13 - 15 foot steelhead blank or 10wt spey blank. I recently built a 13'-8" waggler rod out of a 10/11 wt spey blank. Casts a float and 1/2 - 3/4 oz of wt a good distance. Anything shorter than 13 feet and you will have a problem setting the hook on a fish 13'deep with a slip bobber. The line pickup on a shorter rod is not sufficient for hooksetting, especially with mono.
Forum: rodboard

Thanks, Russell. The rod is 6' long. The Gimbal is 2-1/2" long, the rear grip is a 13", the reel seat is 5-1/2", and the foregrip is 10". The entire grip totals 31". This leaves 41" to place guides. I'll probably end up with a 25 stripper and 5-6 10's with a 10/10 tip. I'll also order an 8 and a 10 and see which works best for the bumper. The rod is fast so the a
Forum: rodboard

Could I use the virtus lites for the bumper/transition and running guides on the spiral setup? That would leave me with one Virtus heavy for the stripper. I know I'm splitting hairs, but would lightening this rod make any difference at all?
Forum: rodboard

I use the wide end of stainless steel crochet needles.
Forum: rodboard

I am far from an expert on this board, but I found that the less I moved the epoxy around on the rod, the fewer bubbles I saw. Also, I use a small baking pan or paper plate covered in al. foil to allow the epoxy to flatten out prior to application. You need to load the brush and let the epoxy flow off the brush and on to the rod. Do not brush it or dab it around. If the epoxy appears wavy, then a
Forum: rodboard

Thanks guys, I'll probably go with Virtus heavies.
Forum: rodboard

Of course, this being an addiction worse than crack, I started another rod. This one will be on Lamiglas WBT724E 6'-0" boat/trolling blank. I will be building it as a spiral. My question is as follows: Can the running guides be single foot with a Forhan wrap or should I just go with a two foot casting guide? I will be using 65lb braid with a reel the equivalent of a Penn 113H. Thanks all
Forum: rodboard

Thanks. I'm planning to build it as a med/hvy jigging rod using 60-65 lb braid. It has a fairly fast tip.
Forum: rodboard

Just curious - does anyone know of the following blank: Lamiglas WBT724E? It is not in their current catalog, so it is probably discontinued.
Forum: rodboard

Tom, I never expected to find a Loomis for the price I paid for this stick. I am buying cheap no name blanks to practice on. I'll fish them and see how they work out.
Forum: rodboard

Just throwing it out there to see if I get lucky. Also, trying to see if I got my money's worth. The rod had a label that said 110.00 on it but nothing else. I paid considerably less.
Forum: rodboard

I just took delivery of a blank from e***. It is a graphite blank, clear color, 8'-6", 12-25 line, 6.5 tip, .525 butt, and what feels like a fairly fast action. Any guesses on what this might be?
Forum: rodboard

What if we offset a spinning reel seat upward such that the distance between the spool and the rod is lesser (in other words glue the seat such that the blank is contacting the bottom of the seat). Wouldn't that decrease the angle between the reduction guides and the running guides? Could we also then use a smaller butt guide and/or running guides?
Forum: rodboard

Hi all, I just picked up a blank that appears to be a St. Croix 2C86HF2. Does anyone have any experience with or infomation on this blank. Thank you, J. Backos. .
Forum: rodboard

I'm sorry, but do the bass care what seat you use? (wink) Just use what is most comfortable for the user.
Forum: rodboard

Interesting reading. I haven't built nearly as many rods as most of you and so far have built only for personal use (won't sell until I feel the quality is where it should be), but I test cast every rod. I even test casted a boat rod that I plan to use for fluke. The reason is I may also use the rod for blues and my largest bluefish have been caught by casting away from the crowd. The better
Forum: rodboard

I will be spending time in Michael's this weekend.
Forum: rodboard

The glitter is on the way. I am looking to bling up the area between the split grips (4-5") with one of four options: tiger wrap, marbling, dragon scale, or gold leaf with purple fishnet.
Forum: rodboard

I ordered the purple guides, Pro wrap 625 grape, 434 maui surf (already have the gold metallic to match the guide inserts), glitter, and I will be marbling the area between the split grips. I appreciate the durability comments and I understand that if she breaks a guide or two it will cost me, however the look on her face will be priceless and more than pay for the agita. If I were building it fo
Forum: rodboard

I just picked if a pink fly blank (8-6" 8wt) that I plan to build up for my 8 yr old daughter. She has been using a 6' pink wally world spincasting outfit and has caught some bluegills and a few bass at the local pond. The rod will be built as a spinner. I ordered a Mudhole painted reel seat (mystic @#$%& - blue/pink/purple mettalic), split eva grips (2.5"fore, 2.5"rear, fghtin
Forum: rodboard

I also registered at the top of the photo page as directed and after it sent me the link to activate the regitration, I tried to view a photo and it indicated that I was not registered.
Forum: rodboard

I recently finished a rod with minwax spar urethane. It took 5 coats. The first coat sealed the thread and didn't need to be turned, but all the other coats were turned for an hour.
Forum: rodboard

Pardon my ignorance but; what is HDPE strip and where can it be purchased?
Forum: rodboard

Tom, Good observation. Taking your comment furtherwhat if one were to use a piece of stainless leader wire wrapped like a mini trim wrap (say, 3-5 times around the blank) and superglued at one tiny spot between the wire and the blank. You would in effect be using a spring, right? If the wire were fairly light, and not wrapped too tightly, it should deform along with the blank.
Forum: rodboard

Just curious; has anyone here tried to use an alternative to a bumper guide in a simple spiral wrap. It seems to me that using something like a ring that surrounds the blank at the bumper guide location would serve to straighten the line path consderably, lighten the rod a bit, and reduce friction somewhat. I was thinking someting along the lines of a thin ring of ceramic or carbide.
Forum: rodboard

The instalaltion of the mesh tape abor need not be messy. If you hold the rod at an angle with the tip downward and fillthe epoxy as you are moving the reel seat upward towards the butt grip while also rotating the seat to distibute the epoxy it's not so bad. I like the mesh arbor because I have the epoxy directly contacting the blank at intervals between the mesh. Also the mesh allows the epoxy
Forum: rodboard

Will the fisherman be holding the rod with his hand in the bare blank between the split grips? Gentlemen, it's a fishing rod, not an engineering thesis.
Forum: rodboard

10's will easily pass 30lb mono and more. As far as the knots are concerned, different knots may or may not pass depending on the diameter of the leader line. For example, if you allow for three x dia of main line and 1 x dia. of 60 lb leader the thickness at the knot would be (.60 x 3) + (.90 x 1) = 2.70mm for the 30lb line with a 60lb shock leader. The number 10's I have will easily pass 3mm an
Forum: rodboard

Chris, I am currently laying out a 13 footer with a reel spool diameter of 70 mm. According to the NGC, my choker is 40 and my reduction guides are 25, 16. I then have 10's every 6" out to a 12 tip. My butt guide is 29 inches from the reel spool face. The reel seat is positioned based on my arm/hand dimensions. The total number of guides ended up at 12. I did a preliminary static test la
Forum: rodboard

Just because the butt measurement and the tip measurement are close or even match, you can't make assumptions as to the blank's characteristics. The taper may narrow at a different location along the blank; the wall thickness may vary, etc. There are other variables at play that would preclude a correct assumption. I would search available blanks from from manufacturer's stocks based upon the fut
Forum: rodboard