience with ultra light reels, and know if there is anything else out there less than $200 that is in the 3oz or lighter range? As much as I hate noisy reels, I'm pretty much ruling out any reel with a drag besides a click-pawl, because drags = weight. I would ideally like to have at least 50 yards of 20lb (or 75 of 12lb) backing with a DT2F line.
Big Blue Santa (aka US Postal Service) delivered the rod blank, sliding bands, and cork already so tonight when I got home from work, I set about turning the grip and reel seat. I managed to only destroy my first attempt at the reel seat by going too thin for the bands. Only $3 in cork wasted there. 2nd attempt was far better, then I tackled the grip. Must've had enough cork dust when I was done to equal the six wasted rings from the first reel seat
. Wife was really impressed with that, as I was doing said sanding work at the kitchen table. Over her new table cloth. And covered the whole damn kitchen floor with a brownish orange layer of fine cork dust. Thankfully it cleans up really easy. So now, thanks to fast drying wood glue, I've got the handle and reel seat on the blank and curing. I'm still awaiting my tip top and guides, along with the black thread with which to attach them (opting for blackened guides and black thread for the stealth approach)
Now I find myself to the point of contemplating what reel to mate up to this thing. The smallest reel I have right now is an Orvis Rocky Mountain 3/4. It's a pretty light reel and counter balances my 3 and 4 weight rods nicely, but it's like a fat girl on a teeter totter when I dry fit it onto the 2 wt blank.
I think the Rocky Mountain weighs somewhere in the ball park of 4 ounces, and I'm thinking this thing needs something no more than 3. I've looked at the Bass Pro White River Ultra Light - it's pretty tiny and only weighs something like 2.4 ounces. I've never seen one in person though - so I'm not sure on quality. Retails for $100. I've also looked at the TFO BVK online, it's another small reel, but it's a large arbor vs. standard arbor on the BP reel - and the BVK lists that it only holds 50 yards of 20lb backing when matched with a #1 WF line. I'm guessing that would go down to about 20 yards with a DT #2 line, like what I plan to pair with the new rod. I could cut the DT in half and get more, but I get paranoid about having so little backing line.
Anyone have any experience with ultra light reels, and know if there is anything else out there less than $200 that is in the 3oz or lighter range? As much as I hate noisy reels, I'm pretty much ruling out any reel with a drag besides a click-pawl, because drags = weight. I would ideally like to have at least 50 yards of 20lb (or 75 of 12lb) backing with a DT2F line.
