Roger, I do my share of both jerkbait fishing and musky fishing. Nothing but spiral wrapped for me. I'm curious what the angers reasons were for not liking the spiral in both cases? Sorry for the quick hijack.... DR
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NO CONTEST!! I live between 2 of the best loctic smallmouth fisheries in the US.... Batson 802.75 and I'll tell you why.... I mainly build smallmouth rods and with your lure specs and fish size the 802.75 is PERFECT for you. LOTS more backbone than the 822.5 and you'll need that, trust me you will!!!! The 822.5 just doesn't have the backbone you'll need to BURY that hook in a LARGE sm
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Love the spiral wrap for all bass rods. I build spiral for stability. Only con I can see is getting them in and out of rod lockers: more difficult/takes more care. DR
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A MH popping blank with a mod fast action like the Batson IP904 is a dandy choice. DR
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Kirt, My dryer is very slow 8 RPM?.....and that is just FINE by me. DR
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Hand support and practice being still, nothing beats it. You can use the flat edge of a coffee filter soaked in alcohol to true up your edges but they just do not look the same at all. Stay only on your thread with your brush and let the "ball" of epoxy roll off the edge of the thread and spin against the edge of the brush with the epoxy ball barely hanging off the threads edge.
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Guberod (sp?) Candy apple # 521 or go metallic red. DR
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I like the fish swiming to the angler, BUT after listening to a fellow viewing pictures of rods with a decal applied this way he said: "the one with the upside down fish". That made me start putting them swimming away from the angler. DR
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"They were flopping around like wacky rigged senkos" LOL!! DR
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Many bass rods used as flipping sticks and such are built this way. it's a length issue to fit into rod lockers and such. DR
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Super thin multiple coats will fix our issue. DR
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Good stuff Billy! I love the Sulky's. Thanks, DR
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Put on a coat of finish. Razor blade: trim off the "nub" once finish has cured Put on a 2nd coat of finish Be happy DR
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I'm with Pat. I own the Rikon and it's a GREAT machine. It's bed is LONGER than most mini lathes: you wont need a bed extension unless you turn really long grips. We have a local Woodcraft and I just drove over, bought it and took it home. DR
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Locking forceps when working with them. Running a piece of mono through them all keeps them together as well. Once you get use to wrapping micro's a 6mm fly looks huge and super easy. DR
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Check with Lance at Swampland. It may not be on his web site, call or email him. DR
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Roger that might be an option! :-) It's exactly like Alex described imo. The last tourney I co-angler-ed in the fellow had 10 rods strapped on deck at ALL times, 10-15 more in lockers under the deck, and he never touched a rod with his foot ever (that I saw). Not even a bump from a shoe. He knew his boat WELL. I dont believe too many serious tourney fishermen walk on their rods very often.
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If you want a two part epoxy finish, you can take Aftcote and apply it very thinly (it is very thin to begin with), brush/pull away excess and get a darn nice very thin look. It's downfall is the cure time is extremely slow, especially in cooler temps. DR
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Yes again!! and again. I build for a few friends that fish for $$. They are exactly as described above. I put 10 micros on a rod for them knowing full well when I get the rod back it will have 5 + - left on it!! They will fish the rod with missing guides (ripped/sheared off) until it gets to the point where its not fishable any more. 2-5 missing guides is "ok" to still use....believ
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GBO, 6/20 Suffix Braid mostly....or 12lb Excell depending...... Trust me, you'll have the backbone. This blank locks up very early on, leaving you lots of butt power. If it can handle a HOT 45" Musky, green fish shouldn't be an issue! :-) DR
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Batson 802.75 Best Senko rod out there that I have built and used: ISB802.75 Matte Clear 6'8" 1 6-15lb 3/16 - 5/8 OZ 0.515 5.0 Extra-Fast Medium 1.98 oz This rod is classed as a "med" power, but the butt of the rod will easily rate a MH power. What you have in this blank is a very light fast tip for throwing weightless lures and yet still have a butt powerful enough to rate
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Jason I build some rods that way ON purpose, depending on what I want/need. Your rod will be perfect! Finish it and fish on. DR
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Yep Chuck you are not alone. :-) One thing remains true, the line has to be put, or fall, onto the guide and the angler has to move the line to get it tight around the neck of the guide frame. It just cant happen any other way. I can see where the build up of finish on both sides of the guide totally covering the neck of the guide could help by having a non exposed neck for the line to wr
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Chuck M, I was a pro staff member for Power Pro (Innotex) for many years. I had braided line in hand and using it before the brand Power Pro was created, back then it was Western Filament. I've written many articles on braided line and spent years of testing time. Not that any of that matters, but I was giving you the background for my doubt. All this time I have never seen a guide wrap th
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Joe V, You will love the hotshot blanks! Think of them as a longer fast action bass rod, kinda like a stretched out 822.5 blank is about the best way I can describe one. I've built a few for guys that like longer bass rods and they are great for that purpose. DR
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Mr Staples I totally agree. The one exception to the frame failure rate you stated in my expierance is titanium. One bend with this material could prove fatal. :-) DR
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Mr. Staples, More of the story: in my case I rarely, VERY rarely use CP. I also use slower thinner finish, meaning I always have finish wick under and around the guide foot ending up behind the guide. I "wipe away" this excess finish as it cures until the finish movement stops. Usually about 1-2 "wipes" as the rod turns over the first 25min of turning. So as you can see, I
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I have a tournament fisherman friend of mine that has several of my rods with Batson Micro's. He has sheared off 2-4 guides at a time SEVERAL times! All done in today's rod lockers. Not a single guide "pulled out". Every time, 100% of the time they are sheared off, never pulled out. Like Steve I have not had one pull out yet! Sheared guide: (what you are seeing here is the top of the gu
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Really AWESOME Steve, we all appreciate what you have done! DR
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Go 25-16-8-runners DR
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