Last week, I made a post regarding a Fast action 13' jigging rod for walleye that a customer wanted. I shortly came to the conclusion that such a blank didn't exist! One of the responses to my post was from Bob McKamey at Custom Tackle with a Lamiglass # that MIGHT work. I contacted Todd Vivian at Lamiglas and he said that although that blank was a fast action, he didn't think that it would be fast enough for the very specialized application the angler wanted. When I asked his advice, he did some checking and got back with me and came up with the idea of using an 8' 6" Fast blank and modifying the butt section from a 2 pc 10' salmon rod to come up with a 3 piece rod that should fit the bill. Another problem that I had was the guy was fishing a major tournament (FLW) beginning April 4th. All of this back & forth between Todd, Bob & myself took place Thursday evening and Friday morning. Todd modified the blank on Friday and took it himself to shipping and I actually had the blank (in Michigan) Monday. you can bet that I will be patronizing both companies in the future!! I doubt that either company made enough off my little one blank, reel seat and a few guides order.

It's people/businesses like this that make rodbuilding so great!!

Thanks, Todd & Bob

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!!



Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2006 05:56PM by Mike Barkley.

One suggestion Mike. Tell your customer your special blank is not water proof. He should be told that it will dissolve if he submerges it under water. Why tell him this? We build similar jigging poles for sacalait tournament fishermen in Louisiana. Their main use of the jigger is to recover a $ 0.30 jig head that is hung up in a tree top by jabbing the jigging pole down in the tree top which normally results in a snapped tip and a warranty replacement. We really prefer broom handles for these guys. If you can keep that from happening you, Bob and Todd will all end up with smiles on your faces.

The CD came in today - thanks it was sent to New Orleans and got lost in a pile of Katrina mail.

Fsh No Mo

So you basically extended the first rod with a butt section from another.

Todd did it! He took the butt from the 10' and modified/trimmed it (I assume) and you'd never know that it wasn't designed as a 3 pc 12'8" fast action rod. He will be vertical jigging from a boat for walleye in 6' of snaggy water and a 7mph current. Susre hope he finishes in the money! Might start a trend.

Bill, Glad it finally got there. Make Lance a copy


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!!

Mike Barkley - Thanks for the follow-up report from your Post last week. I'm glad for your successful discovery of a butt extension system that works for this specialized situation. Hopefully, things will go well for you on this project and your customer on the FLW Tournament next week.

Like I was saying last week, I may not have ever been vertical jigging for Walleye in the Detroit River, but I have used cane-poles to swing mullet with the pro’s (the mammies) on the St. John’s River. Flipping several pounds of flopping mullet over your shoulder along a crowded seawall had better be done right. Unless you want to get plopped in the back of the head with the next ball of chicken-feed chum that just happens to accidentally on purpose fall apart as it is slopped out there. So I know a little something about handling a long rod.

For those Michiganers who have more time to consider how they can make a successful 3-foot to 5-foot butt rod extension to an existing suitable jig rod for Detroit River Walleye, let me just offer this suggestion for their consideration: Find a long jigging blank that you think you will like. And find a stout, inexpensive butt section. And JOIN THEM WITH A QUALITY METAL FERRULE. This may be one of those uncommon situations when a METAL FERRULE really is a primo choice.

Especially when specialized tools are not available for a glass one. Since that section of the rod is supposed to be stiff, the stiffness of a metal ferrule is not a problem. Nor is a metal ferrule’s weight on such a long rod a problem. And the configuration of the ferrule’s parts offers additional wall strength to the lower and upper side of the union, because the metal tube & cap over-sleeves and reinforces both ends of the rod blanks.

For some combinations of jig blank + butt extension, it may be possible and easier to build the handle on a butt-section that uses a FERRULED REEL SEAT, and just mounts the desired jig blank blade inside the male butt cap. Just like a trolling rod with a unitized butt, or the old surf rods with a hickory handle and ferruled reel seat. (Or some older casting rod handles.) With the cross-pin in there, it will not migrate or rotate around with a big fish on.

XTRA-FAST action rod blanks are available in Batson’s RainShadow HOT-SHOT Series (RX6 Graphite – 33 million modulus, like the HS-102-1-F), and may make really good choices for the jig blade on a 12’ Detroit River Jigger. These would also break down into 3 pieces of ~ 4-5 feet each. … Certainly something to think about, even if the closest I have ever been to Detroit is watching some episode of “COPS”.

“Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do, …
Whatcha gonna do when they come for you.”
-Cliff Hall, Gainesville, FL-USA*****

Now that is what custom rod building is all about.. No one has the blank needed. But Todd came up with a great modification that was needed to fit the bill:))
Good Wraps Bob