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  The popularity of ice fishing has really grown in the last few years. Along with this growth, so has the technology in icefishing gear! Use your imagination and you can get just about anything you want in an ice fishing rod.
  I'm going to take you "high tech" for a minute. Ice fishing rods are made from fiberglass, composite-fiberglass graphite mix and graphite. Tapers and length make up the action of the rods. Fiberglass is a spun-machined process. Graphite rod blanks are poured into a mold called a mandrill, which are rolled, tempered and cooled. This is a really interesting process to watch in the manufacturing of rods. Rod blanks are then turned by hand to find the spline of the blank and marked. The spline will be the strongest part of the blank and this will be the side where all the guides and reelseat will be attached. I've always considered the spline of a rod blank to simply be the working backbone of the rod. After the rod componets are installed, the rod is then flexcoated to give strength to the rod and to the components. It can be quite rewarding taking a rod-building course, because you can then build the rod the way you want with the right length, action and choice of componets, and remember you build with your own two hands!

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