Hi everybody, I am sorta new here and I have a couple questions I hope you could answer. I am looking to have a light spinning steelhead/trout rod built, and I am wondering if anyone knows of a good rod builder in SW Wash. or NW Oregon? I live in Rainier Oregon, not to far away from many of you, judging by some posts. I'd like to have the rod built on either a G-Loomis or St. Croix fly rod blank, 8'-9.5' with good Fuji guides and reel seats. Any advice on hardware, blanks, or builders would be nice. I fish a lot on the Nehalem, Kilchis, and Deschutes Rivers. I'm looking to match it with my Shimano Stradic 1000, or a Stradic 2000 or Penn Prion 1200 that I might purchase.

You may want to look into making your own rod. It takes a little time, but the satisfaction is well worth it. Most good fishing supply stores should have books on it. The other thing to consider is to compare the price of a custom to that of what s available already made. The reason being is that if you break a factory made rod and it is covered by warenty they will replace the whole section. If you bought just the blank and break it, you get only the blank again. I have made several rods in the past but my steelhead rods are factory made as I know that they are more likely to get busted.

You could contact: thcustomrods@harborside.com,he's building me a IMX loomis rod right now.He lives in myrtle beach,Or.The price is right!!
look in the classifieds on this home page
he's in there under loomis rods.

[This message has been edited by dawhunt (edited 01-22-2000).]

Hey troutboy,
What wieght flyrod blank you want to use? I had a 9' 7 wt, cortland blank built into a spinning rod. I sed it for summer steelhead. It was a nice blank and only ran 30 bucks for the blank......I was into the rod 100 bucks.
If you want a little longer rod get the G.Loomis 1141. Sweet rod!!!!! 9'6" slow action ultra light rated for 4 to 8 lb test. If you get the 1141 get it in the IMX. The IMX has a little more lifting power than the GL3. I have fished both rods and the IMX wins hands down. I use that rod year round.
You might want to try rolling River rods in Woodland WA. Debbie builds a very nice rod. Im in Longview alot, so if ya wanna hook up and fish sometime drop me a line.
Oh yea I have a buddy who builds rods also. He built a 9' 7 wt cacade blank into a spinning rod for another friend, very nice rod........if intrested let me know
willierower