Ben, my initial response on this particular subject was a response to Phil Ewanicki's post stating ... "The moment the line is released during the cast the rod and the angler can only change the forward progress of the line in one direction - down - " You reiterated that train of thought. I merely stated, and Mr Gardener agrees, that that train of thought is incorrect. Anyhow .....
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ben, the lure actually curves while in the air. How much it will curve in the air depends on the length of the cast, and the bait being cast. For me, buzzbaits and hollow bodied frogs are the easiest to curve. Curving a cast 5 or 6 inches isn't hard at all. And Tom, you're absolutely right. The spine of a blank won't affect how the rod casts.
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If an angler moves the rod tip to the side after the moment of release, the line's path will change from its original path. It's quite easy to curve a cast in mid air with bait casting gear.
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As with any rod, your personal preference for how closely the line's path follows the curve of the blank when under load, is going to play into the number of guides, as well as the spacing of the guides. For me personally, I'm fairly certain that many of the builders on this forum would look at one of my rods, be it casting or spinning, and think that I use more guides than are needed. And I'd b
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If you want titanium frames in a Fuji guide, it's either SIC or Torzite. As far as the Fuji T2 titanium frames with the slim SIC rings go ... they are absolutely gorgeous. I have them on 3 of the last 4 rods I've built. So far so good on their durability. As far as their lighter weight making a discernible difference in performance over the same guide with an SS frame and an Alconite ring is conc
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I'm really amazed by the number of builders that are saying that accuracy is solely dependent on the skill of the caster. I beg to differ, and I am basing this on personal experience. I have a casting rod that I bought brand new. I have had the rod for 30 years, give or take a year a year or two. In it's stock form, I could cast it very accurately. About 15 years into my owning this rod, I had
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I've never used the Microwave guides. I've used a KR concept guide train on all of the spinning rods I've built thus far. What I want to know is .....a lot of people are touting how easy the microwave system is to set up. What makes it so easy? Or I should ask, what makes it so much easier to set up than a KR concept guide train? Is it the fact that the microwave system comes with a sheet that gi
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Mathew, I know that the book you bought tells you that finding the spine of the rod blank is important, but it isn't. Use the search function on this web site and do a simple search relating to blank spine and you will have plenty of reading to do. I think after reading the various threads, you'll find that building on the straightest axis of the blank is what you're going to want to do.
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LOL Terry ..... OUTSTANDING!!! For me it depends on what I will be using the rod for, but the 3 things I consider first and foremost regardless of what the rod will be used for are ... 1) Power 2) Action 3) Length After that the color of the blank would be number 4, The other things like blank weight, and its ability to transmit vibration are totally dependent on its intended use
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Personally, and this is based on my experience .... unless you are using a very stiff fluorocarbon line (and you wouldn't be doing that on spinning gear) a KR concept guide train handles fluorocarbon line beautifully. I use either 8# or 10# fluorocarbon line on my spinning rods, and I wouldn't think of using anything but a KR concept guide train. A KR concept guide train will be at least half th
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Christian? I'm curious as to what hooks you're running on the square bills and lip less baits that you're burning? Are they the pretty much standard light wire trebles like say an Owner ST 36? The reason I ask is I was having similar problems with losing fish when I was burning the bait. I went to a heavier wire treble hook, and it all but completely solved my problem. The reason I think it helpe
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I haven't built a lot of rods, so I don't have the amount of experience with different blanks that others on this site have. With that said, if you're talking about a rod that would be used for pitching and flipping in and around heavy cover for bass, my favorite blank would be a Rainshadow Immortal IMMC72MH. It's a fast action blank with gobs of power and awesome sensitivity. It will flat out pu
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Justin, I certainly understand you being hooked on the X ray blanks. They are a phenomenal blank at any price, and at their price now, one might be considered crazy not to stock up on them, but ........... And I know you already know this, but I am going to say it any way. While sensitivity is certainly important when trying to work a squarebill through wood cover, which is something I do, or try
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Justin, I've done CCS tests for AA and IP on almost every rod I've built. The numbers I came up with for the rods built on MB 736 X ray blanks are an AA of 75, with an IP of 793. As far as what Spencer said about having the correct power being more important in landing fish on treble hooked baits than having the correct action is concerned, I will agree with that based solely on his mentioni
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I have 2 rods built on MB 736 X rays, and I would not consider them a rod for treble hooked lures. The exception would be ripping lip less crankbaits out of weeds. I'm sure it would cast a KVD 1.0 just fine, but IMO it just doesn't have the power curve that you're looking for in a crankbait rod.
