...someday you all have to destroy your own thread art with finish, just for the sake of going fishing. Just mix the finish...glop it on...jam it in a dryer and leave it. Fish dont care about bubbles and lumps.

NERB that types with a bar of Ivory soap in his mouth.

Best advice I have seen!!

Michael,,, I sure hope you caught a limit. Need some justification up in here !!

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

There was a time that I wanted to use a certain rod blank so bad that I just secured the guides to the blank with surgical tubing. Used that the entire weekend...had a blast catching browns and monster rainbows...it is still sitting in the corner that way...

Can't do it, it has to be perfect.

I did that just recently with my travel fly rod---I could not wait. Now I am mulling over what to do. Rebuild it or just fish with it that way. It aint the way I like for them to be but then again it is a lot of work to strip it off and do it again.....decisions, decisions........

I've done it.

Black wraps, no decoration and in a rush just to fish a rod 2 days later. Of course now its all decorated and pretty and I just wanted to fish the rod that trip.

I can over look quite a bit in my rods just to have a fishing tool. Unfortunately, I remember every bubble, crooked or broken thread on my rod while fishing and it does bother me. While it’s true a rod is a tool to get a job done, it’s also something to enjoy as well. Fish don’t care about a well made rod but fishermen do and the more a rod is coveted the more confidence and joy it can provide the angler.

I guess the rod itself is very important to me. I recall fishing a river mouth in northern Australia many years ago. Fishing was outstanding however I had to use the guide’s Ugly Stick rods, wow what a buzz-kill. I loved catching the fish in such a beautiful place but the quality of the experience would have been so much more with one of my rods instead. The guide invited me back the next day and it was tempting but instead I made other plans for the reef not wanting to struggle with his limp-tip spinning rods anymore.

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

A lot of times it comes out better when ya do it quick instead of taking an hour to clean prep and all the fancy stuff

The less I worry about it the better it comes out --go figure

Bill - willierods.com

"Can't do it, it has to be perfect"

I'm kinda in Billy's corner, my problem is I doubt I'll ever build a "perfect" rod. Close? yes....perfect, never.

DR

I'm the same has to be perfect.
But ... no one has ever questioned my finish, just me.

I have one of mine of the dryer now with 2 black guides and all the rest chrome. Didn't have the right size in chrome. Leaving for vacation next week and hated to order just 2 guides. Wrapped the black ones and hit them with CP. I'll rewrap them with the chrome guides after vacation.....maybe.

Beauty is in the mind of the beholder. So if you think you have a imperfect rod, Tell everyone you designed it that way an no-one will know the difference, just you

Good Wraps Bob

I also have tossed one on the dryer just to get it done for a trip.
I'm now in the middle of fixing it right. :)
The blanks were a couple of months late coming up from New Zeland so I was left with little time before my annual trip to Alaska to get er done.
The hook keeps were just CP'd and you could surf the waves on the guide finish. LOL

Regards
Dave

Fishing is Life the rest is just Details

I seem to build all of the pretty ones for other people. My rods are usually somewhat experimental and and very bland not what I would consider perfect by any means. Functionality and fishability, the rest is just dressing.

Steve Bro
(BroCo Custom Rods)

One of my favorite personal rods was built two years ago and I still haven't trimmed any tag ends, much less put finish on. Still not sure I like it enough to slap epoxy to it, but in the meantime I can still use it. Also fun to tell people that they are small wind socks so that I can judge wind speed and direction, allowing for ultra-precise casting.