I've built quite a few shorter Great Lakes rods in the last couple of years. I'll share what I think works well. The MHX DR845 is a good down rigger rod. I just built a Batson SPG845 to use as a downrigger rod, but have not used it yet. The SPG845 has a little more power than MHX. For divers, I cut down a Lamiglas XCC 932, cutting 3 inches off the tip and butt. This rod made a great wire dive
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The listed specs are as follows: 7' 10-20lb Medium Power Fast Action.
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I've built several wire diver rods for Great Lakes salmon fishing in the 8'-6" to 10'-6" length. I have request to build some 7' rods. I was wondering what blanks have worked well for others in this application. I'm trying to mimic a 7' diver rod produced by Shimano that is no longer available. Please let me know what has worked for you. Thanks, Matt Hehn
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I'm trying to find a way to install a butt cap on some Lamiglas BattleGlass rods. The butt cap that comes on the rods falls off after a little use, it is just glued to the end of the cork handle and is flat. The bottom of the cork handle is expose and gets beat going into and out of rod holders (tube style). I looked at a rubber butt cap that would fit over butt unfortunately the lip of the butt
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Last year I build a set of Lamiglas XCC1262XH rods for fishing Dipsey divers on the Great Lakes. The rods have worked out great and I would like to build a set of shorter rods to use as low diver rods. I would like to get the XCC1142XH but it is out stock. The NFC 360 Pro 926-2 looks to be very similar. I was wondering if anyone has any insight of the NFC blank and how it would compare. Thank
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I actually built this blank a couple months ago as a spiral wrap bait caster. I started with a size 12 guide. I don't have all my details handy but it is a sweet blank and have really been happy fishing it.
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Jeffery, I have always really liked the 3 piece designs. My first center pin rod was a 3 piece. 2 piece rods don't travel nearly as wells as the 3. I personal feel the 4 piece rods are a bit awkward. I would love to see a newer 3 piece rod with a faster taper. Matt
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I hope everyone is staying healthy. I posted a month or so back inquiring about sturgeon rod blanks. I really appreciated those responses. I have some information about how the captain is fishing and would like to get some more thoughts on blank suggestions. The captain is fishing the St. Clair River, in the section he fishes the current is typically 4 - 6 mph. He uses 8 to 16 oz weights to get a
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My new rod building space is in a basement. I can't heat the room to 70 - 80 degrees for curing rod finished. I'm considering buying one of the CRB Drying Tents with a heater or build a rod drying box with a heater. I'm curious if anyone has experience with either options or thoughts. I like the cost of the CRB Tent and that I can collapse it when not in use. Thank you, Matt
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I have been asked to build a couple sturgeon rods for a fellow captain fishing the St. Clair River (Michigan). The captain is currently using a Sharkspeare TIger rod 7' 30 - 60lb rated. He's looking for a rod with a little more sensitivity in the tip. There are a lot suckers and small sturgeon around so they would like to see the bites a little better. Big sturgeon for our area in the mid 100 pou
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The Batson XST 1263 is a great blank. I've build spiral baitcasters, center pin and spinning rods on it and they have worked great for great lakes steelhead. Matt
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I have built several wire dipsey rods with Alps CWB guides. They work great.
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I was wondering when the new carbon grip shapes will be available? Thank you, Matt Hehn
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I also have the RBS power head and have not been very pleased with it. The speed control is very difficult. The motor doesn't seem to have enough torque to get a rod moving most of the time with the rod secured to the stand. Light rods and heavier rods have been challenging with the power head. Matt
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So far I have a 12 inch rear grip, 5 inch lone reel seat and 5 inch fore grip on the rod. I'll look into older post also. Thank you, Matt Hehn
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Greetings, I've been building rods as a hobby for the last year and half. So far I've gotten guide spacing for my builds from the Rainshadow Recipes. I have a NFC ST-1305-2(IM) blank that I'm working on turning into a medium heavy centerpin rod for big steelhead and kings. I was hoping I could get a little assistance on determining guide spacing? Thank you, Matt Hehn
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