Flashback Friday: Rod Building with Neal Hall

It has always amazed me how good people will step up and do good things for kids. As we got the Outdoor Mentoring program rolling with KS Big Brothers Big Sister, a gentleman reached out and offered to teach a rod building class. Now, you must understand that prior to taking the position as Director of Outdoor Mentoring for KS BBBS, I had never tied a hook on a line. Growing up in southwest KS, there just isn’t a lot of water to go fishing! But any chance to give the kids opportunities to expand their interest in the outdoors was fair game!

Neal Hall heard about what we were putting together and wanted to share his expertise as a custom rod builder with our Littles and their Bigs. We held the first class at the BBBS office in Wichita. Three matches got to build rods together, each building their own custom fishing rod. Neal had gotten all the materials donated from the various manufacturers.

We started from rod blanks, attached the handle and reel seat, then started tying on the line guides. Neal’s patience was definitely tested as we learned how to wrap the line guides to secure them to the rod. Once everything was secured, we applied the special epoxy glue and mounted the rods in the dryers where they were rotated till the next day. All told, that first rod building class was about 12 hours of instruction and detailed work.

Neal showed how each rod has a “spine” and that it was important to mount the line guides to work with the spine rather than against it. Neal has special displays that designated where the line guides should be positioned on the rod. Neal demonstrated how to do some of the fancy decorative wraps, letting everyone customize their rod. And we all signed our rods! We all learned that there’s a lot that goes into building a fishing rod!

Neal’s involvement with the Custom Rod Builders Guild led to other rod builders around the country getting involved with BBBS agencies in their area, giving even more kids opportunities to build their own fishing rod.

Neal has held numerous rod building classes over the years, he became a Big Brother to Quantez, and he continues to support Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors by donating his custom rods for our Bust-a-Clay for Kids’ Sake fundraiser every year.

We’re looking for more folks like Neal who want to share their passion for the outdoors with kids who want to learn! Is that you? Give us a call!!