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Perhaps it's because I use fluorocarbon line, but I want the line from the reel to enter the butt guide at a slight angle. Anytime I have tried pushing the butt guide out from the reel face to get a straight line path, test casting has been a little inconsistent. My thought is that the slight angle adds a bit of line control. With the reels and reel seat that I use, I've settled on 21.5"
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Personally I would be ecstatic if the Immortal series of rod blanks were offered in a natural graphite finish. The current color may offer a bit of brand recognition in the rod building community,, but I have no doubts that it's limiting sales. And probably in a pretty major way.
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If you want to be real anal about it, you have to level the center line of the blank. Leveling a tapered object will have one end of object either higher or lower than the other (depending on which side of the object you leveled) end of the object. That difference will be equal to the difference in taper from one end of the object to the other. And precision is something a lot of us strive fo
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Not on the subject of the popping blank versus crankbait blank, but I built a rod specifically for target casting squarebills to wood cover. I built it on a Rainshadow RX7 (now Revelation series) CB66MH blank. I wanted the rod to be 6' in length, so I took 6 inches off the butt. I absolutely love it, and for me the 6' length helps with my casting accuracy. It also makes, and I can't emphasize
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I'm a down locking on spinning rods guy as well. My reasons are that unless you are using a hidden thread fore grip as your rear grip, you have to leave enough thread to allow putting on and taking off the reel. The exposed threads irritate the heel of my hand. I've only had one rod where an up locking reel seat would loosen in my hand, and it was a hidden thread rear grip as I described above, b
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Roger, if you had taken the time to look up the height of a KL-H 6M, you wouldn't be saying I am exaggerating. As Norman mentioned, the KL-H guides are reduction train guides, not running guides. A KL-H 6M guide is 18.4 mm tall. A KT 6 is 8.2 inches tall. If you're trying to tell me that putting a rod with running guides the height of a KL-H 6M in a rod tube that may be deep down in a rod locker,
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First off, fluorocarbon line makes little if any difference when it comes to the size of the running guides. The line is already running straight. I use fluorocarbon as the main line on all of my spinning gear and have rods built using #4.5s, #5s, as runners and can tell no difference in casting performance. I have no doubts that using #6s would show the same indifference. A 6M is more than t
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Be bold? Really? Being bold in this situation is just plain being lazy. As others have said ..... order the right guides, and build it right. So you have to wait a little longer to complete the build. If you build it with the guides you have on hand, I can assure you that the amount of time you spend wishing you would have re ordered the correct guides, will be much greater than the amount of
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I've not made any of my own cork grips, but when I need to turn an EVA butt cap down to match its OD with the actual butt grip's OD, I just slip the cap on the grip and turn it as an assembly. I don't have a lathe so I use my power wrapper and one of the rod stands. I chuck the mandrel up in the wrapper and let the end of the mandrel stick past the rod stand enough to slip the butt onto. Its work
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Static placement is really about the line path when the rod is under load. I don't know how blank manufacturers come up with their guide spacing. To me, logic would dictate that they place the guides, at least the running guides, using the static load guide placement method. If that's the case then yeah, doing your own static placement may result in the same, or nearly the same measurements.
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Now come on ben, you know braid doesn't stretch so it's not going to come flying back at you if it breaks. It's also not going to have your bait flying back at you if it comes free from being hung up. But nylon mono filament line and to a lesser extent, fluorocarbon mono filament line sure will. But I'm sure you know that wasn't my point.
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For god's sake. A breaking fishing line recoiling back towards you can severely lacerate you, but a flexed fishing rod being immediately released won't hurt you if it wacks you in the face. Stretched fishing line stores more energy than a flexed rod blank ......... whoda thunk it...... Oh and I have rebuilt several old rods and greatly enhanced their performance. When you take guides that
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I beg to differ. The line is not always under the rod when fighting a fish. There are many times when I am fishing horizontal moving baits that the line is off to the side of the rod, or as in Roger's description, the line is coming off the top of the blank. Roger's description is common place. If someone wants to call that improper fish fighting technique. I will beg to differ with that opinion
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Tom, I completely agree, guides on top, the blank is going to twist. It doesn't matter if you can feel it or not, it's still twisting. Spiral wrap eliminates it. At least while the rod is in a certain plane
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Norman, I get what you're saying. But on slower action blanks the tip doesn't bend as much as it does further down the blank. I've only built three rods that weren't either fast or extra fast action blanks. All three of them have a moderate fast action. Two of them being crankbait rods, the other being a high powered blank that I use for flipping and pitching. On the two crankbait rods, my runnin
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