Understanding the Basics of Fishing Rod Blanks

An expert rod builder and a fishing guru walk into a booth, the fishing guru asks for a new custom built rod, but the rod builder says I’ll do you one better…

Recommendations for Rod Building and Choosing Blanks

You see, if you gift an angler a rod… they’ll be happy for a day or two.

But if you teach an angler to build their own custom rods, then neither one of you will ever stop talking about it!

Rod building is more than a cool craft or a weekend hobby, it’s the key to unlocking knowledge that allows anglers to build better fishing rods and ultimately, hook up and land more fish. Plus, it’s pretty darn rewarding to feel your dream fishing shaking its head, while you’re holding tight to the custom rod you built for this moment.

So long story short, the secret is out. We’re sharing all of our rod building demos and tutorials, and answering all of your frequently asked questions along the way.

Tune in for more advice in our first volume of the Basics of Rod Building:

Why Build a Custom Rod?

There is no denying that store bought rods bring a certain set of limitations. There is also no denying that the only way to overcome these shortcomings, is to build your own custom fishing rods.

Custom rod building has become far more than a craft.

In fact, if you consider all the valuable knowledge behind rod building such as how to choose rod blanks for certain fisheries or techniques, how to build a lightweight balanced handle to fish all day long, or even how to increase the success of hooksets and land more fish, it’s no wonder that anglers all over are taking a closer look at rod building.

For many anglers out there—rod building has created a whole new perspective of their fishing and evolved to provide a new lease on their fishing life.

Choosing a Fishing Rod Blank

One of the most important steps to rod building, is choosing the best rod blank that suits the demands of your fishing application and your demands of the rod itself.

The beauty of rod building is that it is entirely up to you.

If you want to start wide and build a performance driven rod for inshore fishing, you can. Or, if you want to really fine-tune your fishing and target certain species, you can just as easily do that too!

Since you are no longer limited by what rods are on the shelf, you can actually begin dialing-in your rod’s performance by picking out the rod specifications fitting for the demands of your application.

Whether it’s action, power, taper, diameter, application, or even color guiding your decision, the point is that you can easily find the perfect rod blank to do all of the above.

Use this advice while you browse our rod blanks!

Find the Rod Blank’s Spine

Once you have the right rod blank, unlock its true performance potential by finding its spine and building the rod accordingly.

Finding the spine is not only a big part of rod building, it’s also a huge reason why custom built rods generally perform better than a factory built rod from the shelf.

Since there is no guarantee that factory rods are built according to the spine, this becomes a weak point in comparison to taking the time and building the fishing rod correctly on the spine.

The spine, sometimes referred to as the backbone of the rod blank, is essential to all aspects of fishing. From casting distance and accuracy, to working lures, setting the hook, and even fighting and landing fish, the spine plays a central role in rod’s performance of each task.

Watch more great video tutorials on Mud Hole’s YouTube Channel!

Discover Your Reason for Rod Building

By combining your personal fishing preferences with endless rod components, the probability of building your new favorite fishing rod is as high as the chances of landing your dream fish on it.

The innovative Multi-Option Rod Kits feature blank selections, grip choices, and color options for you to configure a custom rod as you go. Then, just pair the best multi-option rod kit for you with the FSB-2 Start-Up Supply Kit to get all the tools, supplies, and equipment, you need to build it.

With these deals and our step-by-step demonstrations, rod building is not only simple, it’s more effective than ever.

Whether you fish offshore, inshore, freshwater, or salt, and throw jigs, flies, worms, or anything in between, your perfect fishing rod is out there… it’s just waiting to be built!

---