Casting that weight one-handed all day, which I assume you do, must be murder on the arm and shoulder. Saving an ounce or two in rod weight would bring some relief, but dropping the leveraged weight of a 12 oz. lure to 6 oz. would bring a lot more relief. Is the weight of the lure or the size of the lure the key to success?
Forum: rodboard

What qualities have been missing in the blanks you have examined so far?
Forum: rodboard

Apparently I failed to make my point clear. I do not advocate double-hauling severely underlined rods for short casts - Why would you wish to do so? But tight loops and high line speed get casts deep into tight places, and double hauls facilitate high line speed, no matter what rod you are using.
Forum: rodboard

Learn how to double haul and you can cast 30' of 6 wt. line ( ~ 160 grains in the 1st 30 feet) just fine with an 8 wt. rod, although I'm not sure why you would wish to do so. No matter how much craft goes into building a rod it can not compensate for weak casting technique.
Forum: rodboard

Learn how to double haul and you can cast 30' of 6 wt. line ( ~ 160 grains in the 1st 30 feet) just fine with an 8 wt. rod, although I'm not sure why you would wish to do so. No matter how much craft goes into building a rod it can not compensate for weak casting technique.
Forum: rodboard

Donald: I think you nailed the accuracy issue. An accurate rifle always puts the bullet in the same place, even if it's not on target. It's the shooter's responsibility to put the place the rifle shoots on the target. Same with a fly rod. Unless the grip, the reel seat, the ferrules, or the guides are loose that rod will cast to the same place. It's the caster's job to make that place his target.
Forum: rodboard

I use elastic thread - available at any sewing supplies store - to temporarily position guides. Four or five wraps, pull on thread ends until there's hardly any elasticity, tie a square knot and the guide is securely fixed to the rod. No adhesive or goo on the rod blank and the guide can be moved around the blank and up and down a short way. Touch the adhesive thread with a razor and it leaps off
Forum: rodboard

The average rod blank on the market today has substantially better performance than nearly any 20-year-old rod blank. Unless there is some emotional attachment to an old rod blank [?!!] it's usually a better all around deal to have a rod built on a new blank, with new components.
Forum: rodboard

I agree with your preference for 4-piece fly rods and their performance. I also up-line my rods by one weight. Fly rod / fly rod blank companies use the same scheme as fishing line companies to market their products: "Strongest 10-pound-test line anywhere!" - because the line actually breaks at 16 pounds. - "Most powerful 7-weight rod made!" - because it has the ERN of an 8-we
Forum: rodboard

Obtain some wine bottle corks - real cork. Sand the corks with #150 sandpaper over a sheet of newspaper and save the dust. Mix up some clear, flexible epoxy with a set-up time of at least ten minutes and stir in the cork dust at a 1:1 ratio to the epoxy. Trowel the cork-epoxy mixture into gaps in the cork handle, taking care to completely fill the holes. Use a spatula to level the cork-epoxy with
Forum: rodboard

Every casting distance record is held by revolving-spool reels (casting reels), not fixed spool spinning reels. - casting reel - 915 feet - spinning reel 840 feet. Although these distance casters use special lines, rods, and casting techniques the physics of the cast are identical to those of fishing casts. You might visit a distance-casting website and see how they go about finding the ideal
Forum: rodboard

Most one-piece rod blanks won't fit in a car or a pick-up. They travel hanging out a window or hanging over a tail gate. Bumpy roads and fast stops are tough on rod guides.
Forum: rodboard

Donald: I have built and used a number of fly rods. I figured if I built a rod with the spine on the "right" side on the forecast the spine would be on the "wrong" side on the backcast - which is just as important as the forecast as we all know, so I just try to build fly rods on the straightest axis of each section.
Forum: rodboard

What, precisely, will aligning the guides with the spine accomplish, and with what type of rods? bait rods? boat rods? casting rods? trolling rods? spinning rods? Will aligning guides with the spine improve accuracy? appearance? casting distance? durability? strength?
Forum: rodboard

