Fishing rods are the lifeblood of all anglers, whether they are beginners or experienced anglers. However, upon looking into available fishing rods at stores, there is one wall that may bar someone from purchasing a rod. That wall is commonly the price tag.
Even the cheapest fishing rods available are expensive. Most anglers, myself included, struggle with this fact. But I have another alternative for getting around this obstacle. And that is making homemade fishing rods.
With some elbow grease and duct tape, you will have your own homemade fishing rod, costing little to nothing.
How to Make a Fishing Rod
Homemade fishing rods can be constructed with a variety of different materials, some of which may be just lying around your house right now. Those unused materials are desperate to be of some use, so take a look around! Below I’ve listed some common materials to make a fishing rod at home with supplies you can find at home or the store.
List of Fishing Rod-Making Supplies
These are a list of materials used to make a homemade fishing rod:
- PVC Pipes
- Pre Made Fishing Reels
- Clamps
- Wood
- Wire
- A bottle of Epoxy
- Paint (choice of color)
These are also tools you may need, depending on how you make your rod. I list some of them here:
- A Power Saw or Hacksaw
- A Power Drill
- A Screwdriver
- Pliers
- A Soot-free heat source
- A Sander
When looking into making a homemade fishing rod, I saw many different routes to take. I’m going to guide you through the steps of some of the ones that caught my eye.
Different Ways to Make Homemade Fishing Rods
Making your DIY fishing rod at home gives you a lot of freedom with how you craft your rod. Depending on how you want your rod or the materials readily available to you, there are many different ways to make a homemade fishing rod. You can make it as versatile as you want it to be or paint it whatever color you want to.
PVC Fishing Rods
Making a rod with PVC is one of the most common ways of constructing a fishing rod. It’s no surprise though with PVC pipes being common everywhere and being no slouch in their durability. I’m going to go through the process of making a fishing rod with PVC pipes step by step.
Step 1: Gathering the Right Materials
Before you get started you are going to need these materials:
- 2 PVC Pipes that are ½ inches and ¾ inches in diameter respectively
- 2 slip caps with the same size measurements as the pipes
- Threaded female/female and female/male connectors that are both ½-¾ inches
- Power drill with a 3/32 inch drill bit
- A handful of medium-sized binder clips
- Sandpaper
- Fishing Reel
Got all that written down? Let’s get started!
Step 2: Cutting the PVC Pipes and Attaching the Slip Caps
- First, cut your PVC Pipes to a length of your choosing. The combined length of your pipes will be the total length of your rod. I’d recommend cutting them to be around 7ft in length.
- Then use sandpaper to smoothen out the ends of each pipe.
- Once the pipes are ready, attach the slip caps and connectors (don’t glue them!).
Step 3: Drill Holes into the ½ inch PVC Pipe
- Take your power drill and drill three to five holes through the smaller PVC pipe. This depends on the length of the pipe itself, but each hole should be evenly spaced.
- Once you’ve drilled your holes, take the binder clips and remove the silver wire from the clip. For every hole, you drilled, use one wire for it.
- You have to bend one leg of the wire across the other leg with your pliers and repeat this process until you have a closed-loop. You have to do this for all of the silver wires you need.
- Finally, clip the legs of the silver wires into the holes on either side of the ½ inch PVC Pipe. These will become your fishing rod’s eyelets.
Step 5: Attach Your Reel to the ¾ inch PVC Pipe
- Drill 2 holes into the larger PVC pipe.
- Screw your fishing reel into the pipe. You can either buy or make a fishing reel to use here.
Now just attach both PVC Pipes, and boom! You have your very own homemade fishing rod! You can easily detach the pipes if you want to store them away or put other parts on them. Here is a video on making a PVC fishing rod, with a different selection of materials. That’s not all I’ve got for you though, there are two other ways of making a homemade fishing rod.
Bamboo Fishing Rods
Did you know you can use bamboo to make a homemade fishing rod? No? Me neither! Now depending on where you live, it might be difficult for you to buy or find bamboo to use. However, if you can find bamboo-this is a pretty good alternative to PVC pipes, so let’s get started.
Step 1: Gathering the Materials
The materials needed to transform a bamboo cane into a fishing rod are:
- One Bamboo Cane that is about 8-10 feet long and 1-2 inches in diameter
- Sandpaper
- Fishing line (I recommend using a Dacron fishing line for this)
This turned out to be a surprisingly small amount of materials needed to say the least. Let’s move on to an even simpler process to make the rod.
Step 2: Preparing the Bamboo Cane
- Use a knife to trim the cane of any rough edges, nubs, or leaves. Get as close to the surface of the cane as possible.
- Use sandpaper after trimming the cane to smoothen the surface of the cane.
- You will then want to let the bamboo dry as evenly as possible. Hanging it in a dry place with no sunlight should do the trick. When it becomes tan in color, the cane should be ready.
Step 3: Attach the Fishing Line, Hook, Bobber, and Sinker
- Take about 20lb of Dacron Line and tie one end 1-2 inches above where your handle would be.
- Now run the line along the entire length of the bamboo, up until you get to the end. Use some extra pieces of fishing line to tie at two or three different points on the cane. Be careful tying the fishing line. A line too tight will be impossible to move, and tying it too loosely will cause it to slip down the pole.
- Finally, attach your choice of a hook or lure to the end of the line. Then, attach the bobber and sinker.
Now you should have a simple homemade fishing rod ready for all your fishing needs! If something breaks or snaps in the process, don’t worry, you can just retry with some extra materials. Here is a great youtube video if you get stuck at any point.
Fishing Rod Kits
If you have the budget for a quality fishing rod and want to build your own, then fishing rod-making kits are for you. Fishing rod-making kits come with all the parts and materials you will need to make your fishing rod. They commonly include:
- A rod blank
- Grips
- Reel Seats
- Handle Parts
These are the best if you want a consistent and reliable way to make your rods at home, without the risks and potential headaches of creating them from scratch. If you enjoy building your rods at home, I recommend you check out some different rod kits. Along with that, it may be worthwhile to check out fishing lure kits as well.
So, Should You Make a Fishing Rod at Home?
So, should you be making your fishing rods at home? Honestly, that depends on several things. If you want to skip the time-consuming part of trying to make your rod, buying one at your local Walmart is probably the way to go.
Maybe you like the idea of crafting your rod as a hobby or the price of a store-bought rod is too much for you. Then making your rod at home is the best bet for you. I listed some pros and cons to making a fishing rod at home below if you want a summary of the facts.
Pros
- Cost-Effective
- The rod can be as customizable as you want
- The rod can end up being sturdier than most rods on the market
Cons
- Making a homemade rod can be time-consuming
- Messing up one of the steps can cause the rod to snap or work improperly. The fickleness of making a homemade can honestly be a headache for most people.
Making your fishing rod at home can be a time-consuming, but rewarding experience. Even if you don’t need to make one, I’d say you should try making a homemade fishing rod when you have the time. I found it to be almost as fun as fishing itself!
Happy Fishing & Tight Lines