Thread: converting casting rod to spinning

alright guys, i have an old berley Bionix im7 series casting reel, i want to convert it to spinning, is this possible, i know alot of people say the rod blank does not matter about casting of spinning, is this a good idea for a new rod builder??? comments please, im a little hesatent about doing it, it would be my first"build" please let me know what you guys think. thanks, bamaboy

If you plan on stripping the rod down to just the blank then it is possible. The spine of the blank (as it is now as a conventional rod) is on the wrong side for a spinning rod. You'll have to buy new grips, reel seat and guides. My advice to you would buy a MHX rod kit from mudhole and start that way. Less than $100 and your ready to build

It can be done but it is alot of work. When building a rod I always find the spine on the rod. On a spinning rod the guides go on the opposite side of the blank from the spine, where as on a conventional setup the guides go on top of the spine. So if you were to strip the rod down to just the grips and reelseat, they reelseat would still be setup where the guides would be for a conventional reel. There are ways to remove the reelseat, but it can be quite difficult and you run the risk of damaging the blank in the process. If you are having a rod builder try and do this for you, I would recommend you just have a new rod built instead. It would be more cost effective in the long run. Now if your doing it yourself, by all means have at it, but remember the possibility of destroying it are always there.

What kind of reel seat is on it? Every once in a while you find an older rod where the grips are "free" and you can turn them in a desired direction before tightening them down...rare though...

If not, then I'm afraid Jeb and BBJames are correct and it would just do better to start from scratch. Good luck!!!

Ok,I got my old rod stripped down to bare blank, NO damage to the rod, I am a machinist so I'm guessing that helped with the watt to do it. But I got all my guides,tip top, thread new grips ordered. Im making an aluminum real seat. again, I'm a machinist,I like doing things the hard way I . Making a hand wrapping station as well. Having some minor surgery in a couple of weeks thats going to take me out from doing any ”hard labor” for the weekend, I will try to post pictures of the rod when iam done.