I recently finished up a couple "micro" rods and used a Fuji Alconite 6mm tip. It looks huge on the end of the rod compared to the running guides, but they both cast very well. Now if we could get rid of the 20+ inches of ice on the lakes I could give 'em a test on a fish...
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I'm with Alex on this one. Build it for the best performance you can get out of it. To me, that would be a spiral wrap to completely eliminate the line touching the blank and build it as light as possible, like split grip no fore grip and an blank exposed seat, or even a two pipece reel seat. There is no sense getting a blank like an SCV and weighting it down with excess guides, epoxy, and han
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I have used knitting needles, the good ole thumb nail, the fingernail cleaner on a nail clipper, and now my favorite is a science probe like the ones used to disect frogs back in biology class. I used it on the last rod I built to pack threads and to apply the finish to the threads. As Mr. Channer said, there are no bubbles from a brush when using this metal tool. It has approximately a 45 deg
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The muskies that I would try to catch are normally in 6 ft of water or less, and I can usually get them to go on football jigs and spider grubs or something similar. So, I would be likely throwing bass sized flies at them to try to trigger them into striking. I think I will go for a 9wt or a heavy 8wt if there is such a blank. Is there? I haven't built a fly rod for bass or muskies before, so
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What weight/ length fly rod would you all recommend for bass and possibly a musky now and then? I fish on a couple lake s for smallies that have the big toothy fish in them, and if you are lucky you can sight fish them too... Would an 8 weight be over kill for bass and ok for muskies? Thanks for the recommendations.
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You will want to cover the decals and the thread. That is all. You may want to seal the cork if you used cork, but that is not done with the same finish as the guides. Welcome to the addiction!
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As far as guides go, I would use Fuji alconites. You could probably gert away with using mostly single foot guides if you want to make it as light as possible. I have caught quite a few muskies on my "bass" rods and they have held up fine to muskies. The biggest I have landed was a 53" on a SCIV 7' MHF that I built with fuji alconites, spiral wrapped, of course.
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You could remove the guides and old finish, then re-wrap and finish them for better results than trying to put new finish on bad finish...
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I am about to wrap a 7'11" SCIV blank and am only going with an 11.5" to 12" to the back of the reel seat. 16" sounds like it would be a little long on a 6'10" blank...
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Are the guides form Swampland and Custom tackle th esame guides? I can't seem to find them on the CT site...
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Where would you all recommend I purchase a few sets of micro guides from? I have a couple blanks to wrap and want to give the micro guides a try. I plan to spiral wrap both blanks, and will probably use the quick transition to the bottom of the blank. Would an 8 as the first guide work with a 4 as a bumper between the transition guide and the first on the bottom, probably use a 6 for the first
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If you have a caliper, measure the blank where you want the handle to be, and then drill the holes out to be a little smaller than your blank measurement. Finish off the reaming with the suggested strategies above and you will cut your reaming time down significantly.
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I have built an IMB 944 and use it for bass/ muskie swimbaits up to 2 ounces, and also throw bucktails and topwater on it for muskies. It handles all of these baits well. It is also reasonably priced...
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As far as placement of the guides is concerned, you are right in that you will need to discern there position once you have the blank under a static load. Usually start the first guide out at around 20" from the reel seat. It may vary a little, but this is a decent starting point. From there I place the rest of the guies on the blank at a rough guesstimate of decresing lenghts as I get cl
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Another possible help may be the MN DNR site. From there you may be able to find info on Upper Red Lake. The MN DNR planted a bunch of cribs out there when the crappie craze started about ten years ago. Possibly google Upper Red Lake Crappie cribs.... Hope fully this helps. On a side note, are you doing this as a project for school credit? I teach alternative ed and am always looking for
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To me it depends upon the intended use of the rod. If it is for a technique that requires the tip to be down, like crankin' or any other horizontal baits, I like the rod to be a little tip heavy. Conversely, for techniques that require the tip to be up, I prefer the rod to be a little butt heavy. To me, this allows for the most comfort and sesnitivity in a casting rod. I hope this helps...
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