Time to measure

Now that the guides are placed its time to take some measurments and see what line weight this rod will actually through. Using the common sense rod building system the Ern is measured by flexing the rod 1/3 of its total length using post 1996 pennies. It took 80 pennies to flex this 9' rod 3'.

Using the Common Cents tables that gives this rod an ERN of 9.83, putting it at the high end of a 9wt rod rating. Since I usually use a weight forward line with a moderate sink tip and a weighted mini head to get the fly down to salmon, this will probably work fine with a 9wt line. I will test cast it with a 10 wt before setting up a reel with line just to make sure.

As a side note: To find out more about the Common Cents system follow the rodbuilding.org link . On the left of the forum page there is a link to articles explaining the system.

I also measured the Action Angle. My flash washed out the pic a bit but the action angle hit at 62 degrees. Making it a moderate action blank. Looking at the general arch of the flexed rod backs that up. I tend to like slower action rods since I have a sort of lazy casting style. From what I can tell so far I am going to be very happy with this rod when its finished.