I post this one for your amusement.

While I love Roland Martin and watch many of his Florida bass fishing videos on youtube, his latest video on rod repairs left me shaking my head when he went to putting epoxy on his favorite rod claiming "how to make it better than it was" (made when new). I could not believe what he was doing.

In this video Roland shows everyone how he repairs broken rods... and without spoiling it, here is the video link... [youtu.be]

Would love to see your comments on his methods...

Oh, and I'd like to add, in the video you can clearly see how he stores his rods. I am today completely opposed to storing any rods in a horizontal position. Doing that and not supporting the tip can lead to permanently bent rods, so I wonder why Roland does this??? In the video you can even see at least one rod with the tip bending down. All I can do is shake my head. I personally go to great extremes in storing my rods vertically and without any sort of leaning them supported by the tip and no weights left on them to also cause bending rods. So it is my opinion Roland is making a technical mistake in storing his rods like this for long term storage. But to each their own!

I suppose the rods on the bottom of a stack with no tip support can bend, but those stacked on top of other rods may not develop permanent tip bends since many of them are supported by the rods underneath.

Do any of you agree with Roland's choices shown in this video?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2020 10:56AM by Kent Griffith.

Roland just introduced another service rod builders could offer, reinforcing guide inserts, say only a dollar a guide..lol.

Oh noooooooo! Just plain wrong on so many points.

Comments of the Roland Martin video.

For the first 5:08 minutes it was pretty interesting, after that it turned into a horror show. I could not believe what I saw.

When he slipped the replacement guide under the existing wrap and used (I think) crazy glue to hold it in place, I had to do a double take and when he mixed up the two part epoxy and coated the thread wrap and the guide inserts my socks rolled up and down my legs and my butt puckered.

Roland’s demonstration of replacing a guide was spectacular; the way he heated the tip and wrenched the tip off the blank was nothing short of vandalism. He never even lined up the tip after he set the new one in place.

Personally I think this video was a spoof. He did it with a straight face without cracking a smile, what a performer!

Kent you were right strictly for amusement.

I apologize in advance if I have offended anyone by my comments.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2020 03:55PM by John DeMartini.

OMG What a disaster for repairing rods. I like the blow torch nice touch. One has to remember with all his sponsers he probably has paid for a rod in 40+ years. That goop he smeared inside the guide ring must make casting a joke.

Fishing is not a matter of life or death, it's much more important than that

He cannot be that stupid, most likely a prank he did for friends, and it got away. He probably did it for rodbuilding friends.

Michael Danek Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> He cannot be that stupid, most likely a prank he
> did for friends, and it got away. He probably did
> it for rodbuilding friends.

I honestly don't think this is a prank or a spoof. Roland Martin records and releases some 2 or 3 videos per week on his youtube channel of which I am a subscriber. The man can fish. No doubt about it. But this rod video is just the next one in line on his youtube channel with some 124,000 subscribers tuning in to watch his videos.

This comment of his is posted with the video:

Roland Martin Outdoors
124K subscribers

"I show how easy it is to check for cracked guides, replace guides, replace tip tops and epoxy everything solidly in place! This rod now is better than when it was first purchased!"

So by all appearances he is putting this out there as though he were serious and this is what he is recommending and telling his 124K subscribers and world at large publicly available on youtube to far more people.

I don't believe he is doing this as a prank which is the sad part here. And I doubt if he purchased these rods as stated. He makes it clear the batch of rods standing in middle of racks are his new sponsor rods by Favorite. And I'd bet he got them for free. Kind of odd to see him doing a video like this telling everyone he can make a sponsor endorsement rod better than when new. If I were the CEO of Favorite Rods I be a little irked he did a video like this one using a sponsor rod.

If he is having that type of a problem with those guides to the point he has to glue them in with epoxy, what does that say about the quality of those guides and where they were made... China? Cheap Chinese junk?

