Understood. For me it's strictly related to the technique / presentation. If it's a slack, or semi slack line technique, where the bait is fished with the rod tip up, then the key, at least IMO, is how the rod and reel balance while in use. It's just easier to feel things if the rod is basically floating in your hand. Cast and wind, tensioned line retrieves, or baits fished with the rod tip d
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I agree with Herb, making a hand wrapper is not complicated. When I made mine I just looked at pictures of a couple of different ones and incorporated a few things from each. I differ from Herb in that you'll need at least three rod stands, and at least two of them should be moveable along some sort of bed. The moveable ones will be positioned on either side of the wrap you're performing, and th
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The winner in stiffness to weight ratio isn't always the winner when it comes to the ability or an angler to detect a bite With some techniques, a heavier rod can be easier to detect a bite with. It's not all about the rod itself s ability to transmit vibrations. There is more to detecting a bite than that.
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Haven 't built on a Point Blank as of yet, but the new RX 10 Eternity's, at least the ETEC72M, would have to be in the running if the power and action are a match. Phenomenal blank.
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The only way to find something close is to do what Michael said in the first reply to the OP's question. Get the rod, measure it using CCS, and hope you can find a blank manufacturer that list CCS data for their blanks, and has a blank that matches ore is very close to the numbers you come up with. I'd also want to weigh the rod and then do some guesstimates as to what the various components
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When I am fishing a frog over heavy matted vegetation, I fish it with the tip up, so I want the tip to be light. I wouldn't use double foot guides as running guides. There's really no need. I would however use three double foot guides as a reduction train. I build all my casting rods that way anyway, but I would definitely do it on a rod seeing the use a rod sees when fishing slop. I personally
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Maiden voyage with the new rod was a success. No non target species, meaning only smallmouth bass were caught. 8 keepers, 1 dink, and a couple lost fish. Best 5 (a tournament limit) would have went between 9 and 10 lbs. Nothing big, but nice solid fish. I was only on the water for 5 hours. It was starting to get crazy with pleasure boaters, and when you're fishing 300 yards off shore, you're out
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Russell, gotcha. You know .... I was thinking that a size 20 on an ultra light rod is going to look out of place, but looking out of place doesn't matter if there's a good reason for it. I've built a couple of crankbait rods, and the guide spacing looks out of place on them, with guides closer together deeper into the rod than they are at the tip. But that's where static load placement showed me
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I did what Roger asked. I mounted the reel on the rod and weighed it. The reel is a Shimano Ultegra 3000 HGFC. It's filled with 8# Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon line. It came in at 12.75 oz. I didn't tie a lure or jig on the end. It's a slack and semi slack line rod, so lure weight doesn't really play a role in how it will feel while fishing it. Suffice it to say, the heaviest bait combination I
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Michael, you're specs are for the ETES72M. The spinning version of the blank. I built my rod on an ETEC72M. The casting version. I just built it as a spinning rod. I used the casting version because I wanted the extra power the casting version offered. As far as my blank's weight goes, my blank came in a little less than 1/10th of an oz under what Batson has the weight listed at. AA was dead on f
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Herb, sent you an e mail. Subject title is just "Hi"
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Chris, I did CCS on it, but the blank wasn't bare. I was getting ready for static load so I had the grips, reel seat, and the tip top on it. Oh, and some tubing that I use to hold the guides on. I came up with an IP of 567 grams, and an AA of 74 - 75. It tested 30 grams lighter than the numbers Batson provided. I don't know if that's because they tested a bare blank, variations from blank to blan
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Herb, I try and get the finish as flat as I can. I always like seeing how nice and flat, (and thin looking) the guides look in the photo section of this site. I strive for that kind of thing. With that said, there are 4 wraps, the smaller guides, that look a bit like a football. I'm not real happy with them, but I've caused more harm than good when I have played with the finish too much in the pa
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I've read and participated in a few threads where people have wondered what things like the thread for guide wraps, and the finish to cover that thread, actually add to the weight of a rod. So I figured I'd post results for that kind of thing, and some other particulars, on the build I just finished on one of the new RX10 Eternity blanks. The blank is an ETEC72M-SS. It weighed 1.95 oz. I built it
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MIchael, I've never experimented with spinning rod guide trains. For me it has either been factory rods with COF guide trains, or supposed NGC guide trains. I say supposed because as I am learning about spinning rod guide trains, Those rods may have used NGC guides, but I would bet a fishing rod or two that they were COF guide trains. Anyhow, be that as it may, I have been using KR concept guide
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You sure can. I used the powdered pigment from CRB that Mud Hole sells for marbling. I re wrapped the guides on an old G Loomis GL2 casting rod. The Old Silver color matched the color of the blank almost perfectly. It made it look as if the guides were just sticking out of the blank. Very cool looking. I gave the rod to a fishing buddy. It's looking just as good as the day I gave it to him. Th
