I'm going to echo what Bill just said. Take a long hard look at TITAN A Frame guides from American Tackle. Titanium plated frame is less expensive because underneath its still a steel guide. The titanium frames are what you want to simply never worry about rust/corrosion problems. Part number NIA. If you are going to reguide the rod, might as well change the guide transition for better perf
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Ever have a ring pop out from a hit on the boat during a battle with a good fish? YES Corrosion protection is another concern. IF YOU FISH SALTWATER, YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT THIS Wahoo, tuna, bigger kingfish, etc all make blistering runs, hook a decent one and you better hope you have guides that disipate heat well. On that same note, so can a nice redfish on light or ultralight tackle, and I woul
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There is really only one way to do this after the rod is wrapped I believe. I am assuming you are talking about rods similar to crowder (first one that came to mind) where its one coat that never really ends. Support the rod under the reel seat/grip area and from the ring in the tip. If any one else knows how they actually do it, feel free, as I am using an educated guess here.
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There is a lot to be said for redundant backups in this case. Personally I use a linux OS, which is inherently harder to infect so long as you are not using the root user and it has a good password. The other option is when setting up a windows machine, use a non-administrator user for the majority of stuff and only access the admin account when truly necessary.
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i might have one for you russ, i'll get back to you after sleep time
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simple google, 1 gram = 15.43 grains
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Going to a 4 may present an issue (which will be dependent on your connection, the actual brand of mono size, etc). In this case I would recommend going no less than a size 5 fly guide. The simple fact that the connection will pass may sometimes not be enough, it needs to pass smoothly enough so as not to hang or be obstructed during a cast. In this case going too low may cause inferior performan
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I did not reiterate that my gloves are a pretty tight fit on my hands. I use them more for a potential slip of the hand, I also have a helper literally on the kill switch if necessary. After nearly losing a digit to a table saw I was nowhere near (flying object that missed me by no greater than 5mm) I do not take safety precautions lightly. The best option obviously would have been a drill press
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Makes saving a handle and not owning a drill press a whole lot easier. A word for SAFETY, wear safety glasses and wear leather gloves if attempting this. I actually separated it into 3 pieces, rear grip, reel seat, and foregrip. The rear grip was my main concern as it was a very nice cork grip and I wanted to save it if possible (mission accomplished) Chuck up the drill bit in the motor
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Shoot me an email with that once you have it available as well if you would please. Thank you Sean Cheaney
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Ditto on the two above my, except with lacquer thinner. I have found denatured alcohol can dry out before I am to slide it down. With laquer thinner I have found that I can get a .5" ID EVA over a .8" OD butt with little effort. Something was said earlier that I need to echo as well. A push board will do wonders as well as once you start, DO NOT STOP. The moment you stop is the momen
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I gotta go with ProKote here as well. I initially used Classic Coat for a long while, if you look back in my previous posts here. I then tried TM and TM Lite and they werent bad at all. I actually like TM quite well but I was lucky enough to be given a sample of ProKote to test out and while it does take a little longer to dry and cure, I am still able to get full coverage in 2 coats while keepin
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As I understand it any build defect that is going to cause failure, will do so quickly within the first few flexes of the rod. Anything coming back after its first and MAYBE on a long shot, its second use is due to some sort of user error.
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Non-Disclosures are quite common in many different business fields/models. If anything multiple manufacturers drive quality to be higher. I'm going to use American Tackle as an example here to which this may or may not be true. Darrin I hope you dont mind. Example: American Tackle (AmTak from here forward) contracts 5 separate factories to all build the same blank for them. Guess who gets
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Being that I honestly cant stand catching cudas (generally I am fishing for their food and end up giving them a meal). They are a heck of a fight. 100% King Mackerel/Wahoo based, on a little big lighter scale as their stamina runs out fairly quickly. I would call them faster than a Kingfish but slower than a wahoo on thier initial run. Basically I am going to echo everything that Russ said. so si
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Another vote for Billy's Method 100%, I used to use "upside down" masking tape, and have to do a few layers throughout the wrap, at most with an intricate closed wrap, I use 3 layers of double carpet tape. Readily available at any hardware store and even though it may only be 25ft per roll (or something like that), you use very little of it per rod. I went with Billy's method ONCE, and
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From what I have seen, Shimano is fairly consistent with spool diameter across all their lines. Example, a sedona, sahara, sustain , and yes even stella 2500, all have the same spool diameter. I am unfamiliar with the spirex, but if I had to guess, find a shimano in a 1000 series and you have a VERY good chance of getting the same spool diameter, height from center of seat may be slightly off, bu
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They all have their own slightly unique properties and ways to work with them. That said they all work well and do the same job. The best advice I have ever heard and passed on is find one you are comfortable with, learn how its quirks and how to deal with them, and stay with it. What you have learned works well for one finish might not produce favorable results with the next.