Here is another video where he talks about the "Favorite" brand of rods and developing the brand and rod lines... [youtu.be]

I have to wonder if Roland is just getting old and does not care about the equipment like some of us do, and as stated above Roland probably has not paid for a rod in 40 years as companies keep giving them to him for his endorsement of them.

Some of the comments under the video are hilarious...

"This guy has broken more rods than I've caught fish."

"Humbling to see a man who never has to pay for a rod again in his life fixing his own guides."

"Great tips from the best! Keep up the great videos."

"How do you clean the excess epoxy off the line guides after it has dried?"

"Same question for me on excess epoxy. Sort of looks like got epoxy on ceramic guide where line rub it. Is that OK?"

"Best way to clean up a mess with epoxy is not to make the mess in the first place.
You can carefully cut the excess epoxy off the inside of your guides with an exacto knife. Don’t scratch the guide. And while the epoxy is still wet you can use vinegar to clean it up. Works great to get it off your hands or clothes."

"Q-Tip trick for guides is priceless ???????? Thank you????????"

"In no way should anyone ever reccommend doing this to fix or repair a rod."



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2020 06:18PM by Kent Griffith.

Kent Griffith Wrote:
>
> "Q-Tip trick for guides is priceless ????????
> Thank you????????"
>
> "In no way should anyone ever reccommend doing
> this to fix or repair a rod."

The Q tip idea only works on certain types of breaks. He is hoping the break will grab some cotton fiber and pull on it showing him a broken insert. But quite often inserts can chip off cleanly with no catch point on either end of the break or missing piece area to catch any cotton fibers, yet the guide will still cleanly slice through line.

The Q tip idea is really a hit or miss technique especially with the way Roland showed everyone how to do it on only one side of the insert. He should do it on both sides, not just one. Even then this technique is not guaranteed to reveal every broken or chipped insert.

And at least a couple of viewers were bold enough to tell it like it is... DO NOT do that to a rod! Love it.

There is a long list of no no's in this video for sure.

God bless old Roland. Hope he sticks around for many more years. He can catch fish like no other, and in his videos he never shuts up! But I try not to miss any of his Florida bass fishing shows...



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2020 05:17PM by Kent Griffith.

I've got to believe that was some sort of joke. The part where he's just applying that two part epoxy all over the wrap. guide frame and ceramic insert was just bizarre. Surely there are folks on his staff or even friends involved that would have questioned him putting that out there. Maybe it's part of a ploy to attract viewers. Add that to the list of things I've seen that I didn't understand. Happens to me quite frequently.

Funny, funny, and more funny! I needed a good laugh really bad. A great fisherman, but not so much as a rod builder. I think I’ve had a bunch rods that were repaired by him or his subscribers pass through my shop. Hard to describe some of the rod repairs I have seen over the years.
Norm

Just saw his show last night, he was going on about the saltwater lures his wife was using that he'd made from some of the 400 lbs of "free" lead some guy gave to him, and on and on...

Had a hard time watching the whole thing but, just, No. to many things wrong with his repair process. Let me say it again, No!

The art of slinging it seems to run in the family. lol

after viewing this video of Roland - all I can say is......."Oh Son !"

Better than the Q-tip is a cotton ball, the fibers are puffier and much easier to catch on a cracked ring than the Q-Tip

Fishing is not a matter of life or death, it's much more important than that

Ole Roland is a character for sure! He wet wades in Florida. You couldn't pay me enough to wet wade with snapping turtles and gaters and god knows what else crawls or swims down there!!

Did you notice that his left arm was bleeding, with it dripping down his arm. Not sure why with sponsors, would he repair his rods, especially such poorly built ones. His next blog will be "How to Administer First Aid".

Lance,
Exactly the reason why one carries latex gloves in a first aid kit when out and about as well as sterile wraps to address such times as may be required from the rigors of a sharp object piercing ones body - as happens from time to time in the toothy encounters of the fishing avocation.