What makes a custom fishing rod custom? I get asked this a lot. The easiest answer is it's something that you can't find in a store. This isn't a very good answer though. On this page I'll try to show what some of the more fun things that can be done are. and the reasons that a custom made rod can be BETTER than a factory made rod. Before continuing on this page you should read THE TRUTH ABOUT CUSTOM RODS. First off custom made rods can have guides made from different materials. To the right you can see some holographic titanium nitride guide rings. These guides are made from titanium nitride over zirchonia. Needless to say they are a VERY hard ring that WILL NOT GROOVE. Titanium nitride has a hardness that rivals silicon carbide but looks much nicer. The guides on the right were fumed with a gas chemical that makes the titanium have a holographic effect that changes colors with the angle of the light. Titanium nitride can also be made to look blue or gold |  |
While the guides shown above are single foot spinning guides these guides also come in single foot fly guide and stripping guide styles. The larger guides are easier to photograph. ROD BLANKS
There are companies out there that simply don't produce finished rods such as American Tackle, Pacific Bay and Batson enterprises. Many big name companies buy blanks from companies like these to build their rods on. This brings us to pricing. I have actually seen people at fly shops try several different rods and say that they liked the $150 rod better than the $300 until they look at the price tag and then they change their mind because the one with the higher price tag says Sage, G.Loomis or Scott (who all make excellent rods) or something to that affect. They assume that the higher price tag and name means that the rod is better. For more on pricing please see my pricing page. WOODS
This is something that some people really like about custom made rods. With a custom made rod you can get any kind of hardwood commercailly available for the grip or reel seat. While a hardwood insert on a reel seat is really only done for purely asthetic reasons it can make you feel good to own something so beautiful that it could hang on a wall as a show piece but be so nice to fish with that it lives behind the seat if your truck so that you can stop at any river you cross to catch fish. Some people also prefer the feel of a solid hardwood grip. NUMBER OF PIECES
While at a good fly shop you can find really nice 3 and 4 piece rods at many you can't. I regularly make rod out of 7 piece blanks that are only 17" each. This makes for a very portable rod. Some people think that a rod made out of more pieces is worse to fish with. This is actually not true with a well disigned blank. If a rod blank is made correctly the number of pieces is totally transparent. The only difference is the blank designed with more pieces will weigh more because there is more material. 
CONSTRUCTION
When I make a custom fishing rod I pride myself in the quality of the construction of the rod. The reel seat gets lightweight graphite arbors that are more rigid and lighter than the masking tape that is used in many mass produced rods. I also double wrap the ferrules for extra strength. This lessens the chance of the rod breaking at the ferrule. I also can recommend the exact reel that will be best for balancing the rod making the rod feel weightless in your hand. In most cases you will have to wait until the rod is complete to do this. COLORS
This isn't a big deal to most people but it can be if the rod is being given as a present or if someone really has a color combination that they really like. Sometimes people really like a rod that they tried out but the rod is a color that they can't stand. I have made rods to match the the paint job on boats and pickups. MONEY SAVING OPTONS One thing that I get asked to do quite a bit is to make someone a fishing rod out of a really high end big name blank but to save them a lot of money. This is very easy to do. The first way to save a ton of money is the reel seat. The reel seats used on big name rop of the line rods are top of the line reel seats that have been milled from solid nickel/silver bar stock and they can easily cost $90-$150 for just the reel seat. If you don't mind an all aluminum reel seat it will only cost $5. A nice seat with a wood spacer can be had for $18. Another money saver without affecting the performance of a rod is the grip. FLOR grade cork can cost as much as $5 an inch and is what is used on many high end rods. I use quite a bit of it when someone wants a show piece rod. The money saving options for grips are lower grades of cork or even foam. A lower grade of cork or foam grip will not affect the quality of the blank or construction so it is an easy way to make a rod less expensive. I actually put a $2 foam grip and a $5 aluminum reel seat on a top of the line St. Croix SCV that the retail cost of the blank is $250. The person ended up with a top of the line St. Croix SCV for $295! That is just over HALF of the suggested retail price. It ended up not being nearly as pretty but every bit as fishable. If it were me I would have at least spent the extra $15 for a lower (but not junk) grade cork grip. Please see my pricing page for more on money saving options. THE FUN STUFF
This is where things are done purely for asthetics. I can laser engrave your name into your cork grip or put your name on the rod itself and then encapsulate it in epoxy to protect it. I can weave your name into thread at the butt of the rod or your initials into the thread of the hook keeper or guides - this is pretty popular. I can embed birth stones into the grip or reel seat. I can encapsulate a real insect in epoxy for the butt cap or have the butt cap engraved at the jewelers. Probably the single most popular things is length markings. Where I live there are some trout waters where a trout has to be 22" to keep it. That is why all of my trout rods have some sort of marking at 22" I usually use a gold or silver metallic piece of thread with thread the color of the guide wraps or the blank on both sides. My bass rods have similar markings at 10" and 20" for a slot limit where the bass have to be under 10" or over 20". I can also do things like use burl cork or genuine ruby guides. For more of what can be done please see my pricing page. The grip on the left is a very special grade of butl cork with a Struble reel seat. This grip/reel seat combinatin is actually not on a rod yet and is for sale. Contact me for pricing. | 
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These are the prices of some of the more popular options. These prices are subject to change. Email me or current pricing. PRICING FOR CUSTOM RODS HAS MOVED. IT CAN NOW BE FOUND HERE
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