I mentioned you never know how a rod was going to be used in my last thread about the "Shattered Rod" and it brought back another memory on that subject. A "Headboat" Captain called me and said he was sending me one of his good customers to order a rod. The young lady [30's] came in and told me she wanted a short [5' 6"] spinning rod for bottom fishing from the "headboat". Knowing she would be lifting the fish over the rails I opted to go with a solid glass blank to handle the wear and tear generated by this type of fishing. Built the rod with a Flounder [Fluke] in the encapsulated grip and she was off and running with her new rod. A couple of weeks later the Captain calls me up and tells me she caught a 15lb. Tautog on the rod but one of the guides was broken during the fight. Naturally I told him to have her bring it back to me as there would be no charge for replacing the guide. You could have knocked me over with a feather when she came in with the rod and reel. She had a Penn 320GTI Level Wind Reel with braided line, fishing the rod upside down.I asked her why she was using that type reel on a spinning rod and she told me it fit the seat okay. She said she was wondering why I put the Fish in the grip on the bottom. Believe me when I tell you "There is nothing like dealing with the public" Jesse

HAAaaaaaaaaaaa HAaaaaaaaaaa!!! Gotta love the Blackfishing down tehre, when the truly clueless of the clueless can put 15# fish into teh boat, it's a joke. Teh Blackfishign up by me is MUCH more difficult, they are a really , really finicky fish, although you'd never know the way they are caught in Virginia.

That's funny had a steady tourist from Canada come down to Fl every winter he bought a couple of spinning rods 6-12 and 8-17rods and liked them. One year he asked if I could build him a rod for Snook from the pier as he was staying later, he decided on a 10-20 lb spinning rod- told him no problem and built him the rod.
A couple of weeks later I happened to visit the pier and there he was a Penn 4/0, 60lb test 40z sinker and one large pin fish for bait on the rod I advised him immediatley that all warranties on the rod were now null and void, fortunatley he never did get a bite but it might have been funny for a minute or so
John

And its these type of people who catch and land state record fish! Or they do it with a $15 Wallyworld rod and reel.

Just be glad you are not a gun builder!

Rich Matranga
Folsom, California

LOL.....Was she a blond???

That rates right up there with the people you see using a spinning reel on an upside down trigger rod. I can't count the number of people that I've seen doing that. I've watched guys looking at rods and reels pick up a spinning reel and go trial fit it on a boat rod or baitcast rod.

Usually theirs no explaining the difference to someone like that either, all they know is that if the reel fits, all is fine. You have to be careful when someone asks for a "Casting rod" too, I handed a guy a trigger rod assuming thats what he meant and he in turn asked what the bump was on the handle. To him they were all casting rods.

I had a guy ask me last summer to build him a custom rod because he couldn't find one large enough to match his reel, and besides that, all of his rods "just keep breaking". When I asked what he was fishing for and what sort of reel was he using he said "one of those big ones" and had no idea what kind of fish he was after. I finally told him to bring me the reel so I could figure out what he was talking about and he showed up with a green plastic Zebco 808 spincast reel. To make it worse, he insisted on a solid blank. Usually when I have a run in like that I check to see if it's a full moon or April 1st . I was really thinking at the time that someone had put him up to it, but he was for real and was dead serious. I politely told him I just didn't have the time. When he persisted, I told him to he needed to check WalMart. I was really trying to get rid of him, I was having trouble keeping a straight face about the whole thing.

He had money to spend, I just didn't want to have to deal with a guy like that down the road. Especially after he went on about how many rods he's busted into pieces. I guess that was his reasoning for a solid rod.
Just picture a one piece, 12' solid spincast outfit. Then picture him fishing next to you out there on the beach, probably with a pound and a half of clam and 8 ounces of lead flying.

Thinking about it, I'm surprised no one has asked me to spool up one of those spincast reels with braid yet.

The scary part is that there's a lot more people like that out there, ....and they vote, drive cars and and have children.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2007 06:56PM by Joe McKishen.