I have rods with cork, carbon fiber, and Winn grip handles and I use them so the people I am making a rod for can hold, look at, and fondle to decide the type of handle they want. Most choose the Winn grips, a smaller number carbon fiber and very few cork. All of the people I build for are avid fishermen with many fishing tournaments..They take their fishing seriously.and love the Winn grips. I
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Winn fishing grips are relatively new; the Winn dry fishing grips started showing up in 2014. So it is difficult to say how long they will last. I have been putting them on rod for a few years now with zero complaints. Most of these on rods that are heavily used. In fact they have become my most popular grip. The older style grips displayed the Winn advertisement prominently. The new style Winn g
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I believe his name is Dorge Huang and his last post on rod board was 13 yrs ago. You may be able to get his email from an old post, or google his name. He did give a lot of info concerning surf rods and LC guides on rod board. Norm
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After wrapping on the guides, I give the rod to my wife. She sights down the blank and tells me which way to move the guides to get them perfectly aligned. Works for me! Better than any alignment tool I have ever used. Norm
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Copy and paste the links given in your browser. Norm
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Do you have the unfinished foam core, or the foam core with the soft touch finish? I would imagine that soft touch finish is not a good surface for paint adherence. Norm
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I tape the guides in place and test cast. I am not trying to blast a cast but rather get a feel for how the line flows from the reel through the guides; and tape, or bands or even tie-wraps work fine. I think every experienced fisherman knows when I rod casts well so it is not that difficult to fine tune to optimize performance. The Fuji KR GPS gives a very good starting point, in my experience
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Mark, I have never built a surf rod using Fuji LC guides. With that said, I have done some research on them and they appear to have been designed for use on surf rods longer than 10.5'. From what I understand, they were originally designed for distance casting to compete with the Diawa interline surf rods, which had a line entry point at more than 50% of the rod's total length. On 12 to 13' rods
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Does not look that bad. You can push the last reduction guide a little further out toward the choke guide, or bring the choke guide a little closer to the last reduction guide. This will help to reduce the angle you see, and also give you a more progressive guide placement. I would opt for moving the last reduction guide a little further out. There would be no problem with adding adding an additi
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I have a friend who breaks more rods than any 20 people I know. This might be the rod for him.. Norm
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What's the relative humidity where you live, zero? Never heard of Permagloss not setting up within 20-30 min. You either have a bad batch or it has been contaminated with something. Maybe the finish on the old blank is causing the contamination. Norm
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I agree with Jim, I think you could use single foot guides for this rod. Use the KL guides for a NGC build or KL-H guides for a KR concept build. If you are using size 7 runners or larger I would go with a NGC build. Norm
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Alconite is in fact lighter than SiC. The reason Sic guides are more expensive is that they are harder and dissipate heat better. However, Alconite are plenty hard enough in that they can not be cut with a hacksaw or a metal file. So they are NOT going to groove via anything that is fishing related. The stainless steel Minima guides are extremely light and are lighter than ceramic guides with sta
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Depends on the type of fishing you do. I would rather have the 704, since to me it is a more of an all around bass rod, has plenty of power, and will throw a wide range of lures. If you fish a lot of structure, weeds and or pads then the 705 might be a better choice. I have not fished with the 705, but made one for a friend he likes it a lot. Norm
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The HM MB 704 is a nice rod, rated as a Medium but is more powerful than that. In my experience most HM blanks tend to be more powerful than their ratings suggest and they also tend to cast a wider lure range than advertised. Since they are HM they will feel stiffer, but lighter, when compared to other types of graphite blanks with similar ratings. Some people are disappointed when they get their
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I am sure Jm was involved in getting CCS data for the Point Blanks. I measured a couple of Point Blanks to see how my numbers compared to theirs, and they were pretty close. At first I could not convert my I P values to ERN for comparison, then I got the NFC CCS chart and the Point Blank ERN converted very close to my measured IP values. So I have no reason to doubt their numbers. Norm
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David, Point Blanks uses both RDA numbers and CCS numbers. The RDA numbers use the working length of the rod, their power ratings and AA will always be lower than the the CCS IP and AA numbers. Point Blanks gives the CCS data as ERN and AA and their is no reason to doubt these numbers. As a side thought, would it be possible to set up a CCS measurement booth at the next ICRBE? There are many di
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Wow! That is quite an undertaking and it sounds like you have it very much under control. I think this can be a very helpful and meaningful resource for a lot of rod builders. I am really impressed by your willingness and desire to do this. Hopefully, we can all help you out with your data base. Thank you very much! Norm
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I do not think there is any real benefit for determining the ERN for a non fly rod, other than it is easier to remember than an IP number. As I mentioned above the ERN nomenclature has created confusion among many in thinking it only applies to fly rods. If all manufactures would give IP (in grams) and AA for thier blanks, I would be happy, and I think this would help end some confusion concernin
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Built my first rod in 1969. Bought the blank and components from FinnySports, which is no longer around. I honestly do not remember the brand of glue, color preserver, or finished I used, but do remember gluing cork rings to the blank and sanding them down by hand. I wrapped the rod by hand running the thread through a couple of books and using a couple of chairs as my rod supports. These same c
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Wow! That is a lot of wasted guides. The simple spiral works as well as anything else. Gets to the bottom quick. If you do not like the look go 0, 60, 120, 180 degrees; takes only one more guide to get to the bottom. Norm
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One of the nice things about living in the South is you can use your boat year round. Norm
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If you can't find 1/4" bore foam cores, use dry wall tape as shim. It is extremely light and the mesh allows the epoxy to contact both the blank and handle/seat. Gives a very strong and reliable bond that will not fail. Norm
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David and I were posting at the same time. David is correct in that ERN is a relative number and IP is a direct measurable number. For example, a rod with an ERN of 20 (IP=231 cents) is not twice as powerful as a rod with an ERN of 10.(IP=82 cents), it is more like 2.8 X more powerful. Norm
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That is a very good point. ERNs are easier to carry around in your head when compared to intrinsic power numbers. Dr Hanneman also recommended that ERN and AA be given together when describing a rod. My only problem with ERN is that when 'I' measure a rods intrinsic power I could not directly calculate the ERN from it. For example, Point Blanks give their CCS values as ERN and AA, as recommended,
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Tom, There is no question about that, but my point was that you do not need to look up the ERN for a rod when the intrinsic power number tells you the same thing. ERN is not directly measurable whereas intrinsic power is. As far as I know, there is really no mathematical formula that can be used to calculate an ERN from a given intrinsic power number; I.e. ERNs are not linearly related to intrins
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I agree with Spencer, ERN is a superfluous measurement for non fly rods. The Intrinsic power rating (in Cents, grams or grains) and AA gives me what I need to compare rods. Norm
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Sounds like the Batson cores may be too heavy to use for fly rod grips. The PacBay ready foam grips might be a better option. Can also try Riley Rods foam cores. Norm
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Since two piece fiberglass surf rod blanks are almost impossible to find, and you are not open to using graphite or composite surf rod blanks, then one of your original options is still open. Buy a Two piece fiberglass spinning surf rod, strip it down, and rebuild it as a casting rod to your specs. These rods are inexpensive, and it is not that difficult to strip down and refurbish using the comp
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Sounds like you want an ice rod blank, which are real noodles! Norm
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