Ive been looking for an excuse to do this for a while now, and finally did it.This is for heavy aplications such as baiting marlin, sharks, tuna and wahoo, where distance casting light baits are needed. The rod in conjuntion with this reel is capable of handling up to 60# line. The Accurate Twin Spin that will be used on this rod is capable of drag pressure in excess of 30lbs! The hybrid roller/ring guide configuration is optimized to take the line friction away from the heaviest load bearing areas of the rod, yet still allow a large casting ring configuration for smooth line flow and effortless casting distance. The first cast I made with it with the gudes just taped on was to the end of my street (about 80 yards) with a 2oz sinker with no line slap at all...not too shabby for a 7' 60lb stick! This thing should easily be able to fling a 1/4lb. mac better than 100yds.
The blank is a Calstar 700H with 1-1/2" trimmed from the tip, Batson/Forecast Ring guides w/TiCh PVD coated Zirconium inserts(available by special order), Forecast EasyTight Reel seat/gimbal to match the reel, and All American @#$%& Roller Guides. Notice in the last pic with the reel, I installed the seat in the "downlocking" position. The extended length of the sliding hood on this reel seat leaves a nice smooth spot for your thumb while gripping the reel stem. By far the most comfortable aluminum seat for a spinning setup I've ever felt.
The colors are to match the logo of one of the vendors displaying at the FH Show. The colors look great as a logo, but were tough for me to translate into a rod...I wrapped this sucker 3 times before I was finally happy with it!!! LOL! The first attempt had green marbled flames. Looked kinda cool at first, but after rotating on the dryer for a few hours the green flames beaded up for some reason....and I ended up with bright green polka-dots on a dark red backround! I ended up striping it down, and ultimately ended up with black and grey marbling over 206 red underwraps, and red and grey tiger wraps on the butt and mid wrap.

Some pics....

[www.rodbuilding.org]
[www.rodbuilding.org]




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2006 07:32AM by Scott Throop.

That is really a good looking rod.

Scott,
Looks great. Was it at the FH Show? I was there yesterday and didn't see it. If so, will it be at the San Diego FH Show as well? Thanks, Randy.

Scott, nice seeing your rods finally at the AA booth, sorry I missed you.
Randy, stop by the Anglers Choice booth at Del Mar and say hello, I'll be on one of the cash registers

Scott... Great work. Very clever use of the AA Roller guides... I like it. How big was your stripper guide? That reel is a beast!

Jim,
Will do. By the way, your Rodmaker Magazine gaff at Charlotte was pretty sharp (literally). Really liked the color combinations. Randy.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2006 01:46PM by Randy Search.

"Scott,
Looks great. Was it at the FH Show? I was there yesterday and didn't see it. If so, will it be at the San Diego FH Show as well? Thanks, Randy."

...Yes It is at the Fred Hall Long Beach show In the Candy Catchers booth...row 400 somewhere. It wont be at the Del Mar show, unless Accurate Reels Decides to display it in their booth. The rod belongs to Jack Nilsen from Accurate to use on "product development trips" hehe.

"How big was your stripper guide? That reel is a beast!"-Eric Kuntz

The stripper is a # 50 ring, the biggest insert guide available that I know of. Yes that reel IS a beast! The whole rig is actually lighrer than I imagined it would be, and balanced guite well, but i wouldnt want to cast it all day. LOL! This rig is more of an opportunity target rig, built with the marlin tournament guys in mind.

Jim, sorry I missed you man! It was nice seeing Doc again, and finally met the Dragon Master himself-Jim Upton, Would have been nice to see you too! To B.S. with three of the most talented crafstmen whose work I've been amiring for years, all on the same day would have been too darn cool!