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I would try to explore the options of leaving the rod alone and building an entirely new one, and/or simply restoring it to what it once was. I have 2 rods I cannot and will not ever change. One is the first I built totally myself. The other is the first which was completed with my father's help and assistance. I still have and use both rods, but to me they are nearing retirement age. It is a
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wrap tighter is a possible solution. I tend to CP the center of the wrap before tying it off at the ends. Tie off the ends, then do a light coat of CP in the centers only. Once that is dry a 2 full coats of cp on t he entire wrap. then finish as normal. Some do slip occasionally still and I hate it when it does, but I can redo an entire butt wrap in few hours with no problem. Moral of
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I now use a DC setup with a dimmer switch. For applying I'll turn it up to around 40-50 rpm so its moving pretty quickly, and once I am done applying, I'll shut it off with guides up, let the finish sag, go back and touch up any small missed areas. At that point I simply turn it back on, slow down the speed to 6-10rpm or so, close my box and let the finish do what it does best. Level itself. P
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use a piece of brass or aluminum square tubing rod jb welded to that motor. It gets HOT enough to loosen up the bond of rod bond. If I remember right, that motor didnt last all that long and had very little torque to dry heavier rods. I went through 3 or 4 of them prior to either them dying or the shaft becoming unusable after several attempts to reattach a longer shaft. I'm pretty sure they a
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Jim, that is an interesting solution to that problem. With something like that it is clearly a rod from you, yet it also done in such a way that is unobtrusive to the finished rod.
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I am curious as to how many put their business decals on a rod. I have always felt that if someone is paying top dollar for a rod customized to them, they should be entitled to it being their rod wholly without any other markings than that of which they specify. Is the similarity closer to an artist signing his/her work, or business branding? I am rethinking this ideology, but wondering ho
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On my personal rods, I use 8 rings, but on most rods I will use a setup like 20 or 16, 12 then 10s for running guides. The reason is a 50 to 50# uni in case of a splice (things happen) or some other random unforseen knot ends up in the way, a 10 ring will have very little issues ever passing. If you have ever tied a 80 to 80 uni, its a big knot. A 10 will pass it but it still may not be smoothly.
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You'll have to turn the grip to fit properly regardless if it is preformed cork or you are turning it yourself. The manufactured ones are close, but do require modification. In your case, I would stay downlocking or your fingers will end up on the reel threads and become annoying to you. With your style, I simply turn a straight grip into a slight taper to fit the seat. The other way around is
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Hand on foregrip to near or just at elbow unless casting becomes a problem. In a kayak I found that my general light tackle combo had far to long a butt grip at 10" with an uplocking spin seat. It was annoying to manuevar around it. I had no idea of this until I actually fished with someone in a kayak. For my personal kayak rod I ended up with a 7.5" rear grip 2.5" shorter than
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In addition to what tom stated about rounding it out more and removing sharp corners, how about trying it inverted? Make the ball white with stripes black. Just a thought.
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As a matter of fact, Jim, I do absolutely nothing with fly rods, yet have tried to understand the CCS system. Until now, I was fairly lost even after reading the site several times. This thread has helped me immensely to understand the entire system so even though in the end it may not benefit yourself and be of no use to you, it can and did help others. I must thank you for asking the questions
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There is always the option of extending a 7'6" blank as well. Keep in mind you will create a much faster action blank by going this route. I very much agree with Jim to look to St Croix for this one.
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