While I have no idea about comparative costs or dissolve rates, another product that is similar in intent to what you are doing in the retrieve system is the dissolving plug used on some automatic life preservers. Since they support the pretty strong spring load of the triggering mechanism, they have to be pretty tough.
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Most of my King fishing is from a boat in a lake-it gets windy and the fish like smaller lures, mostly crankbaits that don't cast as well as spoons (they grab the wind more). If you can keep the fish out of the anchor rope on the first run (best way is to just let them go and put the rod under the anchor rope to get on the fish's side of it) then you have room to let them run without having to s
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I haven't even used the new spinning rod on the water yet. It does cast very well. It's a 9 foot rod, am thinking of the 8' 6" version of the rod-would give a "matched set." But I wanted to get the opinions of the members of the forum, also, as I don't want to miss any good ideas. thanks for your comment.
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I just finished my spinning rod for casting light lures for salmon, and now am ready to start my casting rod for king salmon. The issue is that I need to cast 1/4 oz lures a long ways for fish that may exceed 20 pounds, so while I need to cast light lures a long ways, I still need to control some very aggressive, big, powerfull fish. Do any of you have any opinions on what blank to start with
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There is no question that a longer rod will help you throw lighter lures farther than a shorter rod, assuming both are well matched to the lure size. I'm a little surprised that Karry didn't recommend a longer blank than 7-6. I would have thought he would recommend 8 '. I just finished a Rainshadow XST1084F, 9 foot, for throwing 1/4 oz lures for salmon, and it casts like a bullet. It may be a
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If you do not use CP on the wraps the rod finish will really lock the guide to the rod, and I cannot imagine anything pulling it off without first destroying the guide, any guide. CP will cost some strength, so if using single foot guides with CP, I would use the Forhan locking wrap. One thing about the small single foot guides (fly rod guides on spinning and spiral wraps) is they are lower a
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I have not had much experience with colored metallics, just gold and silver, and I've done them both with and without CP with no problems. This looks to me like it could have used either a second coat of CP, or none at all. The comments about light colors over dark blanks seem to me like they would be valid for regular non-metallic thread, but aren't metallics totally opaque? The golds an
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Everyone has their own opinions and I suggest in time you will develop yours. You will develop opinions/preferences that also will depend on the specific function of the rod. I have used conventional spinning reel seats for years and found them to be comfortable for me. I've also used the design you mention, and it is also comfortable. I prefer the conventional seats to be uplocking, especi
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I recently removed some guides from a rod to switch to smaller guides. The original wraps were done with A size thread and no color preservative, just rod finish. It is hard to imagine that those guides would have been moved by anything short of a destructive force. They were there to stay, no Forhan locking wrap. While the wrap may be appropriate when you use CP, if you don't, it appears to
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When I have had finish that was not smooth it was because there was a piece of thread sticking up or I put the finish on too heavily and it didn't totally level out. The latter is not unusual especially if you use a high build finish. I have switched to lite build, heat it in hot tap water before measuring it, then blow gently on the surface of the finish in the mixing cup for a coouple minutes
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Sorry to be so late in responding on the proprietary name for the Scotch brand tape that is very tough and also UV resistant. I don't know the exact name for it , but you can find it at hardware/Home Depot/ similar stores in their tape section. It is almost transparent, not quite, but when it's covered with rod finish it appears perfectly clear. Look for a tape that is almost clear and that ha
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I think the original message asked about pimples popping out, which means something rising from the surface. I have never had that unless I was careless about leaving a thread end sticking up. On the other hand, if the problem is a "crater" in the finish, I have had these many times. Maybe that is what some of you call fisheyes? I have not seen one of those since I started heati
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I noticed a fishing show on Versus recently that had a young boat captain who evidently made his own rods, and the rod they were using for big fish (the rod lblank looked like it was about 1/2 inch in diameter), bait fishing deep over the side, was spiral wound. There were a few comments on it, and it was stated that is was more stable. Not compelling messages for your skeptical customers, but
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"In the old days," like about 30 years ago, EVA foam grips were very bad for deterioration in the sunlight, or ozone, or something, so in spite of really liking their feel, I've steered away from them. Are they now much better for this? If I make a rod with EVA will it still be good 25 years from now? On some old (cheap) rods, the grips just seemed to go away.
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I really love my Loomis. Not much support for Loomis on this site recently, and I don't know why. Their technique specific blanks really do a nice job. Check them out for the weight baits you will be casting.
