Before moving on to a top-of-the-line fly rod blank, you might make one with an inexpensive blank for some kind of fishing you don't do often enough to invest much money in-maybe a short, light rod for very small waters. Think of it as low-risk skill enhancement. Besides, you get another rod.

When you're ready for big time, don't expect to save a lot of money on your dream rod. First, top brand blanks are expensive. Second, you'll probably invest what you might have saved in special hard-finish guides and a better-than-stock reel seat. Add cost of a bag and tube and you're going to be closing in on retail, though you'll have made a higher-quality rod than you can buy. If you have to buy a new reel because you don't have one right size for new rod, well now you've gone and done it, haven't you?

When choosing guides, there are a lot of options in finish and configuration. One of advantages of building your own is that you can use larger stripping guides, for less friction and better shooting. There are all sorts of recommendations and formulas for guide spacing, but best bet is to get blank manufacturer's recommendations. Apparently stresses at ferrule(s) require some accommodation that are not provided by formulas that give you an orderly mathematical progression of guide spacing from top to bottom. When shopping for blanks, guides, seats, and miscellaneous parts, there is much to be said for buying and building relationships at local shops. But in Houston at least, local inventory seems somewhat limited, though perhaps your favorite shop can special order your blank.

If you want enough information to get oriented-and enough choices to get good and confused-get a catalog from Angler's Workshop in Woodland, WA (www.anglersworkshop.com). They have top and not-so-top brand blanks as well as their own label. They also have a great variety of reel seat and guide options. Best of all, they know their stuff and they'll make an extra effort to help you out. Even if you buy locally, their catalog is a great reference and will give you additional options.

Anyhow, if you want to give it a try, have fun. Go slow. And stop what you're doing and back off as soon as something doesn't feel just right. If you make a mistake, short of snapping blank, odds are you can undo it. I've been able to shave off and redo epoxy-coated wrappings that turned inexplicably lumpy on last coating without damaging blank. One more caution. Once you take rod building into your own hands, there's no telling where it will lead. One day you'll see a book on making bamboo rods and think, "Say, this doesn't look all that hard." Or you'll decide to build your own kayak. Even folks at Betty Ford won't be able to help once you head down that path.

Fly Line Codes

Now, let's move on to how to decipher various codes that are found on fly line boxes around world. Any angler who has looked for fly lines undoubtedly knows that lots of abbreviations and codes are used to identify fly line. So, here's some examples of how to identify fly lines when looking at them in store.

* DT-4-F : This code means that fly line is a double taper fly line, with a weight of 4, and floats * WF-5-F : This code means that fly line is a weight-forward taper fly line, with a weight of 5, and floats. * WF-10-S : This code means that fly line is a weight-forward taper fly line, with a weight of 10, and is a sinking line. How fast line sinks (it's sink rate) will be listed on box. * DT-7-F/S - This code means that fly line is a double taper fly line, with a weight of 7, and is a sink-tip fly line. The sink rate of fly line, as well as how much of line actually sinks, will be listed on box. * L-5-I : This code means that fly line is a level taper fly line, with a weight of 5, and is an intermediate sinking line. The sink rate of fly line will be listed on box. * ST-6-F : This code means that fly line is a shooting taper fly line, with a weight of 6, and floats.

Well, that's about it for fly lines, if you need fly line for your new fly rod.