I used a rod 6 1/2 foot MF jigging spinning rod for the first time last week on some pretty good walleyes and late in the week I noticed the bottom two single foot Amtek titanium guides had what appears to be frosty/cloudy looking "crazing" in the rod finish on the bottom side only. The finish is Cabela's rod finish that I have used for years-it comes in little premeasured packets so I
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If you have not already done so, you may want to check out spiral winding for this rod. Since it is so limber it may take a lot of guides to keep the line off the rod with conventional winding, especially if you want to use micro guides, and spiral will possibly allow fewer guides. And the rod will be stable when flexed. This seems like an ideal candidate for the spiral guide setup, fewer and
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I still think the best option is to keep this rod blank the way it is and build it into a spinning rod. It will be an excellent spinning rod and a very limited casting rod. It is rated for lures 1/8-3/8 and lines 4-10 pounds test. Not ideal for a casting rod. If you want to start cheap to make your casting rod beginner's mistakes on a $20 blank instead of a $90 blank check out Mudhole.com f
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I agree with not cutting off the blank-if you want a shorter rod, get a shorter blank and save this one for another rod. I have a 7 foot bait cast Loomis crankbait rod that is softer than most bait casting rods, feels a lot like a spinning rod. And I love it. Casts like a dream, handles all sizes of fish well. It wouldn't be a good flipping rod or a good rod for snapping lures off weeds, but
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I agree with Karry that unless one goes to the trophy catch and release lakes out west, a serious stick is not needed, and in fact may be tiring to cast all day long. I go to a good pike lake in Ontario every year and have found that a 6 1/2 foot length is good when fishing two to a 14 foot boat, ( if both fishermen have 7 foot rods it can get a little crowed in the boat, too!) but if I were fi
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Regarding the ergonomics issue on grip diameters. I read the article and came to the conclusion like the author did that the ideal size for my handles was pretty large. I made two casting rods with variations of shape and with larger than normal rear grips, but still smaller than the numbers predicted. Neither of them is easy to cast WITH ONE HAND because I just cannot seem to grip them secur
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For a true drop shot hook keeper write to [email protected] they have a website that shows the keepers and from which they may be ordered.
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Cabelas has a nice selection of blanks, also. I made an 8 wt 9 ft travel rod from one of their XML blanks and it is a great rod, very light for the power. A guide who sees a lot of rods mentioned how well he liked it, also.
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I would strongly recommend you think about painting the blank. Sounds like a great way to open a can of worms, (appearance/durability of the finish) and it has to be detrimental to the mass of the blank, and therefore its sensitivity. Along the same vein, the smaller/lighter you can make the guides, the better for the action of the rod. Regarding sizing the reel seat, I purchased a caliper f
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I used AmTac titans (titanium frame, nanolite rings-slightly less hard than hardest Fujis, but tougher) on a recent spinning rod I intend for dropshot. For this type of fishing you want the lightest guideset (other than possibly the recoils) to maintain best sensitivity. A couple other things I would suggest, there is a drop shot hook keeper that is open on the "butt" side so it a
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I recently made a Loomis SB812, and I am very pleased with it, not only for how it fishes, but how it looks. It is one classy rod. I did a simple spiral wrap and used Gudebrod Olive without color preservative, and it almost matches the color of the rod blank, a beautiful glossy olive/bronze color. With burl cork, split grip, a little metallic gold trim, it is an elegant, understated, beauty.
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I can't say my dog ate my homework, but on my last rod I leaned over the drying rod to check on something and touched the rod with my sweatshirt. The rod finish was still quite tacky and the pattern left by the shirt was like an alligator back. I used a very wet finger to rub down the pattern, getting rid of most of it without the finish doing anything funny, then let it harden. A quick sandin
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I just finished a rod with an epoxy ramp and finished it by wrapping with black size A thread, then applying color preservative, then 2 part rod finish. You cannot even see the wrap and it is very black, glossy, and perfectly smooth.
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Any preferences for color preservative foy nylon out there? Please advise what they are and why. thanks, Mick
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