Mark, have you looked at what NFC has to offer? You have one more week left on their sale. Hard to pass up on those discounts and I have been a sucker for them lately. If you are afraid based on past experience/info be advised they have gotten their act together these days. I have the Xray MB7109 but they offer the MB 709-1 in both IM and SM in the bass section. It is on the lighter side o
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Mark, let us know how it works out. Never tried a Bushido blank but have heard good things. My first thought is a freshwater bass graphite rod with a 15-30# rating is a very different animal than a saltwater rated composite with a 15-30# rating. My brothers are up in Pensacola so maybe I will give you a shout out in the future. I'm at the age where I don't know if I want to sell and move up
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I try not to enter into posts that I have no experience with. But we do fish downriggers in my area and I am a little confused about this whole salmon/steelhead/trout thing. So salmon are (sometimes) caught in saltwater? What about steelhead (it seems never)? I guess I'm even more confused because rainbow trout are both members of the salmon family? I'm used to store bought salmon with pin
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I have no experience with your waters and fishing method. Sure wish the mangroves down here averaged that size! I'd be inclined to look at a composite blank. I'd prioritize durability and strength over weight. Nine guides sounds about right and I'd use double foot guides for durability. You can go less, and single foot, if you spiral wrap. I'd want a grip material that can stand up to bei
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Phil, take a look. You can find the info you claim isn't made available. Sometimes you have to ask the company. Truth is most customers are more concerned with weight than strength. 20-40 inshore 30# surf blank
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If you like Bodine you might want to check out another option too. Just a matter of having an opportunity to get one for free (or cheaply). I have a 110 volt DC permanent magnet motor that is rated at 1000 RPM. It is intended for use as an elevator door operator. It will run down to low RPM and (according to my elevator mechanic) handle a stall condition for days on end. If you are intereste
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Being poor can result in being cheap. I have been guilty of both. In your shoes I'd look to do more than one rod. Mix the 3 cc's as Tom suggested. Coat one rod, ideally a complete rod or several guides. Then put the remaining epoxy in the freezer. Chances are good you will get at least one guide wrap out of it the next morning. And don't think you need a rod dryer to get good results.
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Congrats David and thanks for the review.
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David, just to be clear, my post was a little "tongue in cheek" about how ridiculous my thought process is going. I have a 1 oz blank that I turn it into a 3 oz build with just the reel seat and grips. End of the world. Yet I do it because I've never built with split grips and/or skeleton seat and therefore think I don't like them. If it was a 6 oz blank adding 2 oz for the seat a
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Thank you David. I was in a hurry to try out a new UL blank I got. It came with carbon grips and the only reel seat I had that matched was a Fuji DPSM20. I was left feeling like I added so much weight I already ruined the build. So much I have held off and thinking of going to 16H, 8H, 5.5M over the 20H, 10H I have taped on now (like that will matter, huh!). However the rod is still tip he
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Russ likes fishing. Russ likes talking about fishing equipment and ways to increase success. The more you engage Russ, and the more beers anyone buys him, the more he talks. Otherwise Russ is on the quiet and introverted side. I got what I came for. Namely that for an UL rod, and the weights normally cast, one won't see a substantial difference between a 500 and 2000 reel. Second, yes the
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We are getting off on a tangent here but I love it. Phil it has gotten to the point where I can no longer tell if you are asking a serious question, or if you even want an answer. I'll just say this. Any increase in casting distance needs to be looked at as a percentage increase. If you are casting a 1/32 ounce jig on spinning gear you aren't casting it far no matter what. An eight foot
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I don't have the soft grip ones, but assuming they are much the same......I went through a lot of drama trying to answer the same question. I happened to buy some freshwater blanks on one of their sales that came with a grip set for free. Deal included rear grip, fore grip, and EVA butt cap. Turns out that tenon is for the EVA butt cap, not the reel seat!!!!! Of course I can't find that E
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Some reels cast better than others. That is just a simple fact. It is more acknowledged in conventional surf casting reels, but it is still true with spinning reels. The Vanford is the replacement for the Stradic Ci4. It is considered a better reel and it is very light in weight. Yet I could buy a Luvias for 120 more which weighs the same, but holds about 56% more line. If I'm fighting a
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Chis, Mike just mentioned using a size 8 minima and butt guides as close as 13”.
