I am building my first surf rod and . . . so far, so good . . . but here is my question: I want to maximize visibility of the rod tip for night fishing. My ideas are as follows: (1) Use a (clear) glow-in-the-dark finish on the top wrap prior to final finishing,
(2) Use silver metalic thread in the top wrap
(3) Clip on a small chem-light when fishing
Any input and ideas are appreciated!

Tight wraps,

JC

Gold tip top I think works. Although I have someone with teh same exact request, wh does not want a Gold tip, but a bright orange thread wrap.

Neon/Flouresenct coloring/pigment added to the epoxy doesn't work the way you think/hope. A friend of mine tried this and really wasn't happy with the results.

Have you looked at the Uni-glo thread from Uni Products?


Chris Richer
Iroquois ON

A smll flash light like a MAG LITE could be attached at the base of the rod forward of the reel on the back side of the rod shining upward to the tip-top.................. orrrrr you could paint the tip-top with luminous paint and "charge " the paint with a light or a camera flash aside from that the glow of a campfire works well some guys use small bells attached to the tip-top fishing at night I find it best to keep a hand on the rod for strike detection
Good luck & good fishin'
Larry

Just turn the clicker on & forget about it. If you MUST see it then the chem lights taped on are your best bet.

Greetings Jim,

In my areas it is fairly common to see some night fisherman (to be) using multiple rods;
I had tried it but prefer one stick, a chair, and a thermos.
Assuming it is 3 sticks, it surely means you would have a spread spanning about 200 to 300 feet
(ie considering, winds and current).

And in such cases, those fisherman use either disposable glow-sticks or a battery-powered red light attached close to the tip.
With 'one' rod , I dont require anything. I sit in a comfortable chair and 'hold' the line in hand and I , by feel, know exactly 'whos knockin'.
Quite frankly, you are going to be busy if using more than one rod. With three rods, its more like a 'job', huh?

The idea is to keep that line snag-free and freshly baited to ensure getting the big 'uns.. And 'my methods' say 'any offering out 'there' for more than 15 to 25 minutes' cannot be trusted and probably would be wasting your night fishing opportunities.
In short, quickly, bring it in, check it, rebait it (if needed) and get your offering 'back' in play.

Hope this helps,
Bob

Jim; I use a light with a orange base that you attach on the back of the last running guide ,it is sold by Breakaway tackle called "red eye" but they now come in a few different colors. uses small watch batterys Very Bright also very secure no chance for it to fly off when casting you can turn them on and off for storage comes with 2 bases large and small for diverse rod diameters

I wrapped mine on with Elastic bait thread with a coat of clear nail polish, comes right off when your ready to remove it

[breakawayusa.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2005 03:32PM by Barry D Thomas Sr.

There are several types of glow-in-the-dark threads available, although I have no direct experience with them. I have heard of people wrapping tips or bands of this type thread along the blank so that it is visible in the dark. I don't know about the longevity of the luminous material, especially when coated with epoxy. Here are a couple of links I found:

[www.beaconfabric.com]

[www.glo-net.com]

[www.sewserg.com]

[www.allthreads.com]

Chem lights with very small zip-ties work good for me. Recenlty tried the small battery operated light that works great....now if I can just remember to turn it off before I stick the rod back on top of the truck!!!

So the ready set glow powders don't work? I was really hoping that they did. It was on my to do list.

breakaway red eyes work great and can be removed during the day.

I wrap my personal rods with about 1.5 inches of silver thread below the tip guide so when I hit it with the flashlight it is easy to see. It still isnt visible at night without a flashlight though. gold will have the same effect.

My attempt to produce a glow-in-the-dark rod blank by airbrushing it with glow paint was less than satisfactory. My solution was to wrap the grips with gllow-in-the-dark friction tape sand that works for me. Rely on a reel in freespool with clicker engaged for an audible warning of a strike.

Derek

Bob,

The ready set glo powders are very good but you need to put them on a white surface to get the best performance! I don't surf fish but have done rod tips in them and they worked quite good. The blues and greens glow the best. I paint the area that I-m going to do white first. [www.readysetglo.com]


Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

I'm a Drum fisherman so I spend some time fishing in the dark now and then. Most nights I have a hard time seeing my hand in front of your face let alone have enough have enough light to fluoresce a rod tip of any type. The glow sticks work well but they typically need replaced every night. The best thing I’ve found tso far is the Red Eye by Breakaway. You can typically get 5-6 nights out of a set of batteries and the batteries are readily available for about $1 a set.

Mike,
Thanks. I wrap my surf tips in white NCP with the wrap color as an inlay. I was planning on coating that with the powder/epoxy and hope for the best. From what I understand, the hardest part is getting enough UV light exposure at night to make the powder glow brightly. There are several ways to accomplish that - I'm going to give it a try. The red eyes and small light sticks work great.

Bob,

A hit with a camera flash will do he trick. You can alsobuy small flash type units made for "charging" Glow jigs, lures, etc/

Mike

I used the ready-set-glow powder mixed into high build epoxy over a white Tap plastics base coat . Then I installed one of the little clips to hold a lunker light , this is installed on the back side of the rod . Between the two working together , it will last for 8 hours or so . The only set back is a chunk or built up weight on the tip . I only use it on bigger surf rods where it's not even notice as far as the weight goes . Have fun .. John

Got Fish ?

Another good option is to spiral a thin strip of reflective tape between the last ring and the tip.