[BThomas]

Today I won an auction for a Loop Green Line 9140 blank for an embarrasingly low amount of dollars . I`ve built a few rods in the past , but never a two-hander . So... I`m wondering about handle length for this blank . I would like to keep it the same length as the factory rods , unless somebody can convince me I should do otherwise .

Specifically , I would like to know how many cork rings I should buy .

Also , what are the general opinions on the factory rod ?

Any , and all help will be appreciated .

 

[t_richerzhagen]

Dana

is a Loop rep and should be able to give you details. Bob Meiser (a sponsor) is a custom rod builder that can give you help in the process.

 

[SSPey]

If it was me, I would make the handles longer than factory. Just my opinion. I like long handles, around 6" bottom and 15" upper grips, assuming a reel seat around 4". But I'm a big guy (6'5"), and I favor a wide grip as well as pretty long casting stoke when fishing long bellies. If you like short belly lines, underhand casts, or both, then you may gravitate towards a closer grip. In any case, my philosophy is that it's easier to choke up on cork than to grip cork that ain't there. If you currently have a spey rod, play around on the water holding the rod at different positions, with different stroke lengths, and see what feels most comfortable to you.

Also, I recommend that you do a little thinking about uplock vs. downlock to get the balance point correct for your chosen reel. 14' rods are right at the cusp to balance most reels. I prefer downlock on 15' rods, uplock on 13' rods, but it depends on the blank / reel with 14' rods.

 

[beau purvis]

handle length

I have settled on handle length of 23 1/2 ",top to bottom.agree with above comment about up vs down lock being very important.I changed one of my rods by reversing to down lock and that plus taking 3 1/2" off the bottom of blank made it a completely different,wonderfly balanced rod.Beau

 

[Dana]

I count 20 rings for the top grip (13-1/3" total length), 6 plus the butt cap (total 5-1/2") on the bottom on my 9140.

The 9140 is green and blue are my all-round rods. The LGL9140-4 is a powerful fast action rod with a progressive taper that works well with all lines styles from shooting heads through long belly lines.

The handles on the LOOPs are designed around the principles of underhand casting; keeping the hands in close to the body and the compact casting stroke allow for shorter top handles than in more traditional, long stroke top arm dominant speycasting styles. I have and do cast the rod with a variety of styles and don't find that the "shorter" handles make much of a difference to me, but you certainly could add a few more corks if you wanted. Additional cork will change the action a little, but probably not enough to be a problem.