Comfort is all that matters. My 4F864 has a preformed Struble modified wells aka Fenwick and a downlocking PacBay D5 seat. I turned about 1/32" or so off the Struble diameter to make it fit my hand better. I love it.
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Keep in mind, too, that the 100 miles you drive will probably take 5 gallons of gas at 3.50 a gallon. Plus there are lots of tolls on the roads up there. In other words, you definitely wouldn't save 50 or 60 dollars.
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Interesting. I'm surprised you found 20 pennies difference, which is about 10 percent in your example. On all the rods I've tested, I've never found a difference bigger than 2 pennies, and that was for a blank that took about 80 to deflect, which is only 2.5% difference. Based on my experience, I basically stopped locating spine since it seemed to make little or no difference in power. If I f
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Thanks for sharing your experience with them Marc. Patrick, compared to what was original on your ABU Garcia, just about any guide available will be an improvement, including the SS304CS I am talking about. You could also use Fuji Alconites in chrome or black frames, or Batson H-ring in Chrome or black frame as high quality but inexpensive options. If you are trying to "restore" th
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John, good point about the rods having these guides probably not getting the best of care. Even decent or high quality components won't stand up to abuse. I appreciate the feedback.
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According to Jann's, these are the guides used on virtually all the new Fenwick, Berkley, and ABU Garcia rods, which jives with what I have seen in the store racks. Those rod companies tout them as being MORE durable and lighter than standard aluminum oxide guides but that's in their advertising, so I am not inclined to believe it until I hear from those who've built or repaired rods using them.
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Has anyone had a chance to use these guides yet (available from Jann's NetCraft) to determine their durability? I've seen them on factory built rods in the stores and they seem super light. Or have you seen the factory rods with them show up with grooved rings or other wear problems? They've got some sort of metal "ring" and no ceramic insert. Any feedback from users would be apprec
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My St. Croix 4F864 has BLNAG 10, then 8 x BLAG6, then BFAT6 tip top. I used the St. Croix guide spacing for this blank model and the checked for stress distribution. It was perfect so I made no tweaks. It's my favorite and most used fly rod.
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Well, so much for "before the summer is over"! I just ordered 2 kits from Custom Tackle, one on each blank ,and will post the CCS numbers myself when I get my hands on them. I'll also let you all know how they cast and fish. I will be building them both with Tennessee slip ring grips, BYAG20,BYAG10, 5 or 6x BLAG6, and BFAT6 so I can fish either of them as either fly or spinning rods.
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Rich and Tim, thanks for the information and taking the time to help me out. Tim, I've never used a blank as light power as the F662-2 as a spinning rod before but I've caught plenty of 7-8" bluegills, 12" trout, and 10" smallmouth on the fly rod version and it is a blast! Rich, I have a lot of experience using the CCS and feel plenty comfortable ordering blanks based on the ERN
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Marty, I sure did, but I am contemplating a rod not quite that low in power and with a more tip-flex fast action. I'm considering either the St. Croix 3S70ULM2 (for which CCS data are in the database; around ERN of 5 and AA of 73) and the IP840. The IP840 is half the price of the St. Croix with almost identical published specs (except that it's 1pc. not 2) but there's no CCS data for it so I'd
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ERN as defined in the CCS is waht I mean by power.
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I'm trying to figure out how powerful this blank is without ordering one first to see for myself. From the specs listed such as 4-6lb. line, very light lure range of 1/32-3/16, UL power description, and the fact that the blank only weighs 1.11 ounces, I'm assuming this blank might be suitable for a short, fast action, 5/6 wt. 1pc. fly rod or a spin/fly rod using a Tennessee grip. Is there any
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If this is one of the rods you've been contemplating for whiting, pompano, seatrout, spot, etc., then I would go with the less powerful rod (4 power instead of 5 power), which in this case also happens to be the slightly longer one to give the fish a little extra fight. Most of these fish are usually caught with a short lob into the breakers but still you ought to be able to send a hopkins spoon
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"The only thing that fishermen here will spend 2K on is their mother in laws funeral!" Thanks Bill, just blew hot coffee out of my nose
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Torin, you are probably right. The rheostat on my Grizzly's that controlled speed already burnt out. So, now I have a VERY high speed and single speed drill. It's still okay for the lathe but useless now for things like driving screws or lag bolts because it's too fast. It's a very powerful drill.
