I will jump on the Kigan bandwagon. They have a lot of nice features, a relatively long foot, strong frame with just the right amount of neck for a Forhan locking wrap, and a very good system to hold the rings in. Where Kigan really shines is the tips, they are way better than any other tips I have used both the standard and micro. Since the braces are welded on the side there is nothing for t
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A better way is to avoid decals or printing and use real carbon fiber. Use the carbon fiber sleeves like we use to make carbon skinned foam core grips and laminate it directly on the blank. I have done several rods that way for exactly the same reason, to match carbon fiber handles on reels. Using the sleeve you don’t have to worry about gaps or overlaps where the decal comes together, and n
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No idea, I only use metallic thread.
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I can’t help with a non metallic selection, but Sulky Metallic Peacock Blue is the most beautiful blue I have ever worked with, I use more than any other color. Another thing to keep in mind is that all blue anodizing is not the same, the company I used to work for sold a lot of anodized aluminum parts and the batch to batch consistency was always a problem, you may need a completely different
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My new favorite coating is the easiest yet, nothing. I just sand the carbon smooth, and then hit it with some schotchbrite to give an even finish. When the rod is complete I finish the entire rod including grips, blank and wraps with some car wax. I like the feel of the bare carbon better and it will be tougher than any finish that you could put on it, if it does get scuffed up just hit it wit
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Those $5 blanks are a great deal, but be careful and inspect every one very closely, I would even do a pretty severe load test before I used one. I bought several from them at the show and used one to build a giveaway rod for a charity tournament my club holds every year. As luck would have it the rod was won by a club member and friend of mine. He immediately sells it to another club member t
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Scott Parsons may have some P7000 blanks left. I have bought several at the last few shows. They have by far the most limber tip I have ever worked with. I haven’t used one but I have seen numbers from those who have measured them who say a Batson IP841 is very close.
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Very nice blanks but the action vs. name is a little off, the SJ blanks are almost a moderate fast and the popping blanks are extra extra fast. I like the LP blanks a lot they make great finesse spinning rods.
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I second the recommendation of a faster action rod for throwing spooks, popping or CB rods are too flexible to get a good walking cadence. The second question is exactly how he wants to fish the topwater, if he is making short accurate casts around cover then a 6’6” or even shorter rod may be appropriate, if he is making long casts to open water then he should use at least a 7 foot rod. I
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The best way to strip the old finish off is to scrape it with a razor blade or utility knife, hold the blade perpendicular to the blank and scrape away. Once you finish scraping you can get a nice smooth finish with scotchbrite, you should avoid sandpaper of any kind since you don’t want to remove any of the actual blank material. Once you have it stripped, and assuming it is a graphite blank
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If you looked in the right places at the show these have been around for 2 years…… I agree with the rest, these are a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist, and will introduce their own problems with storage and transportation
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Here is a video.
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Unfortunately they don’t have anything announced yet with the knobs on the correct side……….
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Uplocking trigger reel seats with the threads hidden under the front half of the split grip.
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I just call my wife, she can find a guide in 30 seconds that I have tried to find for hours. While doing some test casting before the show last year I had the line break on a cast and threw off a guide that was held on with a tie wrap, she found the #6 single foot fly guide in a 3 acre school parking lot, 150 feet from where I was standing. I also always buy extra guides. Unless you are usin
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They have at least 3 different finishes. The standard MHX blanks have a matte clear coat. The new high modulus blanks have a bare graphite finish. The light saltwater versions have a gloss clear coat.
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Sulky metallic is very thin, and my favorite thread for wrapping guides. Metallic thread is about all I ever use, it is great getting bright vibrant colors without the hassle and extra drying time you get with color preserver.
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What you were describing is what some people call a flip shot technique. It is a heavy cover power technique, but the weight is still rigged on the bottom with the bait some distance up from the weight so it technically is still a drop shot. For an actual finesse drop shot the best blank I have ever used is the old P7000, it has plenty of backbone in the bottom, and the top foot or so is supe
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I have had problems with Pro Wrap metallic too, which is a shame since they have some great colors. From what I understand the regular nylon and NCP are fine, it is only the metallic that has issues.
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Talking about having 20 rods on deck, which does happen especially in pre fishing, the guy you really have to fear is the one with 2 rods on deck, that means he is totally dialed in on his pattern.
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I looked at the video of the rod and it looked like conventional single filament wraps and finish. I can’t imagine how they get any tension if they really use carbon fiber thread since it wouldn’t have any stretch at all. I wrapped a rod with Pro Wrap metallic thread, which has very little stretch but nothing like carbon fiber, and it was a nightmare. Really like their new reel seat thou
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The process that Tom is describing would lend itself to very nicely to advanced automation. You could have a robot place the guides in the fixture, apply the adhesive to the feet, and then place the blank in the fixture. It could be further automated to make the fixture adjustable for different guides and spacing, a bar code on the blank would let the system know what rod it was supposed to bui
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I don’t think 15 minutes is even close to the time it takes Chinese women to wrap a rod, they could probably have 5 rods done in that time.
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I just had a bag of #3 Minima’s show up, when you have them on back order for 6 months you tend to forget about them. They do look pretty good and are very light. I have worked with all of the available micro guides and my new favorite is the Kigan. They have the best combination I have found yet of neck height and shape to get a very good locking wrap and good epoxy encapsulation. The ri
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OK then looking at his reservations about the L904 maybe the FS904 is exactly what he wants. It should work great throwing 1 ¼ oz jigs.
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The way you described the reels fitting into the hood sounds perfectly normal to me, that is the way they all fit. I believe you just need to go ahead and crank the nut down further. Quantum’s are known for having relatively large feet, but the Pflueger is built on the Silstar frame like the Revo, BPS, Lews, Pinnacle, Browning and lots of others, with those reels the hood should tighten down
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I believe the L904 is the salt water version of the FS904 flipping stick blank, nobody would call that blank noodly. I use the same blank to build Carolina rig rods and they will cast a 1oz weight almost out of sight.
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Most of the reels that have a screw that holds the knobs on use 8X5X2.5 bearings in the shaft. You would need to have 8mm counter bores on each end of your knobs for the bearings to fit in, you would have to measure the plastic knobs to know the correct depth for the counter bores. Some reels come with plastic bushings instead of bearings in the knobs but it’s cheap and easy to replace these
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Forceps, a small file, and magnification, that's how I do it. Clamp the foot in forceps and lightly file the tip then finish with some sandpaper to get the filing marks out.
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A chrome #4 American Tackle tip with a Nanolite ring matches size 4 Minima’s very well.
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