attn: KzReelRods

I would like to build a lightweight mooching rod for fishing off the kayak  i plan to use 15#line and I want it to be 7'6"-7'9"  I was thinking of using a 8'6" flyrod blank and cutting 6" off each end what weight do you think I should use?  Or do you have another sugestion for the blank?  The rod most similar to what I am talking about is lamiglas' california mooching rod  it is 7'6" 10-20#.

I'm not sure what blank they use for the California Moocher... but you can email Lamiglas and they'll tell you.

If you want to trim up a fly rod, there's more to it than just trimming 6" from each end.  12" is a lot of blank and the action will change dramatically by trimming that much off.  I'd look for a mooching rod that is as close as possible to your desired length.  Also, blanks that are designed for mooching tend to have more power in the butt section than a fly rod.

For a true mooching rod, I'd recommend fiberglass because you tend to get a much more moderate action out of them.   A good one is the Seeker SA853F which is an 8'6" moderate action E-glass, 2-piece moochingrod rated for 10-25#.  Very nice parabolic action and surprisingly light for fiberglass.  See photo of the action when spiral wrapped at http://www.geocities.com/[email protected]/images/Rod_Photos/MikeVRodFlexWeb.jpg

Personally, I use a graphite hot-shot rod which has a fast action but is long enough to work well for mooching (8'6")... similar to the Rainshadow HS1025F.  I use this rod because it is very versatile and I haven't gotten around to building a true mooching rod for myself yet.

If I were you, I'd check out Batson's huge line of salmon and steelhead rods... they have something for everyone and they are a great value.  
http://www.batsonenterprises.com/rodblanks.php

The reason i was thinking a flyrod is because they have a relatively slow action so my thinking was that trimming the blank would cause the action to become faster and more suitable for a moocher  but not so fast like trimming a rod made for mooching.  The rods on that site looked good except that they were all long except those ment for hot shot rods witch have an extra fast action.

What happens if you use a rod rated up to 2oz. with 4ozs of weight? or is that only ment for casting?

i stand corected I just looked at the lamiglas site and the cal moocher is rated extra fast as well so maby that blank will work.

I think trimming a fly rod could work, but I'd be careful to pick a rod with a fairly stout butt section.  They generally just don't have the same type of power in the butt section as a traditional mooching rod.  You'll probably want to look at 9 or 10 weight rods if you want to go that route, and most 9 or 10 weights come in lengths of 9 feet or more.

The weight ratings of a rod blank are the ratings for the application that the rod is designed for.  For example, a Hot Shot rod with a 1-5 oz lure rating will cast lures up to about 2 oz well, but will drift lures up to 5 oz just fine since that's what they were designed for... drifting hot shot plugs as opposed to casting.  They just happen to be great casting machines as well.  A baitcasting rod that is designed for casting lures with a rating of 1/4 - 5/8 oz will cast lures in that range very well, but will allow drift fishing with lure weights that are substantially higher.

I know rods like the California Moocher say they have a fast or extra fast action, but their power is also such that it doesn't take much effortr to get a significant bend in the rod.  They're not broomsticks, but their action starts closer to the tip than a moderate action rod.  It's kind of tricky... my best advice would be to go to a store with a good selection of rods and start feeling up some rods until you find one that you like.  Then get the specs from that rod and find a blank that is similar.  

Erik