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No problems David and no need to apologize. I have always enjoyed you posts. Remember, it was my fist go around with KR guides and the software. The more I played the more I saw that I wasn’t comfortable with. With so many adamant about it providing perfect results I didn’t know what to think. Then Norm got me straightened out. Hopefully we all learned a little something from the exchange.
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I am a J braid/Yo-Zuri fan but probably wouldn't buy smaller than 10#. For what you (and Mark) are doing I'd be inclined to try Nanofil. Expect a learning curve WRT knots. At first I was regretting making a comment about having problems with the guide train. Now I'm glad I did. I certainly have a better understanding.
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Norman thanks once again for indulging me in this conversation. Perhaps this information had been posted before. If so, I missed it. Perhaps everyone felt it was self evident? "It is not unreasonable to believe that once you have found an optimum stripper position and reduction train length for a given reel and line, then these value do not have to vary with increasing or decreasing
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I guess I'm a dinosaur. Wasn't that long ago that a 6500 reel was a medium size saltwater spinning reel. Of course some 6500's are bigger than others. I used to charter some boats out of Key West with a group of guys. Loved to get up before dawn, catch goggle eyes, and free line them for big king mackerel. After get spooled a few too many times I returned next year with my new shimano 6500
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Thanks again Norman. I was beginning to feel like I was doing something wrong. Interesting how things change going to a 2000 reel with 20-30# braid (which seems a rather unlikely pairing IMHO). The spacing becomes closer to progressive at 20", 8.94", 6.77", and 6.34". All things are never equal but lets pretend for the sake of a thought experiment. Given that we have
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I don't see any reason why the cork would be a problem. The thin part will be supported by the blank on one side and the reel seat on the other. All of that will be encapsulated in epoxy.
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The literature doesn't exactly make it clear that, given a big enough reel on a short enough rod, your rod tip will end up being your choke point. In other words, don't fret if you need a lot more reduction guides than the literature would suggest. What is the spool diameter on that reel? Is a 30 ring large enough? I haven't used the KW's but in the MN frame I could see needing a 40. FWI
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Very nicely worded and I am in total agreement Norman. All the posts make it sound very straight foreword and easy. It was my first go around but I was a surprised I was having difficulties. A little unrealistic I suppose. I inputted for a 7 foot rod with a 1000 reel, light braid, with the reel tip at 11.5". The suggested train was 16H, 8H, 5.5M. Distances were 19", 8.56",
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Okay FWIW I found I had to put in false info to get anything meaningful out of the KR GPS software. Anything close to the truth defaulted to 16H, 8H, 5.5M. Had to go to a minimum of 2000 size reel and 20-30 braid to get suggestions for 20H, 10H, 5.5M guide train. I'll see how that works. In another section it was mentioned I could measure the distance from butt guide to rod tip, multiply by
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Thank you gentlemen. Looks like I should go with a 1000 size for the lightest blank. The other two, I suppose, don't really qualify as UL (4-8#/4-10# ratings). I'll see how that size feels on them and go from there. I have problems with my fingers/hand so the real limp, low # test braid, is a problem. The more wiry stuff like Fireline, I can begin to handle. Never even held a Lews ree
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Thomas, the brand I use(d) is no long in the business so I have no qualms mentioning I have been using Gudebrod ferrule cement for as long as I can remember. It would be interesting if the different results, and hence different preferences now, came down to certain brand(s) used in the past.
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Thomas, in the interest of learning, I'm curious what brand (hot melt) you were using. IIRC I have only used one brand as long as I can remember. Always wondered about the stuff that the archery crowd used. Seems it would be a little stronger. I guess we never look for a solution until something becomes a problem! The shear number of questions on this topic should clue me into thinking i
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Kent, you would think it would be guys like you and me that live in the hotter climates than would be anti hot melt tip adhesive. Yet I have never had a problem with it, even when leaving rods in a hot car on 90+ degree days. Way more important to me to be able to change a tip easily when on a long range fishing trip. All I need is my Bic lighter and some cement. I doubt I would consider us
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So I have added some UL blanks (3) to my collection. Likely I'll be fishing from shore so casting performance is important. I was thinking a 500 and a 1000 size reel would be the thing to match them with (blanks are all NFC; FW741-2, FW702-2, and FW664-2). But I'm second guessing myself. All I am gaining is weight reduction and maybe I'm sacrificing a lot of casting distance. These days I
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Chris, I don't wrap them either. Michael, I consider it a plus when a guide wrap lands there as "it kills two birds with one stone".
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