Looking for Rod Building Classes, Inspired by Spiel and Live2Fish85

[manjo39]

Anyone offer or know of any rod building classes in the GTA?

[bare foot wader]

no classes that I'm aware of, my old fly fishing club did a few classes way back when but wasn't a regular thing

 

youtube is your friend, mudhole has good instructional videos...I'd suggest joining a forum specifically for rod building and learning the basics on youtube...there are lots of books out there too, but the one's I've found are fairly dated

[fish_fishburn]

Rodbuilding.org has everything to help anyone learn the craft. Its a very informative site.

[Spiel]

no classes that I'm aware of, my old fly fishing club did a few classes way back when but wasn't a regular thing

 

youtube is your friend, mudhole has good instructional videos...I'd suggest joining a forum specifically for rod building and learning the basics on youtube...there are lots of books out there too, but the one's I've found are fairly dated

 

 

Rodbuilding.org has everything to help anyone learn the craft. Its a very informative site.

 

I would concur. I didn't have internet or tutelage when I was self learning, might have saved time but in the end experience is the best tool.

 

If you can't find help there or other sites shoot me a PM and I'll help best I can.

[kemper]

Rodbuilding.org has everything to help anyone learn the craft. Its a very informative site.

Agreed.

 

Batson also has some informative videos on their site, as does Flexcoat.

 

The best way is to just start building, and make your first couple builds cheap because you are going to make some mistakes.

 

I'm really getting the hang of it now, and I'm finding the detail and finish quality comes with experience. Comparing the rod I'm working on right now (# 12) to the first one I built is like night and day.

 

If you want to learn really quick, I suggest badgering one of the gents on this site or others who have spent countless hours building hundreds (thousands?) of rods. Maybe you can convince someone to give you a personal lesson!

[doubleheader]

I've built only a handful, but, lots of good advice above, especially the advice of starting with an inexpensive build. I picked up my knoweldge thru you tube videos and a couple books. I built my own rod wrapper, modified it, modified it again, and i need to modify it again yet. Don't get too worried bout making a nice rod wrapper until you fine tune your wrapping skills and decide how you want it. Remember the ability to maintain moderate tension on the thread at all times is important, design your wrapper accordingly. "Moderate" you learn thru trial and error, but too much tension isn't good either. It's also easier to start with a spinning rod than a fly rod, wrapping the smaller eyes of a fly rod can be a challenge. Good light is a prerequisite for good wrapping, and wrapping was, for me anyhow, the hardest skill to pick up. My only other advice is be patient in all phases.

[MJL]

When I was in the 10^th grade, I used to go to Angling Specialties for my lessons (I lived a short bus ride from the old Scarborough store). After class, George taught me how to build rods. The first rod I built was a 3pc fly rod made of 3 different scrap blanks. It was cosmetically quite ugly but it performed great for tossing big streamers off the beach for salmon. My friend liked the action so much he bought it…After I built myself a 14’ Hardy float rod, 13’ Lamiglas, 13’ Loomis Premier, 13’ Loomis IM6, 13’6” Loomis GL3 and the list goes on…Once you start, you can’t stop