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From the picture, I'm not surprised it didn't survive a stress test. It looks as if it had been crushed, too me. Not knowing what the rod is used for, has a bearing on if I'd even try repairing the broken section. The repair is going to stiffen the rod in that section, and stiffening a section of a rod, especially if it's in a section that would normally flex, is going to put unusual stresses on
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Norman and Lynn, thank both of you for the responses. Very much appreciated. Norman, I had the same thought. I sometimes go after some Fall perch at an inland lake near me. It would be an awesome rod for that, but I'll probably do with it what I did the last rod I built, and didn't like. Let a buddy try it, and if he likes it, I'll sell it to him. Lynn ..... lol You're not cheap ..... you
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Russell, please accept my sincere apology if I made you feel awkward at all. It surely wasn't my intention. In reading, and learning from this thread, I didn't realize there were the kind of variables in the results the software provided. I don't use the kind of equipment that leads to the kind of things being discussed. For the types of rods I use, it works beautifully. Anyhow ....... my apo
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Russell and Joe, thank you both for your responses, They are very much appreciated. And yeah, I figured it would be fine with the cork as is. The only thing that had me wondering, is the compressive nature of cork. It definitely compresses more easily than the foam arbors. But as you said. It's going to be encapsulated with epoxy. So since my thinking is the same as yours Russell, and yours J
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Spencer, thank you for the response. I appreciate it. And it is a 17 mm seat. It's a Forecast GS17KC-B with a GS17C cork insert. I've been going with that size because as you said, it's more comfortable over a long day of fishing.. I went ahead and reamed it out. I didn't epoxy on the hood and thread barrel just yet, but I did have them on as I reamed it. I have it reamed for a little snugger fit
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It's not based on grip or rod length. It's based on butt guide to rod tip. The problem with that arises when you wonder if the butt guide is in the right place. But I agree .... it should be based on a reel to tip measurement. That seems to be what the KR software bases it on. And I didn't really have to fudge the numbers to get to the 20H, 10H, 5.5M reduction train, What I did have to do is
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Question .... maybe worried a little too much, maybe not? I've only used cork as grip and skeleton seat insert material on one build that I've done. It was a rod I built as a gift for my friend/ boss and it was on a slenderish spinning rod blank. As such, I had no concerns of how thin the walls of the reel seat insert would be once I'd reamed it to fit. I am starting a new build and am using a
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My blank and other assorted goodies arrived at my house today, which is Saturday. I finalized and placed the order on Wednesday. Washington state to northeast Ohio in three days. Not only is Carol and the folks at Utmost on their game, but so is the United States Postal Service. Outstanding job all the way around. As far as the blank itself goes, the short opinion would be, "yeah baby !!
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Russell, that combination of reduction train guides are the ones I've used on all of my spinning rods. Never had a problem getting them to bullseye. I use a 5.5 KB for my choke guide though. I do it because I use fluorocarbon line as my main line, and I figure that little extra guide height helps the line turn the corner a little easier. Since I am building a KR concept guide train, I only lo
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The way I look at spinning reels is this ..... the larger the diameter of the spool is, the better it's going to cast. The line comes off the larger diameter more easily, and the spool doesn't lose as much diameter during a cast. As the spool empties the diameter of the spool at the line decreases, but the diameter of the actual spool lip doesn't, so there's more friction between the spool lip an
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Norman, thank you very much for the response. Most definitely appreciated !!! I liked what I read from you in the thread that Chris linked, and what you are saying here. I feel pretty stupid right about now. lol On Sea Guides website they list their distributors. American Rodbuilders Warehouse is the ONLY website I didn't check. After striking out on the first three I gave up. I just checked
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Chris, thank you for posting that link to that earlier thread. Definitely good reading. That thread was back in 2017 and it seems like the availability of their guides hasn't increased at all. Nowhere I looked had the KL-H type guides available. I totally understand what Jim Ising posted in that thread. Fuji spent the money to develop the concept, Sea Guide simply copied the guides. That kind of
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Order placed for the blank and a few other things from Utmost. And Carol is the bomb diggity as usual. On a side note. I ran into an availability problem when ordering the guides for the build. First off, I am really disappointed that Fuji stopped offering the black finish. I was going to go with the new high frame spinning guides that Sea Guide offers, but their catalog doesn't list the pric
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While I certainly agree with Spencer that the characteristics of the blank are what counts, there is a reason I and others build on the blanks from the manufacturers that they do. Trust. Trust that the blank will be quality built. And that trust has a lot of value. At least it does to me. There aren't many things more disappointing in rod building than opening a package and finding that the b
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