I am still with, and trying to sort all this out and coordinate it with my friend/customer's request. He wants a "longer rod" for leverage with the tapered blank, the thought being that will lend to fewer bent hooks. He's been talking to other tuna fishers and getting that advice. Mudhole has some 6'3" Seeker rods, I may reach out to him and see if that would suffice. Thank yo
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I've read the past posts in the archive on this topic and got some great advice. I have a couple questions I'd like to throw out to this group if any of you have experience with tuna rods. I'm working with a guy in Maine who does sportfishing charters and I've built a few other rods for him before. He's looking for a tuna rod with a "soft tip" that tapers. He gave me some retail s
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Great thread - I told my brother in law I’d replace bent and broken guides on his favorite rod, this answers most of my questions. I have one more question, what temp do you set the heat gun to get the epoxy warm enough to scrape off?
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I received my sample and will be doing some wrapping this weekend, I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again,
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How exactly does one prepare the rod tip? The videos I learned from just put the adhesive in the tip top and slide it on. Should I be sanding the rod tip or something else? Thanks!
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Cork grips, pretty worn and slick. Thanks all, I’ll give drilling a couple holes a shot. Drew
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Found an old Ted Williams Sears Roebuck rod at a yard sale for a dollar. Nothing special but I thought it would be fun. When I was at home I found that the reel seat is loose, spins al the way around.. Does any one have any tips how to secure it again with taking the whole thing apart? Thanks.
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This has been a very helpful thread, thanks everyone. I think this rod came out really well and the tips here made it a lot easier than if I had been making it up through trial and error on my own.
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Another question as I build my first off shore rod. I'm going to put on the underwrap tonight after finding the perfect placement for the guides last night. Does anyone have any tips for me as I put on the underwrap to mark exactly where I have the markings now for the placement of the guides? My wife, a quilter, has a water soluble pen she uses for marking fabrics, anyone tried that? I've al
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Update: I finished the process and it worked well. I think that the epoxy application added to the girth, because the handle fit on the first dry-fit around just the drywall tape, but not after I had rewrapped with epoxy every few layers. It was easy enough to unwind a bit so it fits well now, no big deal. Thanks again everyone.
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This is great advice. Thanks to everyone, I appreciate the input.
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I'm building my first off shore rod. The mudhole kit came with a slick butt handle and the hard plastic handle is wider than the blank. I assume I would build up an arbor with tape to center it as I would with a reel seat on a bass rod and then full coverage of epoxy, right?. Would the same be true for the Gimbal? Is that right and any other tips are welcome. Thanks Drew
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These are great tips, thank you everyone Drew
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Just trying to imagine the response if I asked my wife to run out and measure my casting distance.... You are a lucky guy Jason...
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Hi Group, I'm building an ice fishing rod for a friend, bought a MudHole kit and all set, but running into a new issue while wrapping the rod guides. (I've built 5 rods so far, so still in the "novice" range and this is my first ice fishing rod). The blank is so flexible that the tension from the thread is pulling the rod out of line on the wrapping mount (basic Pacific Bay unit). T
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Thanks everyone, I appreciate it. Drew
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Hi folks, Still fairly new to this addictive hobby, building my 4th rod at the moment. I started out using ProKote thread finish on the first few rods and it's worked out fine. The one I'm building now is a kit from Jann's and it came with a single bottle of Rod Dancer Varnish. It's quite thin so I've put on a second coat. I like the look, but my question for the group is whether it will
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Thanks everyone. My brother in law beats the heck out of his rods and has already asked me to replace a guide or two, so they'll be handy for that. I'm leaning towards not trying to salvage the seats, but I have been looking for a reason to but a heat gun... Thanks all!
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Good afternoon all, first post here. I started rod building this winter, figured it would be a good hobby when I wasn't out fishing, and I was right. It's addictive. This weekend I was out with wife and daughter and came back with two broken rods - inexpensive Shakespeare and BassPro models, nothing I built thank goodness. I'll spare you the long story on how they were broken while everyt
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