Custom Fishing Rods. What is your story?

[GWP]

Have a friend that always goes above and beyond. Had a very nice rod custom built specifically for his favorite type of fishing with his name and a little thank you written on it. Worth. Every. Penny.
Never saw him tear up before that.
Very nice handling and pretty rod!

What is your story with custom built fishing rods?

[Jpmiller]

I've got two, both built by my old man. One for me when I was a young kid and a bamboo fly rod he built for my grandfather that I inherited when he passed. By have our (same) name on them, both mean the world to me and they're pretty much the only two fly rods I ever use. Been trying to get him to make up a rod for each of my kids but he keeps saying he is "retired" from that.

[Mech]

About 30-35 years ago I wanted to build me a rod.
I went into Spencer Guns and Fishing in the Bay Area to buy stuff for it.
The guy and an old man started asking me questions like what I wanted the pole to do and if I had roller or lathe thing to turn the blank.
Well I’m a young dumb guy with a big dream and a small pocket book so I didn’t have *censored* other than my dreams of building me a rod that would do sturgeon and chinooks.
The old guy asked about where I fished and what kinda action I liked in a rod.
He then told me he just built a prototype I might like and went to his car and got it for me to look at.
This baby was frikken perfect in my hands.
I asked him how much he wanted for it and he said can I do $100 and give him or the store updates whenever I was around and I said sure.
This old man owned Seeker Rods and still piddled around making them for charities like the Boy Scouts, other groups and apparently me.
I still have this rod.
She has been to the shop a couple of times and remains my favorite.

[Henrydog]

I had one made for me years ago, I still fish it but not as much anymore.  Mine has no sentimental story, it was just the fact I wanted something no retail rod was.

  A 9' 3weight 2 piece.   God I take 4 piece rods 

[pickardjw]

I have several builds under my belt and by far the best part is handing the rod to someone to look over for the first time. It's been fun learning about the different actions and powers as well and how they translate. For instance, the rod on top in the picture is a moderate action, light power and the rod on bottom is a mod-fast action, light power. Both are under the same condition on the downrigger.

Happy to build a rod at cost for any HuntWa members. Depending on rod blank cost and other components, I can build for as cheap as $95.

[BigGoonTuna]

I've built more than a few in my day.  I started because I couldn't find steelhead rods any more set up how I like them.  I prefer trigger-less grips for my baitcasters, unless it's of the old "Wiebe" triggers like the old G Loomis and Lamiglas rods had.  Also, I like a lot of lighter baitcasting rods than were available, Lamiglas used to make a great one, but had sadly discontinued it (the certified pro X-96LC-T), at least they still made the blank since you could still get it as a spinning rod from the factory.

Back then, I was in my early 20's and had the free time to fish a lot, and there were still places worth going.  I would make a trip down to the Kalama or Lewis because I could always justify stopping by Angler's Workshop and picking through the used rack at Lamiglas next door.

I haven't built a rod in probably 7 or 8 years now, lots of reasons for that I think:

• Angler's workshop packed up and went online-only for sales, can't get a look at things in person any more
• Since then I've started a family, I've got too many hobbies that I don't have any time for
• Salmon/Steelhead fishing has declined to a never before seen level of suckiness in this state
• Lack of availability/cost of components I like: Lamiglas ain't the company it was before it sold, can't get Loomis blanks any more, no more Wiebe handle kits available, blanks now cost as much as a finished rod did 10 years ago etc etc

I would still like to build more in the future, in fact I went to a garage sale yesterday with the hopes of scoring a power rod wrapper that ended up not being there, just have too many other things distracting me these days...

[Widgeondeke]

I never bought one, but i have bout 16 rods. My FIL made custom rods for years. He didn't sell a lot, but I know he made mainly fly rods, but a few steelhead ones also
He made my wife and I a matching set of GLoomis flyrods 25 years ago for our wedding.
Each of the kids got a lightweight spinning rod one year for Christmas

When he passed I inherited everything from 2wt to 9wt in all configurations: 2pc, 3pc, 4pc, etc
The MIL made custom rod socks for each rod he made.
He also tied 10s of thousands of flies. I have prolly 7500 ranging from tiny 24 midges to big Ole streamers.
 I get sentimental when I  catch even the smallest of fish on them.

[Taco280AI]

That would be cool fishing with all his old stuff