Building a Fishing Rod

   About 10 years ago, when I was living in Lake Stevens, WA,I noticed an ad in the paper about a class on how to build your own fishing pole. That sounded interesting so I called to sign up and the gentleman suggested that I come in before the class and pick out my rod blank, color of thread to use and the type guides I wanted to use. I went in to the shop Craig's Custom Rod's in Lake Stevens and the owner Craig was tending the store and helped me pick out everything I needed. I picked out a rod for trolling the big water there in Puget Sound. Total bill came to about $100.00 dollars. I almost fell over but Craig said when I was finished with the fishing pole it would be worth $150.00 to $200.00  if I were to buy it already made in his shop.

   The night of class I showed up and there were a total of  5 people taking the class. Not everyone came in early and picked everything for the rod building project, so we waited tor the others to get all the needed to do this project. I ended up spending more money for a fishing pole holder to put the rod blank on. This way I could lay the blank on the fishing pole holder and turn it with one hand and put the thread on with the other hand. The fishing rod rack had a place to put one or two spools of thread on it. Once we got started I found out this really was not as difficult as I thought it would be. Thankfully Craig gave us a sheet with the measurements we need for the guides for the different types of fishing rods we could build.

   Craig is a great guy. He spent time with each one of us and gave tips on how to do it better then we were doing. The rod came out great. I had a reel at home already my father-in-law had given me that fit the new rod perfectly.

   I enjoyed doing this rod that I decided to make each of the 5 grandchildren a rod. I started with the oldest to the youngest. Well, each time I did one the better I got at making them. This worked out great for the youngest because she got the best one. I enjoyed making those so much that I signed up for an advanced rod building class. This class showed me how to do fancy weaving and engraving with the thread I used.

   I asked my son what type of rod he wanted and he said he wanted a fly rod. I had never made a fly rod but decided it couldn't be that much more difficult so, I went out and purchased all the parts and got the color of thread he wanted but decided to do two colors and a fancy weave at the bottom. It came out so great I decided I want one too.