LOL Lynn. Actually I went out to the same lake today to try for some smallmouth. Only had one smallmouth on though. Had it hit a crankbait, but it threw it when it jumped. Went to one of my prime spots. It's a rock pile in 9' of water with deeper water close by. It was covered up with fish, but they weren't smallmouth. I couldn't buy a bite on a tube or a jig, so I busted out that pan fish set up
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Mark, I use fluorocarbon line as the main line for my spinning reels, so I feel your pain. I pretty much gave up on trying to keep the twist out of the line when putting fresh line on. I've tried the method Norman described, I've tried it by reeling it on like I would a bait casting reel, only the line coming off the bottom of the spool instead of the top. and neither of them work. I've come down
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I had one of those yesterday. I am sure people remember the scene where Quint was fighting the shark on rod and reel, and he says, "he's gone under the boat" I didn't have jaws on the line, but I did have about a 36" muskie on the line. I started the morning throwing a squarebill along some bridge rip rap. This bridge is the last bridge before you actually start heading up the riv
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Joe, that archery set up you described at Baldwin Wallace sounds like it would have been very cool. Bednar's had an indoor range that we would shoot at from time to time, but it always felt odd shooting indoors. We belonged to Akoga Bowmen located in what used to be North Hampton, later annexed by Cuyahoga Falls. It had 5 practice buts at varying yardages and two 20 target courses that were sprea
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I pretty much grew up with a bow and arrow in my hand. First bow at age 5. I shot tournament archery for 8 years. I shot instinctive. Well, 3 fingers under actually, and got pretty good at it. I got 13 chipmunks over one summer with my target bows. A Bear HC 300, and a Wing Presentation 2. Longest shot on a chipmunk was 30 yards. I can tell you, when you chipmunk hunt with your target arrows, you
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It's getting deep .....
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Jay, I had actually thought about doing that. It would give me a chance to get a hands on with a couple of Point Blank blanks, just to see if one of those would fit the bill. It would a nice way to spend half a day. Thanks for the idea. Addition: Shoot !! Just popped on Jann's web site. They don't list offering the IMMS60MXF blank. They do offer the 6' 10" medium though. So if anyone has
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Lynn, sent you a reply to the e mail you sent on Sept 29th. As you can see, I don't check my e mail often. lol Sorry about that buddy. Good to go now and I will be expecting an e mail from you, so I'll check daily. Later man !!!
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I don't want to steer the thread in a different direction, but I do have a question for Jay concerning the recommendation of the IMMS610MXF blank. Jay? Have you happened to do CCS testing on one of those blanks before trimming it? If so, I'd be really interested in what you came up with for an IP number on that blank? The reason I ask is, I bought the same blank in the now defunct Eternity 2
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Lynn, of course I want to communicate with you lol I will shoot you one tomorrow kind sir !!
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I built my squarebill rod on a Rainshadow RX7 CB66MH. It's the Revelation series now. I cut it down to 6' because I pretty much just make shorter casts with squarebills in and around cover, so I wanted a shorter rod for more accuracy. I really like it a lot. It's great for 1.0 or 1.5 sized squarebills. It's also great for ultra shallow and wake baits as well. They make it in a 7' version. 3/8
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It's laughable to think that just because something is made in the USA, that it is of higher quality than something made overseas. It's also laughable to generalize and say anything built in China, or overseas, has zero quality control. I have no idea where Rainshadow blanks are built, but I can assure you that they have very stringent quality control. In fact, Rainshadow introduced the very shor
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Joshua, I think you are on the right track as far as looking at things with a broader scope. More the presentation, than the actual technique you're presenting. I too fish tournaments, and because of that I lean towards more powerful rods than others might for the same kind of fishing. I also only use braided line when I feel I absolutely have to. For me that's pretty much just when fishing very
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For me personally, a split rear grip is strictly for looks. The look cool. Yes it's a weight savings, but IMO it can be a weight savings that can be detrimental to the balance of the rod and reel combination. Even though the added weight of a full grip versus a split grip really doesn't amount to much, (depending on grip material of course) that little bit of extra weight behind the reel, can mak
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Joshua, I just want to share my thinking on a couple of things that may give you some things to think about concerning blank choice. Again, I am not saying you're wrong or anything like that, and am not an expert on the subject, I'm just sharing how I see things. You mention wanting a longer rod for longer casts. Just because you're using a drop shot rig, doesn't mean you're fishing it like a tra
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I say this having only built on a handful of different manufacturers blanks. I have built rod on two different models of Immortal blanks. The IMMC72MH and the IMMC73ML, and they are both awesome blanks, that IMO, perform above their price point. I haven't built on or even handled the Immortal blank you mentioned, so I can't share any thoughts about it. I do know this though .... if the power and
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This is just my thinking here, but I would put my money in the blank, versus the guide train. Don't get me wrong here. I have used Fuji T2 titanium guides on my last 4 builds, and they do make a difference. I just don't know that they make as big of a difference as the blank would. Maybe others feel differently? If I may ask? What is your partners budget, and how much are you charging him to
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I've built on one of the new RX10 blanks. I built a spinning rod using the ETEC72M blank. I built the rod for throwing tubes for smallmouth bass. I did a little write up about the rod in an earlier thread on this site. This is a link to that post in the thread I built the rod with a split rear grip, a Forecast skeleton reel seat, and Fuji T2 titanium guides.
