Posts Tagged ‘Custom Rod Building’

Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a new business launch with a longtime friend and associate of mine.  It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work thus far, and we’re still not quite “there” yet, but one of the things we’ve been able to do and can offer immediately is bringing RodMaker Magazine, the one and only magazine dedicated to the art of custom fishing rod building, to Canadians.

About a decade ago, the magazine was available to Canadian addresses but due to some tragic circumstances that occurred to the distributor, it has not been available since.

My associate and I have worked out an agreement with RodMaker Magazine publisher, Tom Kirkman,  to bring the magazine to Canada, and from our offices, will be distributed to subscribers.  It’s a fantastic magazine for those who enjoy custom rod building either as a hobby or a business.

Canadians may subscribe here.

Will you save money by building your own custom fishing rod? It’s a tricky question and in today’s economy, some anglers are wondering if it can be done. While it is possible to save money if you hunt out for the biggest discounts on the rod building components you want to use. As well, you can probably get a fishing rod quite inexpensively at one of the big box stores. The price will be a lot less than buying a high quality blank and components for your rod.

Building your own fishing rod is not about saving money however. It’s about building something that you will be proud of and that is customized to your fishing style. It’s about ensuring the rod has been done right. It’s about selecting the exact components you want, including their quality.

When you build your own rod, you have a selection of styles of handles, reel seats, and guides to choose from. You will probably be able to source much higher quality cork for your grips than you will get with a rod off the rack at the local big box store. You will be able to upgrade the quality of the guides and even test cast your rod with a variety of guide sizes to decide which ones are optimal for that blank you’ve chosen.

In the end, it is unlikely you will save money by building your own rod, however you will possess a tool that could become a family heirloom and something you will be able to take great pride in whenever you go fishing!

Back in the day, 1998 to be precise, I was considering expanding my own custom fishing rod building business. I had a website but it did not have its own domain, so I registered “customtackle.com” – if anyone remembers, back then domain name registrations and renewals were done by a monopoly called “Network Solutions” and they charged 45.00 per year! They must have made a killing.

I wrote up some content for the site I was planning, and today I located the Custom Rod Building FAQ’s that I had prepared.  When I got into web development, I “loaned” some content to Custom Tackle Supply for their website. Sadly, Custom Tackle Supply no longer exists and for now, I’ve taken back the domain name and have decided to do something with it.

Today, those FAQ’s could probably be expanded on quite a bit.  Maybe that is one of the first things I’ll get at in updating that site with good content.