I am looking to build a rod for wild brookies this coming summer was really wanted a 6' 4 weight. Anywho, I know some of the ARE rods have funky line ratings, and was wondering everyone's thoughts on the 6'6 and 7' models.

Perhaps I'll cut down the 6'6 to 6'.

Nick B.

If you can live with a 3wt, the ARE 6 foot .5 wt. Is used as a 3 quite often. I like mine with a 2 or 3

Hello
The Jenkins 7'3" 4 weight can be fine tuned into an amazing 6'8" 3/4 weight.
The process requires a deep understanding of rod blank mechanics,flex profile in relation to wall thickness,where to trim,where and how much to dress,re-ferruling.
The process actually demands a tremendous amount of hand work to get the feel your going after.
Followed by a good amount of re finishing starting with polishing then painting the blank followed by finishing out the completed rod and so on.

You can also take the low road it's certainly quicker and will get you to the same place sorta.
You will be able to whack 7" off the butt giving you a 6'8" 3/4 weight it just wont have the same wistful feel as My hand tuned version.

I've done it both ways the hand tuned model is a total disaster for the rod tinker trying to pay his or her bills.
When you add about 30 hours of hand work to any project you can't do it for 3 bucks an hour for long.
It only takes about 30 seconds to hack off 7" from the butt.

I held out a handful of the 7'3" blanks and plan to make a mess with them this summer God willing,The thought of adding the cost of Nickle Silver Ferrules to these rods is bewildering.
Maybe I'll take the process a bit further this last time and try my skill at adding a plastic ferrule union ??
Lets see cost of a Nickle Silver Ferrule VS Designing and making my own ferrule union.

This may not be cost effective,at least I have the materials on hand to make them and the know how.
Shucks maybe I should make my own Nickle Silver Ferrules ???

It's still a work in process at least I've done it before so hopefully I can remember where I put my notes.
Hey on the bright side at least I know what color they are going to be

Back to Johnny's Blanks They are the bomb and well worth the pennies to play with them that's for darn sure.

Just use your imagination you may come up with something that has just the right feel your after.
Look at his 12' and 13' blanks you may find a perfect 6' 3/4 weight hiding inside.
Hint Hint

Tight Lines And Out of The Box Loops\
Andy M

The blanks are a one(1) or two(2) weight, not a half weight.