I have the same strong feelings on this topic, as I do on adding weight to a rod to get the rod and reel combination you prefer. As with the latter, the former is personal choice. Being a personal choice does, as Ron mentioned, mean there is no right or wrong. But .... just as a lighter guide train offers advantages, so does (with bait casting gear) switching hands after a cast. Are there dis
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I'm assuming you're talking about the named power ratings (light, medium, medium heavy etc ...) used by blank manufacturers? If so, then while it seems to me that many manufactures use the same (or close) named power for blanks with the same specs, there are manufacturers that don't. For instance, I built on a blank with a named power rating of "medium heavy". This particular blank i
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I certainly can't blame you for wanting to try one of the Immortal blanks. I'm one that praises them highly, anytime I get the chance. I'm curious which blank you're going to try from that line up? I've built on the IMMC72MH. It is a stout blank, and very sensitive. And, as long as you don't have a rocket ship 40+ inch muskie hit you at the boat, and keep going under it ... the blank will sur
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Herb .......... much better knowing the numbers you're looking for. As you have discovered, nothing from Rainshadow fits the specifics you're looking for. Although, as I am sure you've already seen ..... MHX has a surf fishing blank that hits your numbers perfectly.
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Herb, no offense meant, but IMO you really need to drop the power rating names, simply because the words mean differently powered blanks, even within the same manufactures offerings. Case in point, and this is a blank you may be interested in. In Rainshadow's Revelation series under the swimbait heading. 7'11" medium heavy power, fast action. It's rated for weights from 2 - 6 oz. In m
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Herb, as I tried to point out in my prior post, the features heading is not blank type specific. It's a generalization pertaining to the specific series it covers, not each specific model within that series. As far as what you're saying about the Immortal and Revelation series goes .... if you are talking strictly popping blanks, then yeah they're all listed as moderate fast actions. Otherwise th
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Herb, I think I can shed some light on your question. The "features" heading under the Immortal line of blanks,as well as the Eternity, and Revelation blanks reads the same for every type of rod offered in those series of blanks. It's a general description of the blanks in that series, not a description specific to each model. For instance, the features heading under the Revelation s
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Ben, that does sound fun. The thing is ... two years ago I pulled out my custom travel cover out only to find some mice had decided it would make great material for building a nest. (they chewed the heck out of it) ever since that day I have kept my mouse traps busy in my garage. Especially during the winter months. One thing I do, do, is I made a couple of V block stands (like rod drying sta
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My apologies for not being on topic. I just wanted to join in the praise of Carol, and the people at Utmost Enterprises. I needed a new rheostat for my power wrapper. I e mailed Carol after I got home from work, on the 11th. She emailed me back the same day. They didn't have one in stock so she said she'd check with Pac Bay (both Pac Bay and Batson are just down the street) She e mailed me ba
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Thank you Lance, I truly appreciate the compliment. One a note to itself ............ I was kind of hoping I'd get some comments on the cloudiness of the rear grip on the drop shot rod pictures I linked. It almost looks like a blush caused by high humidity. But I don't have that same cloudiness on the fighting butt of the drop shot rod, and I put the second coat of finish on, one after the ot
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Thanks Lynn, much appreciated sir!! And I'm sure you could do just as good if not better. It's definitely something I hadn't planned on getting into, but now that I have it has me wanting to try some other new things. For instance I'm thinking of doing a Tiger wrap between the rear grips of the drop shot rod in the pictures I just posted. Of course whether I do or not depends on how well my pract
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I cleaned up the small fore grip I described in my initial post a little bit, and now I'm pretty happy with it. I was able to sharpen up the corners where the fore grip butts up against the trim ring, with some 320 grit sandpaper. Besides inexperience, I think part of my problem was two fold. One, is the size of the piece itself. You'd think a small piece would be easier to work with, but that wa
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Thanks Herb, much appreciated!!! I'm pretty critical of my own work, so while I am more than happy with the outcome for my first attempt, I know I can get it at least a little better.
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lol Ben .... you got that right! lol
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Unless you're talking about IGFA rated fishing line, fishing line breaking strengths is the most abused rating system in fishing. In fact, there is more consistency in rod power nomenclature than there is in line break strength. Pretty much every blank manufacture would term a blank rated for weights of 1/4 - 5/8 oz as medium powered. 1/4 - 3/4 oz as medium heavy, and so forth. That's not the
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I agree with the others, no ill effects. My boat is kept in my unheated garage all winter, (I live in northeast Ohio) and my rods stay in it sometimes until spring, when I bring them inside to do reel maintenance. The only ones I bring in over the winter are my flipping and pitching rods. And that's only because I like to stay sharp, so I practice them inside over the winter.
