Custom Ice Rod Building Discussion Thread

[Dave P]

Anyone ever built there own ice rods? I think it would be pretty darn cool to have some custom rods.

Where did you start? Youtube seems pretty handy to follow along, but always open to more sources of information.

Where do you get your materials from? Local or Local Online would be preferred but where do you source your blanks and materials from?

Is a all in one kit a good place to start, or smarter to source individual components?

Any other tips? Want to share anything you have made?

Winter is coming

[pikergolf]

Used a bunch of old blanks that I stripped, also bought mud hole blanks from Custom Rodbuilder Supply in Victoria. I got my eyes there as well. Used bass wood for the handles, dirt cheap, shaped them in my shop. Used silicone tape to afix the reels to the handles. Built around a dozen rods for about a hundred bucks not including the purpose bought blanks.

[honker_clonker]

I finally pulled the trigger on building rods 2 years ago and I am happy I did. Really enjoy having functional rods built for my style of fishing.

Watched a lot of youtube, mudhole has some good instructional videos and there are others for sure. If you scour their library you can find the answer to most questions.

For ice rods i've only used the basskhang blanks. Ordered those directly from them as well as from Hogmans Custom Rods in Ontario. Little better shipping price coming out of ontario. If you want to order from basskhang directly they have a nice selection of fly guides etc for building perch rods. I've also ordered components from Custom Rod builder supplies, I like their pac bay minima guides for my ice rods. Shipping kinda kills you but thats the reality of Canada I guess.

Not sure if I would buy a kit rod personally since they aren't built in a style that I like (long handles, big guides) but it is easier for a first time build since everything you need is there.

I would learn on a walleye rod or a heavier rod vs a perch rod because wrapping guides on perch rods is quite difficult at the best of times. The stiffer rods are much easier to get the wrap down pat on. Noodle rods are a challenge.

[Dave P]

Would love to see some pics of the custom ice rods there gents. Get the ideas flowing.

What do you use for equipment wise? A DIY type gig for wrapping?

The CRB stuff seems pretty popular, gets good reviews. And can find on amazon for a pretty good price and prime shipping.

[honker_clonker]

I started with some stands that I just made out of 1x4's and just glued some fabric in the v notch but eventually purchased a couple of the CRB stands as well as a dryer. Essential equipment I'd would be the following:
2 stands for wrapping (home made or otherwise)
rod dryer for keeping your guide finish even
razor blades
fly tying bobbin for thread
dollar store paintbrushes for applying epoxy to the wraps
thread finish epoxy
5-30 minute epoxy for handles
masking tape
dental ligatures (tiny rubber bands) for holding guides in place on the skinny blanks
isopropyl alcohol for cleaning up epoxy
Could probably get all this together for $100

My rods are very basic but thats all I want out of it. Single color wraps, EVA grips, size 16 reel seat, size 8-10 pac bay minimas on walleye or laker rods. I like the minimas since they have metal inserts and aren't prone to cracking like ceramic.

For the handles I bought some carbon arrow shafts and arbor the blank inside to give the handle good stiffness, last thing you want is a noodly handle on a laker rod. Seems a lot of factory options skip this step and its annoying. I make my handles total length from 9-12" long depending on the application so it helps with stiffness.

[StringTheory]

Great thread! I have been on the search for custom ice rods as well. I like the idea of building my own to suit my style. Theres plenty of factory rod options and I feel like I've tried all the main ones, 13 Fishing, Fenwick, Frostbite, etc, but I just don't love any of them.

Ive been eyeing up the ice rod kit that MudHole sells. Anyone have this kit? Should a guy just buy what he needs individually?

https://mudhole.com/en-ca/products/a...c8e1ffbc&_ss=c

[Dave P]

Originally Posted by StringTheory

Ive been eyeing up the ice rod kit that MudHole sells. Anyone have this kit? Should a guy just buy what he needs individually?

https://mudhole.com/en-ca/products/a...c8e1ffbc&_ss=c

I reached out to MudHole asking about Canadian distributors. They suggested rodbuilderssupplies.com in Victoria as they area CRB Dealer.

I also found this as far as Canadian distributors: https://www.hogmanscustomrods.com/pr...pply-kit-fsb-2

[honker_clonker]

Originally Posted by StringTheory

Great thread! I have been on the search for custom ice rods as well. I like the idea of building my own to suit my style. Theres plenty of factory rod options and I feel like I've tried all the main ones, 13 Fishing, Fenwick, Frostbite, etc, but I just don't love any of them.

Ive been eyeing up the ice rod kit that MudHole sells. Anyone have this kit? Should a guy just buy what he needs individually?

https://mudhole.com/en-ca/products/a...c8e1ffbc&_ss=c

This kit would be a great start for sure. It comes with their carbon handle tubes and everything which is a nice touch. Definitely will get you going in the right direction. Once you get a couple builds in you can start trying to source the things you like, I ordered quite a few blanks from Basskhang and I've really liked the actions and its really hard to beat their price.

Hogmans is usually pretty quick to restock their blanks, I noticed that he's just about sold out right now but Jeff works quickly.

I'd say reamers are more important if you're going to be building summer rods since you build those handles directly on the blank. I've moved in the direction of arboring my walleye and bigger ice rods inside carbon tubes so I just found a handle style I like that fits a certain arrow shaft and build them on that, no need for reaming.

The 40" lake trout, power walleye and power noodle/finesse noodle are basically all I build now. They cover whatever I am after. Perch carbon would probably be nice for stocked trout but I havent tried that one yet.