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There is a tough Scotch transclucent tape available at hardware stores that is resistant to sunlight, also is thicker than scotch tape so it is very tough. I've placed it onto the release paper that is under labels, written on it, cut it to size, picked it back up and put it onto blanks. It disappears once the rod finish is applied. I assume that clear decal films will work as well, but this i
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Here is a tip that really has made a difference in my feather inlays. I had interpreted instructions in the past as being to place the feather in wet color preservative, then coat the top of the feather immediately with more CP. This really tended to mess up the more fragile feathers. On my last rod I placed the feather as before, then "blotted" the feather with a paper towel to forc
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I have used the Amtak titanium frame guides on a number of rods, both spinning and casting, the models before the ringlocks were available, and have been very pleased with them. My last spinning rod used three of the A frame guides with the rest the fly guides, set up as a Fuji concept arrangement, and the rod casts like a rifle. The titanium will give you minimum weight on the blank while the
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I just made a label on Corel Paint Shop Pro, and it was fairly straightforward. It printed nicely on the silver media from Texascraft with the Canon printer set for glossy II paper. I don't think there is a software that doesn't take some practice to get used to. You have to master "layers" in Paint Shop Pro to get what you want. The background, set up by opening a "new"
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I have experience with crankbait rods that are either glass or Loomis CB843, not with the others suggested. The CB843 is a wonderful rod, very light, easy casting, quite versatile, and has become my favorite of many casting rods that I use.
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I really think that making custom labels on a vinyl substrate that really look good at home is a very significant issue. I don't think that ordering single decals from a decal source is very practical-every decal on every rod I've ever made has been unique. Either the owner's name, the date, comments that were not on the blank decal, something is always different from the other decals. Being
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Check out the loomis 7' cb841 or 843 blanks for very light, sensitive, forgiving blanks that IMHO meet the properties that most responders are looking for. Very easy on the arm, easy to cast, soft on the strike, sensitive. I've tried glass and for the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone would want a glass rod when they could have a Loomis 843.
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The ONLY time I have ever had a finish not curing properly problem was before I got religion and started using hpyos instead of just estimating equal volumes of resin and hardener. Since I have used hpyos, my finish has been bullet-proof. Every application has performed just as it should have. Of course there are other issues, like temperature, introduced moisture, other contaminants, not wa
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I use the flexible plastic winding checks and carefully run the finish right up over the check, about two coats. If you use plenty of finish it will form a nice curve of finish up onto the check, and the check will essentially disappear. I've never had a problem with any abnormalities of finish appearance where the check meets the cork. I use exotic burl cork-maybe that is so uniform that it h
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I have used the Titan A frame guides (NIA) and Titan casting guides (NIC) on a number of rods and the only trouble was with a #6 A frame when I stepped on it. No rings coming out, no broken frames, no problems that could be reasonably blamed on the guides. I have fished the rods for a max of about 3 years. Some have had pretty rough use, some pretty easy use. I notice now that they offer a
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Since jerk-bait rods and crankbait rods generally run slower than most others, and in graphite they are very nice, light, easy casting rods, maybe you can try your slower blanks out for those techniques. If you can't fix it, feature it.
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I have used braid a lot since its first days and my experience is like Tom's-only tiptops on inexpensive rods have grooved. I have experienced no grooving since I've started building rods again, last 5 years or so-use Alconite and above, often use SIC on just the tiptop. Just in case.
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Regarding ergonomics, Tom, I highly respect your expertise in everything I've read that you've done, and I respect your expertise on ergonomics, but for bait casting rods for me, just for me, the recommendations to go larger than normal just don't work well. After reading your work on ergonomics I built two casting rods with larger than normal diameter handles. They were not even as large as re
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Regarding winding checks-you can assume there will be a little taper from the butt diameter and order the soft pliable ones a little undersize and they nicely stretch to fit many sizes. I use them, and when I finish the rod, I apply finish right up over the check, careful not to get it onto the cork, and they sort of disappear into a nice curve of finish. If you use metal checks, then they have
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Maybe I'm just not a pro level fisherman, but I just cannot understand what justification there is for a glass bait casting rod these days when the blank manufacturers have done such a good job of matching the flex of glass with lighter and more sensitive graphite. I have tried glass, but just cannot resist going back to my Loomis crankbait rod-it's so easy to cast, so light, so sensitive, so sl
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