2 - 4kg Spin - Economy and Deluxe ................. by Gary Howard
WE ARE all guilty somewhere along the track of trying to save a few bucks and settling for items that we know aren’t quite the quality that we would like to have. Unfortunately these items often let us down when we really need them the most, and the long term cost and/or replacement ends up costing us more than the initial purchase.
The hard truth is that sometimes we simply cannot afford or justify the expense of those top shelf items that we would really like. In some fields this doesn’t necessarily effect us, and in rod building there is certainly some good stuff about that is still quality.
What we are going to look at this month is two lightweight spin outfits - one an economy fibreglass version and the other a lightweight graphite stick designed to do that same job.
ECONOMY
If we look at the economy version first, it’s actually a blank that has been around for a very long time (certainly it has been available for the 20 odd years I’ve been building fishing rods). The blank is the FMT 72L which has been used for everything from bream, bass, and flathead fishing, to chasing a few squire around the shallow reefs.
Any rod that has gained a reputation and lasted a few decades has done so because it is reliable. Some rod blank models are susceptible to breakages, but this is not one of them. You can buy this blank from Snyderglas, Pacific Composites, and Kilwell, and there are a few versions that come out of the East that we only see as made-up rods.
At 72 inches (1.8 metres) this fast multi-tapered blank has a nice light tip yet, for a lightweight rod, has an admirable degree of power in the butt section. The light tip is what makes it suitable for the likes of luring bream and bass and even catching whiting, while that little bit of power in the butt is what turns those flathead and squire.
These days the world leaders in rod building components, FUJI, have quite a diverse range of guides. A recent addition has been the ‘O’ ring series which offer the same quality stainless steel one-piece frame, but instead of having the grey Hardloy insert they have used a second generation aluminium oxide. On the vast majority of light weight rods, this is more than sufficient.
The biggest downfall of imitation guides is that the ring can pop out of the frame, and some corrode quite quickly. This certainly is not the case with FUJI Guides.
On our FMT 72L we are going to use Eva grips, an economy FUJI reel seat, and a combination of single foot FUJI BLVOG and a double foot BSVOG as the stripper. What you end up with is a diverse fishing rod that has all good fittings that will last, but without the expense of top shelf items.
DELUXE
For the connoisseur of fishing tackle with a few more dollars to spend we are going to use a Samurai 006 graphite blank which is significantly lighter than the fibreglass FMT 72L and retains that nice, crisp feel and strength of graphite.
Moving up to the first generation Aluminium Oxide guides, we’ll use the FUJI BLVLG single foots and the FUJI BSVLG double foot. You can of course use alconite, silicon, or even titanium frame Gold Cermet Guides if you wish, but the price will increase dramatically when you move to the Rolls Royce stage.
To keep the weight down, cork grips are used instead of Eva and we’ve gone to a deluxe reel seat. Because the Samurai 006 is seven foot long with a fine tip there is plenty of scope to trim both the tip or the butt to suit the length you like to fish with. In this recipe we’ve trimmed six inches off the butt.
THE SELECTION
If you are building a little rod for the kids to fish with or are just getting into rod building, the FMT 72L is definitely the one you want to build. For something a bit smarter that you might like to dress up a little with binds, or give yourself a little treat, the Samurai is certainly a good choice.
SPECIFICATIONS
Economy
Blank - Pacific Composite FMT 72L
Butt - 7” x 3/8” Eva
Winch - FUJI DPSM – 17
Foregrip - 4” x 3/8” Eva shaped
Cap - FUJI BRC 19
Tip - FUJI BPOT 6/2.4
Guides - BLVOG 7 - 85; 8 - 110; 10 - 140; 12 - 175; 16 - 215 BSVOG 25 - 295
Deluxe
Blank - SAMURAI 006 - 6” Cut off butt to measure 6’6” overall
Butt - 7” X 3/8” shaped cork
Winch - FUJI FPSD – 17
Foregrip - 4” x 1/4” shaped cork
Cap - FUJI BRC 19
Tip - FUJI BPLT 6/2.0
Guides - BLVLG 7 - 85; 7 - 100; 8 - 110; 10 - 130; 12 - 155; 16 - 190; BSVLG 25 - 295
