Certainly not going to dispute Joe's points about inertia. It's physics that we can all see in different forms in real life. The only thing I wonder about, is the reason micro guides cast better (and I truly believe they do) only because their lighter weight, or is it because they control the line better? The reason I question this is, all of the rods I've built that I use for flipping and pit
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I'm more than a little late to the party, and I'm glad that the size B thread is working out for you, but ....... you're only 8 rods in. And while I certainly understand that producing gap free wraps can be excruciatingly slow work, you'll get better at it. Even if you only build a few rods a year, you'll get better at it. I've been working on rods for about 6 years. In that time I've only bu
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I have zero experience with Phenix blanks, so I can only pass on what I hare read on other rod building based message boards. There are guys that absolutely rave about the Phenix Feather blanks and how sensitive they are, but to a man, everyone of them says that Phenix blanks are over rated as far as their powers go. They all say they are about a half power lower than what they're ratings are.
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lol Mark ..... I have a problem turning the fingers off when a topic really interests me. But I'm working on it. lol As far as what Tom said about the difference between a good NGC guide train and a KR guide train being absolutely minimal goes .... like you, I will take his word for it as far as casting performance probably goes, but based on the use of the NGC software on the Angler's resour
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Mark, as others have said, I think it's great that you took the time and initiative to do such involved testing. It's certainly not something I would have taken the time to do. Hopefully this goes a long way in proving to some of the doubters, that the guide train plays a very important role in casting performance. Not just in casting distance as your tests prove, but in the ease and accuracy asp
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lol Ben ..... I'm sure you're referring to my comments about the words "made in the USA" not having the same meaning that it once did. Whether it was real, or imagined on my part, the words made in the USA meant that a product was built with pride. And while I am certain there are those that still have pride in the work they do, for the company they work for, I have seen that mindset er
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What you buy to get your experience is up to you. For me personally, thus far I have only built for my own personal use, so I am not going to build a rod I don't plan on keeping and using for the rest of my life. That doesn't mean every blank I have built on has been expensive. I choose blanks based on the task at hand. For me, a topwater or crankbait rod doesn't need the attributes that come wit
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I certainly can't be sure, but I highly doubt you'd ever find a completed rod that cost more than what is charged for the bare blank it is built on. I've built 1 rod on a blank that I know for a fact is used to build a rod by one particular rod manufacturer. That rod manufacturer would be ALX Rods. ALX uses Hydra blanks. I built a spinning rod on the same blank that is used for the ALX Zolo Maest
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The word inferior can have different meanings to an individual. If you're building a rod that will be used for fishing live bait under a float, its' blank doesn't need to have the some of the attributes that a blank would have if that rod was being built for bottom contact baits where sensitivity is of great importance. Some would call the blank with the lesser amount of sensitivity, inferior. Ot
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Ahh I see ......... "There are plenty of completed rods that cost less than the blanks do" lead me to believe you were talking about rods built on the same blanks. You really can't compare the prices of completed rods to the prices of blanks, unless they're built on the same blank. Suffice it to say, all blanks are not created equal.
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What makes you think that the $80 completed rod is built on the same bare blank that costs $90?
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As long as the reel spools the line in the exact same fashion, each and every time ..... as long as the line comes off the spool in the exact same fashion, each and every time ..... as long as the bait bait being cast flies in the exact same way, each and every time ...... as long as the caster doesn't move the rod even a little bit during the time the bait is in flight, each and every time .....
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Mr Erickson ....... point taken. lol
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I definitely don't agree that good guides on a poor blank, makes a poor rod. But I dang sure know that poor guides on a good blank can make a poor rod.
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I've been reading Tackle Tour since its' inception lord knows how many years ago. It used to be about a 12 - 15 page publication that you had to subscribe to. There were no color photos and absolutely no advertising in the publication. They used to say that advertising would lead people to believe that their reviews of an advertiser's product, would not be an honest review. I loved Tackle Tour th
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1) That lighter is always better. 2) That the rod blank is more important than the guide train. 3) And not really a rod builder thing, but that braided line makes a rod more sensitive.
