Looking to make a birthday present for my fiance's dad. He's Pennsylvania Game Commissioner so it has to be good lol. He loves perch fishinin the summer here up on lake erie. Basically all we do is drop minnow rigs over the side of the boat anywhere from 42-65 feet. He's also a huge penn state fan so im thinking navy blue/white/silver for wraps as well as a split grip with navy blue and white marbling. My first question is any blank recomendations from anyone who has built something similar.... Also he will very often run two rods himself.... i cant picture where the rod will rest in the holder will the marbling btw the split grip pose a problem in the rod holders? Gonna spiral wrap the rod as well, he'll think im crazy for doin it so it should be pretty funny but ill explain it. He thinks im crazy anyway so its okay. Any guide recomedations would also be appreciated. Also would decal connection be able to hook me up with a penn state decal?? What im thinkin is just the Lion head, think they could pull it off or should ijust look for a small sticker??
Hope this all makes sense, Thanks
Kyle

You didn't say what action/length he prefers. The St Croix 3S60LF 6' light fast is a nice perch rod and if Andy Dear has any of the All Start 6' light fast blanks left, they are excellant blanks (can't beat the price either) Depending on the type of rod holders he uses, that shouldn't be a problem as long as the bare blank is touching the holder edges. I do bumper spiral wraps on all casting rods although I don't think it would affect a perch rod to any extent (except it would look cool and he'd be the only one like it!) Check out American Tackle's blue ringed guides or blu framed ones. I would use ALL single foot guide and use the fly type #6 ceramics for all except the first 2 or maybe 3.Eliminate the fore grip or to a tiny 1/2" one.

Decal Connection can't make any copyrighted logo's

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!!

Yeah, gotta have that spiral wrap for "horsing" up those 12" perch without "fatigue" to the anger, LOL. I guess he uses baitcast reels to avoid line twist with that deep water? Don't get too radical on the gift rod or he won't let you into the family gene pool. On the other hand, make it extra nice because the Commissioner gets to fish with LOTS of people and could send some business your way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2006 01:58PM by Steve Kartalia.

Kyle,

Let me qualify this response first -- I've lived in State College, PA for nearly 40 years, so I'm familiar with all things Penn State.

I'm currently finishing a "Black 'n Blues" rod. It's a 9' spinner, but the color scheme I used may help you out. The blank is charcoal matte, and I used blue hypalon for a split grip. I chose the lighter blue, but I'm pretty sure there's a darker blue available that would be more in tune with PSU colors. I used a black w/ blue reel seat and TiCh frame/blue ring guides from AmTack. Wrapped the guides with Gudebrod metallic blue and a metallic silver trim band, although you could use metallic pearl/white also. Did some simple butt wrapping with the same colors. Metallic blue thread was somewhat light when I put it on, but the finish darkened it a little bit and really made everything sparkle. Also looks fantastic, if I do say so myself, with the hypalon, the reel seat, and the guides. Put a bluefish decal on it that went really well with the colors, and also indicates the purpose of the rod. Don't know what you might do re: perch though -- the colors don't exactly go together (LOL).

I had done a quick look (only at the Penn State Bookstore) for a small PSU sticker to put on with the bluefish, but they didn't have anything suitable. That doesn't mean they don't exist though, since there are a number of other stores with Penn State stuff downtown. If you're not in a big hurry, I can make it a point to look around a little and see if any of them have something that might suit your needs. That would help me too.

Finally, I had picked up a couple of inexpensive blue blanks from MudHole earlier. They were in the MudHole blank special section, glossy spinning blank, 6'2" long and cobalt blue. They still show them as available, but maybe they're a little too light for what you're looking for? I know they'd look super with the same colors I used on the 9' blank, and I may end up building them the same way.

Go Lions! And Steelers, too!!

Bilgee

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