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Finished my first attempts at making carbon fiber grips using the CFX carbon fiber grip kit, that Mud Hole offers. One grip I would term a success, the other grip, pretty much a failure. The failure was a small 3/4" long fore grip I made for a drop shot spinning rod I'm building. I'm building it with a split rear grip using an 2.35" CFX fighting butt, and an 2.25" CFX fore grip
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800 feet???? MAN that is absolutely incredible. That is truly launching a weight. Man oh man ......
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lol I'm not a fan of the sound of braid going through guides either. Of course there are baits that pretty much require the angler use braid to be successful. Other than those baits, give me the Simon and Garfunkel sound of silence.
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Ya know ..... I used Ring Lock guides on the very first rod I built. In all honesty, the reason I chose them is because of the color combination they were available in. Black frame, gold nano plasma ring. Absolutely beautiful guides. I'm kind of embarrassed to say I had forgotten how nice they truly are. I'm definitely going to have to remember them for my next casting rod build. Thanks fo
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Lynn, I do it with the rod turning the same direction as you do, with the blank turning away from me. I guess I do it that way because I think I can be more precise with the brush on top of the wrap and in full view, than I can if the brush were on the bottom of the rod. Although to be honest, I've never tried it the other way. I suppose the advantage of the way "Chris" likes to do
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About to do some more shopping, but before I do I just wanted to give a HUGE shout out to the people at Get Bit!!! Last Wednesday, the 22nd, I ordered the Alps chuck upgrade for my power wrapper. I just got home from work, and there on my door step was a box. Now I was expecting some things I ordered from Mud Hole to possibly be here today, but as one of the things I had ordered from Mud Hole
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Unless the blank has a noticeable curve which would show when sighting down the blank, why not just re wrap the guides? Seems like it would be a lot easier than trying to rotate a reel seat. And you wouldn't have to worry about the integrity of the seat's bond to the blank.
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Norman, thank you again for your response. As always, it is greatly appreciated. I get it on why tip tops with titanium tubes are difficult to produce. My thinking when I mentioned manufacturers not making matching color tip tops for all of the guides they offer is, they put PVD coatings on ceramic rings and other tip top frames ....... why couldn't they do it on all of them so they match any
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The "pro" would be the little bit better grip the soft touch type reel seats give. The con would be the sensitivity you loose with that type of reel seat. It's definitely a matter or personal preference. Myself, I choose my reel seats based on what the rod will be used for. If I'm building a rod that will be used with techniques where sensitivity plays a major role, I choose a comple
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Hey there Lynn ...... and yeah, Norman has got it goin on. His advice is very comforting. Especially when it comes to the Minima guides. And I'm still going to get a set of the Minima 4's. I plan on giving Mud Hole a call later today and ask them about the Minima 4s availability. Hopefully they aren't too far out. Even if they are, I'll still go ahead and order them along with a set of the s
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Norman, thank you for that information about the ss316 Minima 4s. You sir are the man!!! I haven't placed my order yet because I'm considering yet another guide choice for this build. One thing I did notice when selecting the SS316 Minimas that it says "usually ships in 3 to 5 business days" Seems that's more than a bit of a stretch, considering you have been waiting for them for o
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Norman, thank you very much for your recent responses. They are much appreciated. And Norman, I consider you a trusted member of this site, and when it comes to the Minima guides, you clearly know them quite well. So IMO I'd be silly not to have confidence in your recommendations and the information you provide. Thanks to you, I now see the differentiation between the 3s and 4s on Mud Hole's web
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Spencer, thanks for the response. My problem was (I say "was" because I figured it out lol) that I was looking under spinning guides on Mud Hole's website, and the F guides in that section all had ceramic rings. When I looked under the Pac Bay brand setting, the Minima F guides were there. Norman, thank you for your response. No offense meant to you Spencer, but I was kind of hoping
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What a great sale !!! I just ordered the Alps Chuck upgrade !!! Watched a couple of Youtube videos featuring it. The chuck that came on my Pac Bay wrapper is decent, but this Alps chuck looks super sweet!!! Can't wait to start turning some foam core grips!!!
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