My goodness.
Forget spending money.
Cut off the defect, keep a roll of tape in your tackle box to secure the reel and enjoy the rod for the $4 cost of a roll of electrical tape.

Best wishes.

I’ve decided I’m not going to mess it. Actually, it was my wife that pointed out the obvious. She asked me yesterday, as I was trying to source the hood with no luck, “Didn’t you want to build rods for fun? It doesn’t seem like you’re having much fun with this rod”. Exactly right! I stopped messing with it, replaced a couple of broken guides on another friend’s rod and I’m taking this one back and telling him if has any sense, he’ll trash it and buy another one. They’re all over the internet for $40-$50. I got into this as a HOBBY in my retirement, not as a business.

Frankly, I was getting a little irritated with myself yesterday for getting talked into it to begin with. I like to help folks if I can, but sometimes you just have to say no. Anyway, now I can get back to my builds.

Daryl, thanks for the update. Wish you had found a hood that would have worked.

I have one of the Berkley Shock rods at my friend's lake house we use as a guest rod. He just checked it and the hood is cracked on that one. Mine's going to turn into rod to practice repairs or different wraps with.

So between the reviews Norm found, the ones on the Berkley website and my experience you might want to tell your friend not to buy another Shock rod. The positive reviews for the Shock rod look to be for the previous version with a black reel seat instead of the clear one.

Hi Ray, I told him about all the reviews. He said he’ll probably just scrap it.

Daryl Ferguson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Ray, I told him about all the reviews. He said
> he’ll probably just scrap it.

Try what Roger suggested...just use electic tape.
This is how we mount spinning reels on Tennessee handles.

Chris Catignani Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Daryl Ferguson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Hi Ray, I told him about all the reviews. He
> said
> > he’ll probably just scrap it.
>
> Try what Roger suggested...just use electic tape.
> This is how we mount spinning reels on Tennessee
> handles.

I told him about Roger’s tape idea. He didn’t care for that idea, to put it mildly. He asked about replacing the whole grip, but he doesn’t want to pay what it would take to do it. I told him the materials alone cost more than the rod cost new. I recommended he scrap it and go buy a couple off the internet. It’s a discontinued rod, but you can still find them for $35 - $40. I’m pretty sure Tackle Warehouse still has some.

Strip it down just for the blank and guides, then build it the way you want.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)