Are there any builders in the South Jersey area that could give me a hand, or speak, to me about building my first complete rods???

There is 2x blanks I am attempting to custom build. They will both be for tackling primarily the elusive Bluefin Tuna. The jigging blank is rated 400gram. The popping blank is an 8'6" Tuna Sniper OTI blank. I have the materials and some books on rod building but I am not committed to gluing or sanding down anything without first getting some guidance. I feel I do not have a confident grasp on this. Since these rods will be fighting strong brutes of the sea, I can not afford having my equipment fail, which may lead to me getting hurt.

I am not too sure were to begin with the grip, spacers, reel seat, and the various other components. I know this may sound silly, but its a simple,"thats the way to do it" I am looking to hear from someone.

By all means, even if your not in my area, if you want to help a fellow rookie build his first rod please contact me: blue_water_hawaii@hotmail.com

I hope to hear from someone soon and thank you for reading my enquire with any consideration.


Tight Lines and Screaming Reels,
Mike

Whereabout in S. Jersey? I know a couple of builders......... or you might try looking here under "TackleWorks" to the left.

Hi Mike, I would be happy to help you with what I can where are you located? I am in Bunea E-mail me at Valentinem7@aol.com , If I can't help you I know just about all of the builders in Southern New Jersey.

Hey Mike, I felt the same way doing my first few rods. I was actually terrified of doing something wrong; however, mudhole has some great videos up on youtube for rodbuilding, and there are plenty of step by step tutorials on here as well. Don't forget to buy Tom's book, as it was most helpful!

Why not build a lesser rod for your first rod? Maybe an inshore Fluke rod just to get the kinks out. I agree the tuna stuff needs to be right or someone can get hurt. I had a factory rod years ago that the reel seat came loose on an 85 lb Yellow fin, that was not fun. Had to put a harness on the reel to stabilize it but the rod kept wanting to twist out from under the reel. It was early in the fight too. It got real hairy during the end game.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Frddy, tha thappens with some of the factory jigging blanks. LMAO they pt 2 bands of 1/4" masking tape and barely enough glue to cover them, nothing in the middle. What people spend $400-800 on for a jigging rod is a joke.