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Jpdj. for the butt guide, I'd look to put it 20 - 21" from the face of the reel. I just measured a rod I have built on an MB 736 X ray blank, and I have the butt guide (a KW 10) 21"from the face of the reel. The reel is a Curado 200 K. As for the rest of your guides, I can't really say as I don't use that combination of guides. I'm old school and use 3 double foot guides for the reduct
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Ben, in the past I've broken a couple of rod tips trying to free hung up lures. I don't go to those type of extremes anymore. Especially since I've started building my own rods. I've give it an honest try when trying to get a bait back, but if it comes down to it, I'll break a bait off rather than risk a broken rod tip. The problem with that comes if I happen to be using braided line at the t
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I used the Forhan locking wrap on a couple of the first flipping and pitching rods I built. I used Fuji L guides for the running guides on those rod. I've now started using Fuji K series guides, KBs and KTs as my running guides, and I don't use the locking wrap anymore. Not because I think it's overkill, or that it doesn't work, but because I don't like how it goes on the K series guides. It's a
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When I first started building, I built maybe 3 rods a year. All for personal use. I used a hand wrapper that I built myself, As I got more into building I went to a power wrapper. Not so much for wrapping guides, but for use as a lathe and to make applying finish a little more efficient. Now I build maybe 1 or 2 rods a year, and still like having the versatility that a power wrapper offers. I
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Take your time reaming them. They ream EXTREMELY easy. And personally I ream them so they're snugging up to the blank at about 1/2" above the point I want them to be when in their final position. I've only used the ones from CFX that are available from Mudhole. One grip that I built myself, using the kit Mudhole has available, and the others that were stock grips. I love them though. The
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I don't really know what guides you'd put on a rod like that, so really can't help with that. What I would do is ask you what reel you're going to be putting on it, as that may well play into what reel seat you can use. I'm a bass fisherman and only build rods for myself, which means I use bass size reels. Shimano Curado 200's to be exact. I've come to use only the Alps MVT reel seat for my b
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On rods that I use for bottom contact baits, where I am fishing the rod, tip up, and trying to feel a bite (jigs, tubes, Texas rigged soft plastics, etc.) I set a degree of balance. Meaning I don't actually care where the rod and reel actually balance, I just care that it feels tip light. If it's not a rod I use for bottom contact baits, but instead use for cast and retrieve techniques, then I do
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I'm an instructor where I work, so I completely understand how difficult it can be to describe a way of doing something that you've done hundreds, if not thousands of times, to a person that has never done it before. It can definitely be a "patience is a virtue" kind of thing. I commend those of you that have taken the time to explain their method. I see parts of my method for doing tri
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posted to wrong thread lol
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The difficulty you describe is the exact reason I sanded the two NFC X ray blanks I've built on. I'm still not that great at guide wraps without needing to frequently pack the thread, so aside from not really liking the feel of the blank's texture, I just didn't want to deal with what for me, would have been an added headache.
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The only question I would ask is, why you take the rod tubes out of your boat? Does the design of your rod locker make it difficult to get rods in and out if you have rod tubes in the locker? I say this having a single console bass boat with about a 5' long rod locker lid, and nothing in the way of putting the rods in, or pulling the rods out of the locker. The reason I ask is, putting rod tub
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And of course all of these blanks that are designed by pros for specific uses or techniques come in the perfect length for every individual. And don't you dare think outside of the box. If you're building a spinning rod, you better be building it on a blank labeled for a spinning rod. And if the blank is labeled as a crankbait blank, don't you dare throw anything other than a crankbait on that bl
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