Building a custom ice rod

My oldest son gets to build a ice rod at school and they get to choose the components from mudhole.com he said. He was asking me what he should get but I have never built one. What would be some good brands or styles of components to get? It will be a jigging rod probably about 30” but he hasn’t narrowed down what species he will target with it yet. Any help is appreciated.

I’m sure @rodwork could help with the question better on blanks.
Going to want to figure out species and size of jigs to narrow it down. Then handle, guide style and thread color. Pretty sure they sell straight kits with everything as well.
Pretty awesome school project IMO.

MHX Solid Carbon Ice Rod Kits

This is a ice rod kit from mudhole. Defiantly the easiest way to get into building a rod. If your boy wants something more specific I can give you a couple of choices of what I would build off of too.

I’ve built several ice rods and you can’t go wrong with the vline blanks. Mudhole just picked them up last winter but I’ve been ordering them for a few years now from their website. I got a few of mudholes ice blanks when I started and don’t care for them. Unless lake trout or pike are the target species fly guides are the way to go. They’re plenty big to keep the ice off but more importantly they’re light. There are also several handle styles to pick from. I’ll post some pics later and will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thanks for the suggestions. He should get some more details this week about how they will go about building them and I will try to have him narrow down what he wants the rod for.

Vline blank for sure far superior than mhx imo
#8 or 10 match spinning guide followed by wire fly guides size 4

Mud Hole is in Florida, last I knew there was not much ice there. Hard to fine tune a blank when you don’t have ice

Like others have said go with a vline blank. I run a 10 Stripper, then fly guides in 5, 3, then 2 all the way to the tip. Im happy to see this post as it was a highschool shop class where we built ice rods that started me on rodbuilding almost 20 yrs ago!

Not to steal the thread, but I just got an ice rod building kit from Mudhole over the weekend. It has everything needed to get started, but to the experienced builders where do you buy your wrapping thread?

Thanks

Mudhole also Thorn Brothers carry’s it also depending where your located.

Reed wrote:

Not to steal the thread, but I just got an ice rod building kit from Mudhole over the weekend. It has everything needed to get started, but to the experienced builders where do you buy your wrapping thread?

Thanks

Mudhole getbit voodoo

Looks like I am late to the party. That is fantastic that his school offers something like this. If he is only limited to components that Mud Hole offers look at the V-Line blanks like most have posted. I don’t like the taper of most of Mud hole / MHX blanks. Some are ok if you reshape and sand them down. I am sure they won’t be shaping the blanks since carbon fiber and glass fibers are not good to breath in. Fly guides are perfect for keeping the cost down. Mud Hole does offer recoil guides. I am a big fan of noodle rods for panfish and believe everyone should have at least one. I will be happy to help if you have any questions.

Reed make sure to buy rod thread. It is way stronger than sewing thread. Metallic thread is not as strong and should not be used alone to attach guides. Some places to check out for materials and supplies: Mud Hole, Sportsmen’s Direct, Jann’s Netcraft, DH, Bass Kang, HFF, Get Bit Outdoors, Thorne Brothers, Voodoo, Angler’s Workshop, Rod Components USA, Utmost Enterprises, The Rod Room… to just name a couple off the top of my head.

Attach is the tapper of all the Carbon fiber ice blanks that Mud Hole offers. Hopefully this will help him select what blank he may want to use.

Attachments:

1. 

   Carbon-MH-blanks.jpg
   

And Glass

Attachments:

1. 

   Glass-MH-blanks.jpg
   

Thank you very much rodwork for the info. I will pass it on to him. I think he has until tomorrow at the latest to finalize what he is going to make and use for materials. It should be a fun project for the kids and when they catch a fish on a rod they made just may turn into a new hobby

Great stuff Rodwork!!
I’m seeing the thread tends to come in size A and D. I understand that A is thinner than D; as a beginner would you suggest D over A for ease of learning?

I have always used size A for everything since I have started. A is smaller than D. Someone once told me size A and D are the same strength so using size A will get more wraps on making it stronger. Not sure if that is true. Either way you will have to pack the thread and I don’t think it would be easer with one over the other. It is recommended to start with open water rods since they are thicker and stiffer making it easer to wrap. They only make tip tops so small. If you make a noodle rod you will have to wrap the last guide on. This can be a challenge. Guide prep is key in making things easy to wrap. I have taught multiple people how to make rods and 2 of them snapped the tip off the first noodle rod they made. Don’t let that discourage you. Frist rod I made was a noodle. That just made making the next rod easer.

Here’s the pic I promised you earlier. It’s hard to tell what’s what in the photo but it can give your son some ideas of common components that are used. I tried to include a few handle types for comparison. The far left one is actually a fly rod grip that I sanded a slot in to somewhat inset a spinning real. The two colored grips are offered by several companies in a few more colors and the two with reel seats are offered as a kit and are my favorite for panfish rods. As you may notice I prefer longer rods but the beauty of it is they can be cut to any length.

Attachments:

1. 

   20221108_193229-scaled.jpg
   

Handle kits are quicker and easy to use. I would suggest trying to make your own handle from cork rings. This will give you way more possibilities in future builds. Especially in a class setting. Take advantage of the tools and knowledge. Two of the handles popcorn shared are just a reel seat and 4 cork rings glued together and sanded to size. There are unlimited options once you get past kits and you can piece together a kit individually cheaper than what they want for most of the kits. Main thing is to have fun and be creative.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_3807.jpg
   

2. 

   20210813_085422-scaled.jpg
   

3. 

   20220625_161401-scaled.jpg
   

There is not a better feeling than catching fish on a rod you made with a lure you made. This is the first fish my son caught with a rod and lure I helped him make. I don’t know who is prouder.

Attachments:

1. 

   20180707_102146-scaled.jpg
   

Thanks again for all the help and pictures. He ended up just ordering a kit with everything in it. Mudhole was the only site they could order from and he said most everything was out of stock. No cork handles, only 1 size of guides and with being new at it and being in school just got to be too overwhelming for him at the time. I’m sure it will turn out fine and with what he learns maybe he can make more down the road.

Happy to help. Ordering can be a pain with all the choices and become overwilling quickly. Literally over thousands of different options. I was looking at a new build last night and had a problem narrowing the reel seat down with the 25 different spinning ones I have on hand. Once he figures out if he enjoys making rods and wants to make another one, depending on where you live, you can stop by my shop and I will help with figuring out the parts for the next one.

Thanks for the invite. I will keep that in mind if he or his brothers want to try making more in the future.