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lol on the it ain't necessarily quiet comment Danny. I would imagine it wouldn't be. I'm pretty sure that the way I perform the pitching presentation is different than the one you and Steve use to pitch those kind of distances. There is no way I could generate the type of tip speed to get even close to that kind of distance. Not with the motion I use to pitch anyhow. Oh I am all in on the rati
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Aaron, action is based on where the blanks initial flex occurs. Extra fast actions flex more towards the tip. Fast action further down the blank, Moderate fast even further down the blank, and so on. AA is a CCS term and refers to action angle. The angle of the tip when the blank is deflected a distance equal to 1/3 of the blank's length. So really, what you postulated isn't going to change what
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Pitching 100'? Wow. That's farther than I cast most baits. 40' is about my max pitching distance. Any further than that and I can get a quieter bait entry into the water via casting. Anyhow .... I flip and pitch with the same rods, so I keep all my rear grips 9 3/4" long because that's what works out best for me. But if I were to build a dedicated flipping rod, I could use a longer rear grip
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As I have absolutely zero experience with the NEO blank the following is based solely on the photographs of the blank deflected with various weights. Personally I'd rather see the blank in a horizontal position and then deflected as I feel the guesstimated 60 degree angle can me a little misleading. With that said, that sure looks like a blank for single hook baits to me. I trust Norman's CCS
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Jay, glad I could help. I'm a northeastern Ohioan so my boat is in for the winter as well. I don't ice fish, but I'm a fan of winter. I gotta say I was really disappointed by the storm we just had go through. I live on the southern edge of the secondary snow belt, and we were supposed to get 3 - 5" of snow, with higher amounts as you got closer to Lake Erie. Well the folks up near Erie got t
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Same as Norman, here. Sometimes I put a wrap or a wrap with a trim band at each end of the split grips, sometimes not. It just depends.
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Jay, I have a rod built on that blank, absolutely love it. I got the blank from Utmost and had them size the reel seat for me, and to be honest I didn't even look at what size they sent me. I went through my receipts and couldn't find the paper work on that blank. so ........ I went out to my garage and got the rod out of my boat and measured my rod. Now I do remember that the from the butt of th
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Something I would consider in choosing rod length is how tall the gunwales on your boat are. Is it more like a bass boat with gunwales that aren't very tall, or is the deck more recessed below them? I know you said you're tall, but a taller gunwale will in essence, make you shorter because your bait has to clear the height of the gunwale. If your gunwales are shorter, a longer rod probably is
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I love the conversation ..... and I completely understand what Jim and Norman are saying. When I first started using bait cast reels, there were go left hand retrieve casting reels available. Unlike Norman, my fishing progression went from cane pole, to a Zebco 33, and then to open face spinning gear. Based on how awkward reeling with my left hand was with my first spinning gear, I have no doubt
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Put me solidly in the Jim Spooner camp on this one. The situation and the rod one chooses to use in that situation, goes a long way in determining how one might need to make a cast. If I'm making short casts (I'm not talking flipping or pitching here) to specific targets, I'm not going to choose a rod that I can't manipulate quickly and easily. For me that means a rod that is easy to cast with on
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lol Ben, you're right ........ it's a monkey see monkey do thing. I only do what I see the pros do. I guess that means I'll have to go back to holding the rod in my right hand when I flip and pitch. It's going to be a shame though, because holding the rod in my left hand for those presentations definitely has its advantages. That, and I'm really good at it. Oh well ....... wouldn't want to do
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Roger, you and I have had this discussion, this debate, this disagreement, or whatever you want to call it, in the past. And it always comes out the same, I readily admit that my choice to add weight inside the butt of the rod blank, has its' draw backs. It's not easily removed, nor is it easily adjustable. But as I said in my earlier post in this thread, and in other posts to the numerous th
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Jay, IMO a drop shot blank would be a poor choice for a jerkbait rod. One needs power in the tip to work a jerkbait, and blanks designated as drop shot blanks, at least the ones I've built on, just don't have the power in the tip. I'm not familiar with the specific blanks you listed, but I do have a rod I built on an Eternity2 ETES610MXF blank, from Rainshadow. If the REVS610MXF blank is any
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IMO, the only rod and reel combinations you need to worry about their degree of balance, are rods used for slack and semi slack line techniques where the rod is fished tip up, and you're trying to feel the bite. I say degree of balance because some people like a neutrally balanced rod and reel combination, while others prefer a tip light rod and reel combination. I prefer a tip light rod and reel
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