Sarley: Building a fishing rod isn’t as easy as it looks, but it is rewarding

Fishermen love gadgets. I have boxes full of stuff I can take apart and put together. I’ve made lures and tie my own leaders. I had always thought about building my own fishing rod, but the task sounded too complex. A fishing rod is a lot more complicated than you would first realize.

I got an invitation to a local two-day seminar given by the Mud Hole Tackle Company to teach folks how to build their own fishing rods. Sign me up. I’m in. I figured it would be a snap.

Mud Hole is a huge dealer in fishing rod components. The company deals in every part imaginable, from basic to top of the line. It has classes available over the internet, but I think the face-to-face instruction works best. It doesn’t come to our area often, but it is worth the trip for a weekend of classes. The basic class will run you $199 and you will leave with a top-quality rod that you have built with your own two hands.

I was totally wrong about how easy this project was going to be. I never felt so uncoordinated in my life. To an observer, I must have looked like a chimpanzee trying to use a weed wacker. I was a walking disaster. I guess if I was a kindergartner, they would say that I was “deficient in fine motor skills.” I felt like a kid who needs to have his teacher hold his hand in order to color inside the lines.

I thought that my rod building career had reached its end before it really even got started, but that is not to say that you shouldn't give it a try. The Mud Hole instructors were generous with the time and attention that they gave me. If I had tried to do this online, I would have surely given up.

There were 38 students in my class and Mud Hole sent six instructors to teach the course. There was plenty of one-on-one time with the instructors and all of them did an excellent job. They give you everything to completely finish a good, quality rod and let you take home most of the tools that you used to build it.

Making your own rod has many advantages over buying one off the shelf. You start out by finding the spine of the rod. This is the section of the rod that has the greatest strength and power and that is where the line guides get set up properly. You space your guides in a way that allows the rod to bend properly for the most fight and strength.

You can apply better guides and a better tiptop than what comes on standard rods. That goes for the rod length and the style of handle, too.

Best of all, you can choose the color of the rod blank and then wrap it in the colors of threads that you prefer. You can apply decals or wrappers and even custom dye the handle or the blank. You can make a rod that is totally unique.

You can contact Mud Hole at 866-790-7637 or at mudhole.com to request a free instructional DVD and catalog or newsletter first rod. I'd say that over half the students in the class walked out with all of the supplies needed to go home and build another rod or two. You can also sign up for a free catalog and their newsletter. Incredibly,

Give it a try. I really think you'll enjoy it. I know that my custom-built Mud Hole rod is the one I use more often than any other. Will I build another rod? I think I'll keep my butterfingers out of the hobby of rod building. Instead, maybe I should try building a ship in a bottle.

• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.