Homemade Toc rod: Create your own fishing tool

A Toc cane with homemade carbon handle

By Louis Gratel. Getting your kicks by diverting a blank from its original use to adapt it to another technique to make it a beast of a rod: this is my idea of rodbuilding. Reflection, cogitation, risk-taking (and sometimes head-taking), experimentation... as with the Trout fishing I do, I like to get off the beaten track. I've found my happiness with fly fishing rods and lures, but I'm still not happy with my natural bait fishing (TOC rod). None of the blanks really met my expectations: too short, too powerful, too soft, in short, total frustration. Digging around on the net, some solutions came to light in the form of modified Switch Fly Blanks, but I didn't like the idea and it didn't meet my specifications: - light power blank of at least 10 feet; - soft tip action but good power reserve; - maximum resonance; - light weight. [caption id="attachment_553" align="aligncenter" width="514"] The rivers I paddle aren't made up of long, uniform currents for long drifts. They are made up of boulders, micro stations, holes and numerous obstacles, foliage...[/caption] [caption id="attachment_554" align="aligncenter" width="514"] A progressive blank is a disaster in these conditions: impossible to properly bridle the fish.[/caption] It was while poking around the NFC catalog that I came across a gem: the ST1002-2 HM. It's a blank designed for steelhead fishing with dream characteristics: 10 feet, 1/16 3/16 power, 49 grams bare, high modulus... A few days of reflection later (but I know I'm already lost and that this blank will be mine) I order it from Goulven. Between apprehension and impatience, I unwrap the blank and test it naked: a nervous laugh catches me "what's this thing... where does it come from?". The blank is validated, but I need to lengthen it: a blank chute that fits perfectly in the heel will do the trick. Here I am with a 3m40 blank, a perfect size for my rivers. As I load it, I realize that the action has tightened on the tip, which is perfect. I want to optimize resonance, so I go all the way: I apply the tutorial present on the forum to make a custom carbon handle for my rod. It will maximize resonance and allow me to hide the blank fitting.

A Fly reel seat reworked with a dremel on the bushings to accept a spinning reel and an aesthetic delusion on the butt will complete all this.

I'm having a blast putting this blank together, really. I'm now tackling the rings and choosing Fuji MYSGs to take the line off the blank, it's a must. There are 10 MYSGs: the first four are size 4.5 while the last six are size 4, which is small but I want to keep the weight on the blank to a minimum. As for the starting rings, once again I've chosen to stand out from the crowd and I've made a reduction to 3 KLH rings in sizes 16/10 and 5.5 instead of the classic Double-legged. The specification poses a few problems for me, but a few loadings enable me to refine and validate the distribution. Wrapping, Varnishing and drying completed, I head off to the water's edge to test it all out with some trepidation. It's taken a long time to perfect this rod and the Trout season is almost over. The drought has been harsh, the rivers are low, and fishing is going to be complicated. On two outings I caught around twenty Trouts in tricky conditions on microleads with a house fly. The rod is well balanced and responsive on casts, which is already a good point. It's light (153 gr) and also very resonant, and I'm impressed by the first touches, thanks to the handle and especially the HM carbon from NFC. In combat, the first section of the blank bends smoothly all the way to the take-up and accompanies the fish, while the rest of the blank is just a reserve of progressive power.

To put it plainly, I had a lot of fun on 25cm fish but I know that in case of big surprises on fine line I'll have something to answer for: an iron hand in a velvet glove as they say. I had a great time putting this rod together, and it's going to be with me throughout 2017. You can find my impressions of this rod on the Rodhouse forum.