I am planning on building a matching pair of rods for my father in law. One is a heavier boat rod for stripers off the MA coast, The second is a vertical jigging rod for mackerel which will be live lined for the striper bait. Anyway, I 'd love some suggestions for thread colors etc to create a US Navy theme. I know Navy Blue and Gold, but what other ideas do you guys have? I might try and get a couple of decals made of two of the ships he served on, a Cruiser for the large rod, and a Tin Can decal for the jigging rod.
Love to hear from some of the creative builders out here. (My skill set is extremely limited, these will be my third and fourth builds.)

Thanks
John

I love fishing, but to be honest this whole catching thing has me stumped!

[www.mudhole.com] decal from decal connection (on left) with his name years of service and as you stated ship served on

Google "US Navy" with the google search set to search for images. Lots of possibilities with the Navy seal.

Consult with your father in law and find out the hull numbers of the ships and when he was on them.

Then google in regular search mode for the name of the ship and read its history. You'll find out where it was when, and you may find some good images that are probably free for us to use. These images might work for a decal for any area of exposed blank on the rods.

It should be possible to do decals of the actual ships he was on. What was his rank? Google that to find the insignia used, and that can make a fine decal.

I will be glad to help you with the decals - I do it a lot and can probably do the decals you want. I would need the area that I have to work with, diameter and length of the rod section where the decal would go.

You can also reproduce his service picture for a decal - that might be neat.

If you want me to help, no charge involved, just respond on this board and we will get together by email.

Thank you both for the ideas! Michael, once I have the blanks in hand, I'll contact you for some additional guidance. Thanks for the offer.

John

Hi John,
Another fine example of the assistance this forum can provide.
Michael, that's tremendous of you to make an offer like that.
Hopefully you both can contribute to a rod that your father in law will be very proud of.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

John - Just for fun, do a Google image search for "navy backgrounds". Many of these are free to use and you can edit, re-size and then print them on white decal paper or the white vinyl that has been mentioned here before. If you're computer savvy, and have the imaging software, it can save a lot of work.

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane