I've been lurking for several months now and been the beneficiary of all the great info and people here, but it's time to jump in. My name is Eric and I presently live in Houston, but spend most all of my free time in the Texas hill country and fishing.

I built and sold custom rods from Fenwick glass blanks when I was in high school in the 70's, having been taught the craft by Dale Clemen's book and a place called Bon-a-don's custom rods outside of Chicago. I built my own rod supports, used my fishing books for thread tension, and turned my own cork grips by hand. My have times changed!

Now that the nest is empty (I've got 2 Aggies and a Red Raider) I'm getting back into it again. I've outfitted my man-cave with the essentials and have constructed my first rod - a 6' St Croix light spinner for yakking and fishing on central Texas rivers and crappie fishing. I'm mostly a bass fisher today, but do get to the Texas coast for trout and reds occassionally. Replacing my store-bought bassin rods is my next mission and I'm awaiting my NFC cyber Monday blanks to get started.

I have found most of the answers to my questions via the search engine here, but will undoubtedly have more questions for y'all. Wish I could make the 2011 expo, but will plan on it the year after as I view this as a serious hobby/business when I retire from my day job in 4-6 years.

Glad to be here!

Welcome back into the craziness of rod building.

What ever the questions you have some one here will help help you, as they have me so many times.

Too bad you can`t make the EXPO It is a great experience with fantastic presentations.

Bill

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio