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Tom Kirkman
The additional length is mainly for throwing very large musky swimbaits. The beauty of custom rod building, however, is that the "one-size-fits-all" goes out the window. The builder can chose to ignore what the factories are doing for the masses and zero in what is going to be specifically the best for the individual angler.
When in doubt, mock up the rod on tape bushings and go out
Forum: rodboard 2 days ago
Tom Kirkman
2. EXPO update
Exhibitor list as of November 8. More to come.
All Around Fishing
Angler's Resources
Autism Anglers
Back Creek Custom
Batson Enterprises
CTS New Zealand
Custom Fish Grips
Decal Connection
Decorative Studio
Cork4US
EP's Rod & Reel
HFF Custom Rods
HM Custom Threads
M5 Outdoors
Mickel's Custom Rods
Mud Hole Custom Tackle
RodForge
RodMake
Forum: rodboard 3 days ago
Tom Kirkman
If you're wanting to remove the resin ridges you'll have to use more than Scotchbrite.
If you're only wanting to add a clear coat or paint to the blank, use Scotchbrite.
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Forum: rodboard 3 days ago
Tom Kirkman
Clean it first, alcohol is good. Scuff the blank with fine grey Scotchbrite. Then wipe it off with a clean paper towel. Apply finish.
You do not want to use any sort of harsh abrasive on the surface of a rod blank.
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Forum: rodboard 3 days ago
Tom Kirkman
Forget about handle length in inches and think about where you want the rod butt to reach along your arm. A 16 inch rear grip won't reach to the same spot on different anglers' arms.
I'd get the butt grip to within an inch of your elbow for best fish fighting ability. If you are casting large baits, you might want to go an inch or two further than that.
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Forum: rodboard 5 days ago
Tom Kirkman
And it could be an unusual shaped or sized reel foot. I'm not familiar with that particular reel. Have you tried it in some of the various aluminum seats? It would interesting to learn if none of them can hold it very well.
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Forum: rodboard 5 days ago
Tom Kirkman
There have been several resellers in Canada but none have managed to engage enough subscribers to make it profitable for them to continue. RodMaker is a heavy magazine and out of country subscriptions cost quite a bit once you add the shipping costs in.
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Forum: rodboard 6 days ago
Tom Kirkman
Exhibitor Update for November 4 -
All Around Fishing
Angler's Resources
Autism Anglers
Back Creek Custom
Batson Enterprises
CTS New Zealand
Custom Fish Grips
Decal Connection
Decorative Studio
Cork4US
EP's Rod & Reel
HFF Custom Rods
HM Custom Threads
M5 Outdoors
Mickel's Custom Rods
RodForge
RodMaker Magazine
Trondak U-40
Ye Old En
Forum: rodboard 6 days ago
Tom Kirkman
Abe,
Your experience is diametrically opposed to just about every other rod builder I know that uses the Fuji type seats on fly rods. The seat itself shapes to the foot under pressure. I have reels installed on fly rods with these seats and have not tightened them in 20 years - they remain rock solid.
Something is amiss here....
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Forum: rodboard 10 days ago
Tom Kirkman
In the 1980's and into the 1990's, many manufacturers knocked off the Fui pipe seats with very inferior materials and workmanship. these were most often found on the discount store rods and because they did tend to fail (nuts and hoods often split) people assumed they were Fuji seats and thus wrongfully associated these failures with Fuji. The genuine article, however, has always had a well deser
Forum: rodboard 10 days ago
Tom Kirkman
Fuji or similar. Tremendous holding power. Will never rust, corrode, jam, etc.
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Forum: rodboard 15 days ago
Tom Kirkman
For 27+ years, the last page in each issue of RodMaker has been our "History" column. It contains the largest compilation of historical rod building artifacts and eras in the world. I have enjoyed publishing these articles and am often surprised at how many readers will write and tell me that it is the first thing they read in each issue.
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Forum: rodboard 15 days ago
Tom Kirkman
The "fixative" or even color preserver, will solve 99% of problems regarding finish repel over labels and decals.
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Forum: rodboard 16 days ago
Tom Kirkman
Still a long way out but as of 10/25, these companies have purchased exhibitor space at the 2025 EXPO-
All Around Fishing
Angler's Resources
Back Creek Custom Rods
Batson Enterprises
CTS New Zealand
Custom Fish Grips
Decal Connection
Decorative Studio
Cork4US
EP's Rod & Reel
HFF Custom
HM Custom Threads
Mickel's Custom Rods
RodForge
RodMaker Maga
Forum: rodboard 18 days ago
Tom Kirkman
15. Re: epoxy help
Get rid of the mechanical rod dryer and turn by hand. Not as time consuming as people will have you believe and gy selectively allowing the rod to sit on a particular axis for a slightly longer time than on another axis, you can direct the epoxy where you want it and have it easily cover the thread on the edges of the guide feet.
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Forum: rodboard 19 days ago
Tom Kirkman
Spencer offers some good advice. Frame height really makes a difference and allows you use a smaller ring. One thing you really have to do is position that butt guide close enough to the reel so that the line can't traverse the inside circumference of the guide ring. You want to the line to lie on the bottom of the ring instead of passing through the center of the ring. This almost automatically
Forum: rodboard 21 days ago
Tom Kirkman
The margin for error increases the more you mix. The margin for error decreases the less you mix.
In other words, if you're off 1 drop on a 2cc total mix, you're very likely to have a problem. If you're off 1 drop on a 6cc total mix, you're not likely to have a problem.
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Forum: rodboard 21 days ago
Tom Kirkman
As the co-inventor of the foam core, carbon skinned grips, we never pushed the idea that they somehow made a rod more sensitive. Nothing we saw indicated that such a thing was happening. We did insist, and rightly so, that they increased a rod's overall stiffness to weight ratio which made the rod more efficient overall. We also noted, particularly when used on fly rods, that anything you did pre
Forum: rodboard 22 days ago
Tom Kirkman
The seat is really too low on the rod to matter much in terms of swing weight. Too close to the hand.
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Forum: rodboard 22 days ago
Tom Kirkman
Lures don't suddenly start vibrating on their own. What you interpret as a "vibration" is actually a cadenced resistance against your attempt to retrieve the lure through the water. It will not happen on a slack line. Only on a taut line. The rod indeeds transmit this and you can see it - the rod moves - and feel it. And the longer the rod the more it will move and therefore the more yo
Forum: rodboard 22 days ago
Tom Kirkman
The carbon skin is laminated to the foam core which is touching the blank - in effect you have a single unit. The carbon is only there to protect the core. It doesn't add anything in terms of "sensitivity." But again, these so called "vibrations" aren't electrical currents, etc. Simply adding carbon to a rod doesn't make the rod more "sensitive." Same thing with the
Forum: rodboard 22 days ago
Tom Kirkman
Stiffness to weight ratio is going to reflect more on rod efficiency - speed, reaction, recovery, etc. than sensitivity.
I've told this story before but newcomers may not have heard it. A tackle shop I used to do some work for was owned by a guy that loved to show customers how sensitive a rod was by placing the tiptop on his Adam's apple and the rod handle in their hand. He'd speak a few wor
Forum: rodboard 22 days ago
Tom Kirkman
"Damps" not "dampens." But that's beside the point. The word here is "conductor." What is it that a fishing rod conducts? If it's some sort of electrical current (it's not) then cork would insulate such current, carbon not so much.But that's not what we feel when fishing. What Gary was most likely talking about is stiffness to weight ratio - cork is lower in that reg
Forum: rodboard 22 days ago
Tom Kirkman
24. Guide Alignment
For eons the topic of how to perfectly align guides remains unsolved. Eyeballing still seems to be the best way for most, and it's not perfect. Now there is a DIY tool that allows you get perfectly aligned guides in seconds. An article on the tool will appear in the Volume 27 #6 issue of RodMaker. Several of us worked with it this morning and you can dial in guide alignment to perfect, even on cr
Forum: rodboard 22 days ago
Tom Kirkman
When discussing sensitivity tests, make sure the tests duplicate what actually happens on the water. This has always been one of the failures of "spine finding" and thinking you can stop rod twist with spine orientation. Trouble is, flexing a blank by hand and flexing one via a line running through the set of guides attached to the rod are not the same thing. Same with sensitivity - the
Forum: rodboard 22 days ago
Tom Kirkman
Yes. There is no magic powder you can add to a rod to make it more sensitive. You would have to change the dynamics of the rod in some manner, i.e. change the length (sensitivity) the weight (rod speed, inertia, balance, etc) or some other mechanical property of the rod. If everything else remains equal, simply changing a material isn't going to affect sensitivity.
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Forum: rodboard 22 days ago
Tom Kirkman
You can select a guide with enough height, a 25 would certainly suffice and a size 20 might get you by just as well.
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Forum: rodboard 22 days ago
Tom Kirkman
The material that the guides are made from plays zero role in sensitivity, unless that material is somehow lighter or the frames are of a different size and shape, etc. The dynamics of what makes one rod more sensitive than another, does not come down to some sort of magic foo goo dust sprinkled on the rod. Sensitivity is not changed simply by the material the guides are made from..
What you w
Forum: rodboard 24 days ago
Tom Kirkman
I doubt you'll find much difference between then in actual use. But braid is very supple and if you can get down to the choke guide more quickly without giving up anything, I'd do it.
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Forum: rodboard 24 days ago
Tom Kirkman
I assume you mean "butt" guide (only fly rods use a "stripping" guide) and also that this is a spinning rod. Best place to start is with a guide that is roughly 1/2 the diameter of the reel spool. Normally this will work better if the guide is of a high frame variety. The only time I'd go larger is if I'm using very heavy, stiff line.
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Forum: rodboard |