TackleTour

Thinking it would be fun to fish a glass UL rod not sure I want to invest $700+ to import one out of Japan. Wondering if anyone has experience in doing such and what to look for.

There is an old company called Kencor that builds ultralight glass trout rods out of blanks that were similar to fly rod blanks. Here is an old TT review:
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewkencor4.html
They were a custom quality rod that we used to sell in a Turner's Outdoorsman tackle shop that I worked in way back in the late 80's. I saw some in a shop just a few years ago. These rods might give you some ideas. You can probably find an old one on ebay to try for cheap to see if it is worth the effort to pursue a similar build. I'm not sure if they are still in business.
The tips are really loose and whippy. You can cast a 1/32 oz. mini jig a long way with 2lb. test.

Unfortunately they are all being considered vintage and $190-300, at that price I’ll save my pennies.

Craigthor wrote:Unfortunately they are all being considered vintage and $190-300, at that price I’ll save my pennies.

That sucks. I know the guys that have them love them. They have a cult following in Socal. I would ask on rodbuilding.org about blanks. There are a lot more guys on that site in the know.