Mr. Ewanicki, I gladly invite you to come spend a day riding along on my next outing. You will see that your claim of 75% of rods spend their time in holders is vastly WRONG! My boat doesn’t even have a “holder”. I have hundreds of builds and not ONE has ever seen a holder....... please at least state something is your opinion and not present as fact.

I don't believe we will ever get Ewaniki to admit he is warong..........possibly his narrow view of rod building comes from lack of broad exposure. Out here on the West Coast my estimate is that less than 15% of rods are placed in a holder.

Here in Florida all our headboats have rod holders where rods are located 90% of the time. For sport fishers it's 4 hours out to blue water and 4 hours back, rod-in-holder, and a lot of rod-in-holder trolling and bait-drowning in between. Savvy bait fishers put their rods in holders - only pikers hold their rod. Circle hooks have made holding bait rods in your hands counter productive. The vast majority of hours spent fresh-water fishing is bait fishing with the rod placed in a rod tube, a forked stick, or propped against the gunwale. It's pretty much the same in every state I have fished in. Fishing on television is different than real life fishing.

Phil,does anyone in florida bass fish,or flyfish,or spin fish,for species like redfish,tarpon,snook,or bonefoish,largemouth bass,or even peacock bass? Or do you catch bonefish with bait and a stick? Asking for a friend...

When this epidemic is over come on down and see for yourself. Down here TV fishing shows don't give much air time to footage of rods in rod holders, sand spikes, or forked sticks, so people get a warped opinion of time spent employing various methods of fishing. Even the vast majority of fishing for spawning shad here is trolling, not casting.

In my experience, most people buying a custom rod rarely, if ever, use it to soak bait waiting for a fish to bite. Some might use them for trolling lures and this usually requires specific types of rods for proper presentation. However, in my area, most use them to actively cast for fish using artificial lures to entice the fish to bite. This takes a fair amount of skill and knowledge to become proficient, and often requires technique specific rods. Of course, a lot of people bait fish with their rods in holders, but most of these people don’t use custom made rods. Since this is a rod building forum our discussions are mostly focused on building custom rods for active lure fishing, versus rods used for live or dead bait fishing. As a side note, I have seen people using fly rods to soak bait for catching various species of fish, in both fresh and saltwater.
Norm

I fish for Crappie and Walleye and am an elitist as i only use artificial lures. I nor anyone i know and see on the lake use rod holders. Even the beginner kids fishing with minnows and bobbers are holding their rods. I'm a blithering idiot also cause i like my blanks to be soulful, lite, accurate, fast, powerful, smooth, and any other adjective that gets me excited.

Lol Ewanicki well here in Californya we cast lures and flies and stuff!!

Phil I have no need to come down there. I was stationed in S.C. for a decade and spent plenty of time in FL...... salt guys and some inshore, there is a slight possibility your statement may be remotely accurate however you have forgotten the rest of the angling world. Peek out from under your rock and take a look, it may surprise ya

I'm cranky since I had to cancel this year's trip to Big Pine Key for the palolo worm hatch, where I most assuredly do not keep my fly rod in a rod holder. I think many people don't appreciate how much the efficiency and popularity of circle hooks has changed fishing techniques and equipment, from long-liners to kids with bobbers.

Phil, do you ty your flies..if so i, wondering if you ty on circle hooks..i,m thinking of trying it myself but i hear it doesn,t work well on flies mostly for bait fishing..what fly works best with a circle hooks..sorry for off topic question but i forgot the original topic..lol.

Phil Ewanicki Wrote:
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> I'm cranky since I had to cancel this year's trip
> to Big Pine Key for the palolo worm hatch

I think a lot of us are cranky and uncertain these days. Keep your head up my man.

Ben: I don't usually tie flies on circle hooks. I have trouble re-sharpening circle hooks and sharp hooks are important for me. Flies tied on conventional hooks seldom result in gill or gut-hooked fish. There may be an advantage in using circle hooks for flies used for hard-mouthed species such as tarpon, the theory being the hook skates over the hard, bony mouthparts to find a softer point to penetrate for a good hook-up.

Thanks Phil..that makes sense..

I love this place. What's a rod holder?

What's a rod holder? Only 10% of custom orders are for people who never put their fish-poles in rod holders. Commercial rod builders are missing out on big bucks selling custom rod holders with spiffy wraps to match the custom rods they create on rods. Hey, I just saw $175.00 pair of nail-clippers advertised on a fly-fishing equipment catalog. Domestic (versus Asian) tackle suppliers should get a piece of the action.

Phil, I'd like to see how you would put a fly rod in a rod holder! The position of the reel would prohibit it. Spey rods would be the exception,however they are not used where rod holders are used.

The statement "Only 10% of custom orders never put in holders" is pure fiction!!

Zentron also has the added property of resisting damage due to impact with hard objects. If you bang your premium carbon-fiber rod against the side of your boat, it could very well damage the rod blank, causing catastrophic failure of the rod. Due to zentron's great tensile strength, and its igh modulus, it can be married with a thinner amount of fiberglass, making for a lighter, more powerful rod, that is much tougher.

After reading up on the physical properties of Zentron, it becomes obvious to me that it will enhance the fiberglass rod industry. As far as I know, only NFC, and Epic are utilizing the material. Bth companies are well respected, and do considerable research into making the best blanks available. Other facts about Zentron - it is being used to develop lighter, and stronger body armor, cehicle armor, pressure vessels, helicopter rotot blades, airplane wings, and other applications requirig high strength. It is stronger than Kevlar.Also, it nids to resins better than other high strenth polymers, and so doesn't degrade dueto repeated stress. It is also transparent to radar, and is both an insulator, and can withstand very high temperatures. From what I understand, it is flexible enough to easily shape to a mandrel.

Yes, it is a relatively new material in rod blanks. However, it shows great promise.

Tight lines and frisky fish

RJF