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Make sure your customers actually want slow action and not just low power. Most anglers don't know the difference and use a different definition of action than most rodbuilders use. If all they want is low power, so that the blank really flexes deeply, just start using 4wt. blanks for 6wt. rods (for example) and you'll have no end of choices. If you check the CCS database, you will actually no
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Did you notice the taper on that one cat from the shoulders to the toes? That must have been quite a challenge : ) Would have been a lot easier to wrap a mummified snake.
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Okay, I understand. No 67lb. fish picture but here's a link to some verification. Dang, my memory served me well for once! The Chesapeake record is the monster, the Atlantic record is 20% smaller.
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Thanks Billy for the input, but where's the mocking and ridicule? I'm sort of disappointed, LOL. Do I understand you correctly that you think the graphite only nut, without the metal reinforcement might not be strong enough? I'm not worried either since even if I was lucky enough to hook into a Maryland state record striped bass (67lb. I think), I'm sure the stress on the reel seat hood would
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I have a spinning rod that I built over the winter using an NPS 18 seat in the downlocking configuration. It's a Batson XMB804 (mag bass, 4 power, 6'8"). I'm considering converting it to a simple bumper spiral baitcasting rod. I attached a ABU Garcia round style size 5600 baitcasting reel and held it in my hand to see how it would feel with the NPS18. My first thought s are that it is co
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Stan and Tony are correct. If you have a 9' rod and you have it leveled so that the butt 12" is 60" off the floor, then you have to deflect the tip with enough pennies so that the tip of the rod/blank deflects 36" vertical inches, down to 24" off the floor (60 minus 36 = 24). Andrei, your AA is very low because you aren't deflecting it nearly far enough down. I will add,
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Glad to help. I forgot to mention the tiger eye 4pc. rods. Those sound like other real good options for these projects. I haven't tested those exact models but my best guess is that they would be in the ballpark you are hoping for based on other Tiger eye 4pc. rods I've built. Have fun and I'll look forward to seeing your CCS data and maybe some pictures
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William, as Stan suggests you might look at Dan Craft's FTL 803-5 and 803-6 and 904-6 with some sections dropped to build excellent quality and very packable short rods. I agree with Tom on the approximate ERN range you want to find to fish a 4wt. line at short range. A less expensive blank option in that length and ERN range would be the Forecast F764-5 or F764-4 with a section dropped. The F
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Good project! Some of my most fun and memorable projects have been factory rods that I had sentimental attachment too but, once I learned how to make better rods, didn't use much anymore. By improving them, they are among my favorites again, plus they have even more sentimental value since I have some of my own time and thoughtful design in them now. Have fun.
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Depending on your budget for the project I would select the best grade of ceramic single foot guides you can afford (Fuji or Batson each offer a range of options), 12mm stripper with 6mm guides on out to the tip. I'm not that artistically oriented plus for thread color the charcoal color of the FTs pretty much allows any color combination you can dream up. If you are actually looking for quotes
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Contact Dan Craft himself. Before I started building my own rods, I ordered a custom rod from Dan. He does beautiful work and is a great guy to deal with.
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The 4F864 and 4F865 available at 15% weight savings and more durable would convince me to change my name to Albert, but only if that was a requirement to buy them.
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This thread subject line got my attention. If they could grow them long enough, a wilted carrot could be a fishing rod. They are naturally tapered. Tom, your post gives me one more reason not to get too attached to any fishing rod. Am much as my 4F864 and 4F865 seem unbeatable now, who knows what will come along in the way of innovations over my lifetime. I'll take a sweet corn and lima be
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Gotcha, I don't have any feedback to offer you yet on durability. Nothing has broken so far but I also wouldn't expect any breakage yet based on the limited use.
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