There's only so much you can do with a long rod like that one. I'm not sure that adding an additional 4 ounces to the butt of the rod isn't going to be more tiring than just fishing the rod a little tip heavy. Plus, once you string up the rod and add your lure/bait, etc., the balance is going to change anyway. If you do add weight, do so in a manner that will allow you to remove it if you dec
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Yes, I have some left. They should also be available on the RodMaker website later this week. ................
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Following is the tentative list of vendors and seminars to be presented at the 2010 International Custom Rod Building Exposition. You can find additional information on lodging, restaurants, etc., at the official event website at .................. Vendors Batson Enterprises (Rainshadow/Forecast) Midwest Rod & Reel Seeker Rod Company REC Components Donart RodD
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Let me know. It's rare that I get a bad one, but it could certainly happen. If you have more than one CD, and neither works, it points more to a problem on your end than with the CDs. ..............
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It's a PDF file. Do you have Adobe Acrobat Reader? You can get it free for download. .............
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If this was from FishSticks at the 2009 Expo, it may be an ATC blank. I don't think many really knew what a great deal those blanks went for at the Expo. Contact Scott or Karen at Fishsticks and they might be able to help you out with the manufacturer. Most likely the lure weight range is something you're going to have figure out on your own. .................
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Model P. .................
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The only ring size in that series, I think, is numbered is numbered as a 6 and has an inside diameter of 5.5mm. Most pear fly tops are about 4 to 5mm inside opening with the large or "oversize" loops being about 6.5 to 7mm. ................
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Not sure it's really substantial enough for use on wood. Shoot Dan and email and ask if he's tried it on wood. Works great on cork, but just not sure how well it would do on wood. High speed and light pressure, maybe. ...............
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I haven't seen impact failures causing delaminated fibers on the inside of the rod - most are fairly clean and we've done many dozens of them at this point, both up high and down low. The trunk break, or car door, etc., is common and always leaves a very obvious tell-tale sign. I think folks will enjoy the article and when you can accurately state the cause of breakage to a customer he may dec
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Volume 12 #1. ............
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Doesn't really matter although most these days are angled slightly forward. ..............
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I'll bet that the folks at Batson would know. ....................
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The card should state with what issue your subscription expired. The current issue is Volume 12 #5 and many got it last week and many more will get it this week. ..............
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Only partly right - B is a combination break and once you read the article you'll understand how to discern that one, and all the rest. ...............
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Right, clean the area with water or alcohol and then use Scotchbrite to scuff and degloss the previous coat and then apply the new epoxy (don't wipe with a solvent after you scuff the area, just dust it off). ................
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The hardener will amber/yellow even after it's mixed and applied to the rod. It makes no difference. ............
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There is no appreciable shelf life for any of those epoxies. Your Cabelas epoxy was, I believe, Flex Coat. It was fine - something else caused it not to set up. All the hardeners will eventually yellow or amber. This has no effect on the properties of the epoxy. ...............
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If you do use a guide as a tiptop, just wrap it on and use a Forhan Locking Wrap for additional security. ..................
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Emory has given you good advice. Generally the straightest axis (oriented in the concave position) positions the rod so that the fish, or the bite, will be pulling against the stiffest axis. Thus you have the most stiffness for the weight in that particular orientation. The only problem is that your line may not be directly in line underneath that axis. If it's behind or fore of that plane, a
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High Stick breaks normally occur about 1/3rd to 1/2 of the rod's total length back from the tiptop. Unless, there is a slight fracture somewhere in the blank's surface ahead of that. When such a minor surface nick or fracture is present, it may hold during normal fishing use but if the rod is high sticked it will pop at that point. ..............
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1 right, 1 close, 2 others not quite and are more specific. ..........
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Jay, When a rod is high sticked and breaks within an inch or two of tip, you can bet there was an impact mark or fracture in that area and the high-sticking exacerbated the problem and resulted in the rod breaking at that point. A sound blank, with no impact marks or fractures, when high sticked, won't break that close to the tiptop. These are things we'll be covering in the article. Deter
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H&H hasn't been a sponsor here in over a year, but no matter, they're still good people. If you decide on a Batson blanks there are plenty of other sponsors here that carry them. ...............
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Most high stick failures don't take place right at the tiptop - they usually take place a good bit farther back. Farther back, in fact, than most might suspect. I'd guess your break was about a 3rd of the rod's length back from the tiptop. I've been with fishermen who broke their rods due to high sticking. I've also broken no less than 40 various rods by high sticking them, on purpose, in the
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Ken, You're dealing with at least 2 whoppers, and only 1 of them is a fish. I wish I could have seen the break before you repaired it. Rods that are not under stress don't suddenly explode with a report that sounds like a rimfire shot. Nor do they simply break. If we give the fisherman and his buddy some leeway and choose to believe most of what they're saying, then the most likely sc
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I put up a photo a moment ago depicting 4 unique types of breakage (there are plenty more types of failure - these are just 4 of them). All rods are broken in the same area but each one exhibits certain telltale signs that point to a specific cause of failure. I'll put up the exact causes next week. The Volume 12 #6 issue of RodMaker will have a very detailed article and many more photos
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The less substantial a blank is, i.e., thinner walls, the more susceptible it can be to be to things like impact, fracture, crush, etc. There's a little more to it than this but I don't have time to get into it right now. That's sort of outside the scope of the article. If you know you have a customer that is hard on his/her equipment, I'd steer them to a lower modulus blank anyway, unless you
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Emory, I wasn't discussing the properties of the material - I was discussing the end product. The fishing rod. This is what we fish with. The article is intended to provide practical help to builders who need to know how to better identify what caused a breakage. I'm not concerned about any sort of discussion on material properties - that won't provide any practical help for this particular pr
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There's more to it than that. The most durable blanks we've fooled with in all this have actually been the ones made from the highest modulus fiber. They have been much more resistant to damage or failure due to impact, fracture or crush. We rigged up a little machine that will drop an edge against a rod blank and guarantees the same amount of force, at the same angle each and every time. The one
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