I see more and more casting and spinning rod blanks seven feet and longer offered only as one-piece models, while top-end fly rod blanks are chiefly 4-piece models. Are the casting/spinning rod blanks offered in one piece mainly to keep the price down? I have seen no evidence that quality 4-piece fly rods suffer any performance loss compared to 1 or 2 piece fly rod blanks, while they greatly imp
Forum: rodboard

The Daiwa Sealine reels have been around a long time, and for a good reason. Google "shosh 30" for more opinions. My slosh 30 has been in use for 20 years and I live minutes from the beach. It has never missed a stroke. BTW - I put a 120 yard topshot of #30 nylon monofilament over a couple hundred yards of #30 gelspun braid, connected by a slim beauty knot. I seldom if ever get a backla
Forum: rodboard

1/4 ounce is about 100 grains, near the median weight for the head of a 3 weight line. 1/2 ounce is about 217 grains, near the median weight for the head of an 8 weight line. There is considerable difference between a 3 wt. and an 8 wt. fly rod and the size of the fish they are used to fish for. Why not learn to fly-cast, build a fly rod, and have a ball?
Forum: rodboard

I forgot to mention This is a bait fishing rod and I use a conventional reel on it, a Slosh-30 loaded with a 150 yard #20 mono topshot knotted to a couple hundred yards of #20 braid backing. I find a conventional reel a better tool than a spinning reel for fishing and fighting fish in the surf here in Florida.
Forum: rodboard

I am thinking about replacing the guides on an 20-year-old 10' St. Croix factory-built surf blank. There is nothing wrong with them but I look for maximum performance. All else being the same, how much measurable improvement can I expect from any make, model, or priced replacement guide train? 15%? 10%?
Forum: rodboard

Rods are built to satisfy two performance needs: lifting and casting. There is a point where more guides mean worse casting (at least on fly rods), and a point where fewer guides mean worse lifting, fish fighting abilities - although I have never seen any concrete measurements of a rod's qualities other than length and weight (not counting "soulful"). Could it be that builders go to s
Forum: rodboard

Does anyone know how corporate builders of high-end rods determine the size and spacing of the guides on their best blanks? Their methodology would carry a lot of weight with me since they are in what I assume is a highly competitive market and rod performance is critical.
Forum: rodboard

I apologize, but I don't get the part about putting a piece of tape "where the blank is bending"? I'm sure it's easier to show than to tell this technique.
Forum: rodboard

Sounds reasonable. Thanks, Sean. Then I will bend the bare blank from the tip, trace the blank's curve on a piece of paper, and position guides on the rod. When the bend of the rod with a line through the guides duplicates the bend of the bare blank I will have the best possible guide placement. No need for charts, books, discussions, or doubts!
Forum: rodboard

I'm confused. Does the pull on the tip-top ALONE determine the arc of the rod, or can the placement of the running guides alter that curve? If placement of running guides can alter the curve of the rod should guide placement try to "preserve" the natural bend of the blank or alter it to a superior shape?
Forum: rodboard

I'm not gifted with a steady or artistic hand, but my computer offers a large selection of type fonts, sizes, and colors - and I can print them on a transparent sheet and epoxy this to my rod blank, thank heaven.
Forum: rodboard

roger: I don't doubt your observation, but that means all the fuss about guide spacing is a waste of time and trouble - stuff like the angle of the line entering and leaving each guide.
Forum: rodboard

roger: I'm more concerned about the rod's curve created when the line is pulled through the guides. I don't know if there is an ideal slow, medium, medium-fast etc. rod arc caused by the pull of the line through the guides, but I would like to see a photograph of, say, the IDEAL curve of a "fast" blank being deflected by a line passing from a reel, through the guide train, and out the
Forum: rodboard

Where can I find photos or drawings of the ideal curves of different rods under a load? "Different" as in slow, medium fast, medium etc. I could look at these ideal bends and move my guides up or down the rod I'm building, pulling on a line through the guide train, until I got a match with the best bend.
Forum: rodboard

Is this a fly rod?
Forum: rodboard

It depends: Will it be used for casting or trolling? Will it be used with braid or mono or fluoro, and what pound test? The devil is in the details.
Forum: rodboard