I'd like to build a 10.5 or 11 foot fly rod, handling a 4 or 5 weight line, with a traditional (non-switch) grip and reel-seat configuration. But I cannot locate blanks for a rod of this type - - at least not in a 4-piece configuration. Are such things available? Several manufacturers (Pac Bay Rainshadow, for one) offer blanks of that length for building switch rods, but can these blanks be built up as traditional rods without the long foregrip and aftergrip? In other words, can the 10-foot, 8-inch Rainshadow Switch Rod blank be built as a traditional fly rod using, say, a standard reverse half-wells grip and up-locking reelseat? What might be the downside to using a switch rod blank in a traditional configuration? Long, light rods are commonly used in Europe, but I can't seem to locate a domestic source. Any help?

Craig

Welcome to the forum--first

With this rod blank you can switch from single hand or double hand if you like.

The rod has the feel of a long single hand fly rod and it has the power built in the last section of the rod if needed to cast with the two handed casts. there is not a downside that I see if you're using this rod just for single handed use and using trational length grip. I do see that the rod usually will handle heaveir line than rated for single handed fly line.

Randy

Behlah also has long blanks, and Cabelas had an 11 ft float tube rod/blank last I looked, but I don't remember if they were 4 piece.

Neither Beulah nor Cabelas offers blanks in the configuration I'm looking for. The only place I can find that does ioffer long, light fly rod blanks is this UK firm, which carries exactly what I want:

http://www.davidnorwich.com/MultisectionEV2rods.htm

The carry several 10 to 11 foot, 4-5 piece rods that use 3, 4, or 5 weight lines. Europeans have embraced these long rods for various forms of "Czech-nymphing" where you use short casts and try to keep most of the line off the water. This is exactly the sort of rod what I want to try to build. I have an older Albright 10-foot, 4-weight that's a bit heavy and works best with a 5-weight line, and I wanted to build something a bit lighter. Apparently this sort of thing has not caught on the US yet, judging from the dearth of blanks in that size range.

I suppose I'll try the UK source, but it looks like shipping is a killer.

Czech nymphing is popular but still isn't to widely accepted in practice by some anglers.
If you follow the fly fishing contests and the type of fishing you will.

You're right about the blank fitting into that category. Lots if guys do this all the time but most will call it pin fishing. The reel is mounted further up on the blank. Infinity Rod Creations builds rods all the time for pin style fishing. Not sure you if you saw that. He is our man for that.

I have a box of flies just for the czech style fishing. I use a 10 ft 4/5 wt rod to do this myself.

Randy

This is interesting. It seems to me that our several regular contributors from Europe have difficulty getting the components they want on their side of the pond and commonly seek out US suppliers. For example, Batson makes a 10' 5 wt RX7 fly blank in addition to the 10'8" 6 wt switch rod. I wish I had paid more attention to what they tended to like in the way of blanks. GeorgeM is one of the Czech nymphos, if I recall correctly, in case you wanted to PM him. Hopefully some of our European brethren will chime in.
Gnossos

The Batson 10-foot, 5-weight blank is two piece. Have you ever tried to lug around rod that breaks down into 5-foot sections? Not pretty. Long, light, two-piece fly blanks are also available from, for example, Schneiders in Mountain Home, AR, as "Special White River Tailored" blanks. They are 10-foot blanks made for either 1, 2, 3, or 4-weight lines. Wow. But, I do not want a two-piece rod this long, unless backed into a corner. I'm surprised that multi-piece blanks in this long, light configuration are not readily available in the US. As stated above, I've located only one set of blanks specifically made for this style of fishing - - the David Norwich blanks from the UK at the website I listed above. It appears I'm stuck with a decision: use the Batson switch blank and hope that it works OK with a traditional grip configuration or order the more expensive "French Nymph" blank from the UK, which appears to be perfect for my desires (and, after all, who would not want to own a rod called the French Nymph?).

I'd still like some comment on whether the Batson switch blank may have drawbacks as a traditionally configured rod and, also, whether anyone has ever built on a Norwich blank.

I am far far from an expert, but I know that Dan at Dan Craft Enterprises has a variety of 10' rods in weights from 3-10. I think most people up line the rods. I remember someone posting a comment about the 10' 3wt they lined with a 5wt WF line a while back. It might be your ticket. The european blank you listed at $400 plus shipping seems a bit much for me, but if it what you want then maybe that is better. Dan's 10' rods are almost all on backorder, so if you are interested you might give him a call and check a timeline.

Hope this helps.

C

Czech nympho you say huh?
Yeah, I use Dan Craft a lot for czech/french nymphing on european waters. I also have "developped" (thanks to Dan) custom tips for the existing blanks in Dan's line (FT, Signature III), making them longer and softer for all kind of light nymphing applications. I use custom blanks from Dan from 10' 2 wt. to 11' 3/4 wt. Let me know what you need, I might be able to help!!
George

Craig,
I know people using 11' 5wt. Sage switch blanks as a single hand for czeck nymphing, I know some that use CTS blanks..
I have a 10'6" modified Dan Craft FT blank (from FT10034), with the tip section's "slightly" longer but it does the job nice, but it's no more than a 4wt.http://tightloopgeorge.blogspot.com/2010/0...ymph-stick.html
I have build several of them and can honestly say you can't go better for the price. If the price is not a problem, go with a Maxia blank 10'8" line 5 - 4 pieces from Modern Flies, Italy. They are great blanks, but expensive and have only 2 year warranty, their finished rods come with lifetime warranty. I honestly don't know anything about Norwich blanks yet, but I can say that after years of experimenting I haven't found any other better blanks for european nymphing than the ones mentioned.
Hope it helps!
George

The Dan Craft rods were "out-of-stock" when I checked a couple of weeks ago, and that's why I wrote them off. I wasn't sure whether that was a short- or long-term situation. So, what's the deal? And, George, by "custom made" what do you mean? Did you get the Dan Craft folks to roll a special blank for you or did you do something with an off-the-shelf model?

And finally, I am not compelled to spend a lot of money on this project, and my reference to the Norwich rods (which are a bit expensive) was mainly to point out the availability of that type of blank ("French Nymphing") from Europe and not the US.

Thanks to all for the help and comments.

Craig,
A good, light and sensitive blank for "french/czech nymphing" costs a lot of money as I said allready. The Dan Craft FT10034 has a modified tip section as you could probably see from the pictures in order to make it lighter, softer and more sensitive (to protect the lightest tippets). I'm nymphing a lot on european waters, I fished side by sides with czeck folks so I can honestly say I have adapted an american made blank to what the conditions here dictate.
If you're not in a hurry, Dan will probably set you up with one of those blanks/custom tips I showed you in the pictures. He knows all about it. Whatever you wanna do.
George