I never quite understood the need for very large guides on spinning rod. The monofilament line is relatively fine and as long as it goes through the center of the first guide (on the axis of the spool) does line slap really make a big difference between a 20 and a 30, or a 20 and a 16? I would also think a tamer might work wonders in this application, since once under control, the line would
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Plastic palette knifes at Michael's. Because it bends, will follow the contour of the wrap when pressing the undercoat into the wrap.
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This is a stumper Stanford. Most pastes are a concoction of modern products you would have to buy over the counter anyway, so not particularly personalized. Many are silicon based. Some early pastes included animal fat, so I guess you could get some of this from the butcher. Mucilin is an English product available from Golden Witch with lots of heritage. I might suggest tying with cul-de-can
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Also, black chrome is terrible in my opinion. Looks terrible with line wear. Tich guides are much better.
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The 6/0 white gossamer silk is used for transparency. Personally, I like 2/0 silk for wrapping. "A" nylon is about a 1/0. I am not old enough to tell you when nylon replaced silk!
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The blanks I have built in this series are extremely light with ultra thin ferrules. A parabolic action. One of my favorite rods is a 2 weight IV with a shortened butt (6' 2") throwing a 5 weight intermediate line. It feels exactly right.
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With a spey rod that is certainly true from my limited experience. But there is only so much force to be applied to an 8 or 9 foot 4 weight. I might mention that by playing out line directly downstream and casting directly upstream in one motion you can throw a lot of line using the extra water resistence to create the "back cast".
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I understand your concept Bill. The idea is to get a spey length cast from a rod built switch style. These rods are often built on 10 footers, but are also more often built for overhead casting. The flaw in your concept (as I see it) is that for a rod no longer than 8 or 9 feet and a 4 weight, you simply don't need two hands to cast it and would gain no advantage building it switch style. I
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I recently built an 11 foot steelhead blank into a two handed fly rod for dapping on small streams with lots of brush behind. I found myself wanting to cast the rod, but the extra length seemed akward and I gave it up in short order. I think a fly rod that will roll cast like crazy would be a better bet. The shorter the better. The two handed switch rods have an obvious application for the
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I have been laying down the fuzzies by putting on, then pressing in the undercoat with the flat of a plastic spatula knife while turning the rod by hand in one direction. Wipe the excess on a coffee filter. Works with a variety of finishes and contributes towards a more level finish.
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Mo. I actually weighed a stripper wrap and finish recently. It was .09 grams, so you were correct about the weight of the wrap. I prefer 00 silk, which is a bit smaller than the A nylon, which is about a 0. Currently, one coat of 840, followed by a thickened coat of Klass Kote. As this just barely covers the texture of the thread, I don't think you can go with much less. Steve's two coats
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Ya'll must get it right the first time! I am always switching around tip tops and could not manage without tip top adhesive.
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Drop in a couple of slivers of the hot glue. I understand that the maker is going to market the glue in thin rods, which should be even better.
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The SF REC spinning guides are double looped and stand taller than the fly guides. I would use the spinning guides to challenge the SICS. Personally, I would favor the ceramic inserts of the SICs due to line wear but the REC set would doubtless be lighter. You could mix the spinning guides with #1 SF fly guides on the tip, but you would lose some abrasion resistance. The H & H stand up gu
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For monofilament, a size 5 guide or smaller is fine. For a thicker fly line, you might be better off with a size 6 as the smallest guides. For 1 and 2 weight fly lines size 5s are plenty big enough. I recently built a 2 weight and would have been happy with size 6 Titans all the way to the tip. I used one 5, however.
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The Miniwax comes is a bunch of colors. Stay on the light side of the color chart because the cork darkens a bunch. I use 5 coats (the last coat takes 24 hours to dry) with no other finish, although the suggestion to use 2 coats with a coat of Tru-oil should work well. When in doubt try a lighter stain first, you can redo (without letting the first stain dry) with a darker stain (like cherry)
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And store the can upside down.
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News to me Bill. I know that strippers migrate in from the bays, did not know that about sandies (white bass). I never heard of fishing for sandies in the salt. In any event, I would use a 6 weight, minimum, in the bays. Good for the wind and redfish.
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Our state record here in Texas for a white bass is 5.5 pounds. Most I have caught are less than 2 lbs. I would use a 2 weight fly rod myself, tops. The hybid white bass/stripper are much bigger. A 6 weight for those.
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Both Permagloss and spar varnish have the same thinness as Klass Kote. However, you must put on multiple coats of either and the Permagloss is best used out of doors. You can skip the reducer for the K. K. as you need it primarily for cleaning the measuring tools and/or brushes. K. K. is great because it covers in 2 coats, if you allow some of the solvents to evaporate off the mixture before
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I might suggest that all of us add a good whistle to our lanyards. The chances of a fall breaking a leg is much too great, and we do tend to fish alone. I also put my cell phone into a ziploc bag and keep it in my pocket. You never know. I also bought some waist high waders to deter deep wading. If the water is over my waist, I probably shouldn't be there in the first place.
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Many of the comments relate more to 6/0 silk than the heavier grades. I like 2/0 silk, dark colors, no CP. Nylon A is the equivalent of a 0. 3/0 is a little tricker, especially when climbing onto a guide, but I sometime use it for the smaller RECs. 6/0 is insane, but will create the clear wraps some want. 2 coats of Klass Kote epoxy paint to finish. Or one coat 840 and one Klass Kote. The
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Personally, I would build on the lightest weight blank you can get. Those are tiny jigs. A 1 or 2 weight would be great, even if you have to drop down in length.
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I love my Dan Craft rods, but not the matte gray color. I am also not keen to paint the blank myself, though I have seen the posts on this subject. Does anyone offer this service? I could try the local car painting place as a last resort. I am most interested in a bamboo/beige color.
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You can blue nickel silver. Check with Jeff Fultz.
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A case could be made for a 6 foot rod, too. In a tube, you have a tendency to keep your arm raised more than you would standing. I would go with a multi-piece Dan Craft, drop the butt. Probably a 2 weight, casting a 4 or 5 weight line with it.
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Personally, I like the aesthetics of descending guide sizes, 12-10-8-6-5s. When I do static testing, it sometime behooves one to repeat a guide size, like two 6s, before jumping to the 5s. Because the blank tapers, I don't jump down to the smallest immediately.
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Mo. I would try to use a 16 if at all possible, if you are trying to get into the smallest possible rod tube. On one project I placed the guide on the male blank, just ahead of the female ferrule (which I also reinforced) to save a fraction of an inch to get into the rod tube. Buy the 20 and experiment. The thinnest finish you can get might be a undercoat of Gudebrod 840 with a coat of Klass
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Jim. I re-read the factory spacing. That is interesting. Your proposal is pretty close to my practice, except for the last couple of guides, where I may add a couple of extra inches between. Also, I put guides on the ferrules first, and then distribute the guides in between the known guides with the gradual progression you describe. From the tip the increase might be slight: 4.5, 4.75, 5.0,
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I am not sure what you mean by uniform. I frequently have the first 4 guides equidistant, or with only 1/4 inch increase from the preceeding guide. The reason is because the rod bends progressively. As I work down, I will add an extra inch or two between guides, more for the last 3. Then adjust for a good static distribution.
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