I used a masking tape arbor on the first rod I made in 1986, an Orvis Far-n-Fine fly rod. It lasted about 10 years, then one day when I tried to take the reel off after fishing the reel seat fell off the blank. The masking tape had pretty much disintegrated. I'll not ever do that again. None of the other seats I've ever made have failed.
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I chickened out and just used Flex Coat light, which I diluted a little to make it even lighter. Two coats and the wraps disappeared completely, which is what I was going for.
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I just finished wrapping a blank with silk thread for a transparent wrap. I'd normally use Flex Coat Light thinned a bit, but I have been using more and more Permaglos and I'm wondering if that would also result in a transparent wrap. Has anyone tried this? Hoping to not have to do a test run.
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I bought 200 exceptional cork rings back in 1999 for $1.20 each. As close to voidless as I've ever seen. I got out of making rods while my kids were growing up. Now that I am back into it they have become a kind of prized possession, put only on special projects. $3 a ring is crazy!
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Even more so when caught on your own rods! What a day.
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Cheap old fishing rod was used for trolling braided lines by a Chesapeake Bay charter captain. He started breaking fish off with regularity, and happened to notice that 8 of his rods had grooves like this.
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Finally got a billfish on one of my own rods!!! Tuna on my own rods are fun, wahoo are cool, but what a thrill to have a big white 6' in the air behind the boat held on only by one of my rods. Amazing!
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posted to help answer a question about cp vs. ncp blue
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I made a whole lot of trolling rods for Chesapeake Bay fishermen, including several 7 rod sets for charter captains. Blank choice depends on what you're going to troll. A bunker spoon rod fishing mono and a rod designed to troll 12 oz of lead and an umbrella rig with wire line are two very different animals... Given that usually you are dealing with a lot of weight, short blanks are probably g
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roger wilson Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > If you do not have any cork from previous years of > purchasing, and you want to purchase high quality > nearly perfect cork you can expect to spend $3-$5 > per ring. If you want a full length cork grip > that is say 10 inches total, you will use 20 1/2 > inch rings. At $4 per ring, y
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Ted Morgan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- A tangle around the tip, > overlining like that would just put the break > higher up the blank if the butt was better > protected like you say. Maybe, or maybe the line would break at the knot. Impossible to say, but a full grip adds a LOT of protection against breakage. I bet it would take twice the str
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I would disagree somewhat on the outrigger rod statement. I've fished on a lot of tuna and billfish trolling trips (most recently this past Saturday), and I've yet to see an outrigger rod using a swivel tip. The incredibly heavy lines used, and the fact that the line will almost never, ever be sitting at exactly the same place on the tip more than once, and the fact that a regular roller tip to
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I'm not exactly sure how this is the angler's fault. In my opinion, a saltwater rod to be used in a boat should not have a split grip for precisely this reason. This 'full fish weight pulling on a rod in a holder' scenario can happen in several ways. Getting spooled is rare, but getting the line wrapped around the tip, having the drag set too tight, or getting the line tangled up in the reel i
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Dave is right. If you are making it for yourself, a single wrap of D (or even A) with a few coats of permagloss or one heavy coat of epoxy is all you need. If you are making it for someone else, do at least a double wrap of D. Because otherwise they are very likely to complain that it won't be strong enough and probably it won't matter what you tell them. Tom is also right that a triple wra
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I made 6 40 lb class tuna rods using Size 16 and 12 Fuji TNSG guides, one wrap of size A thread, and 7 coats of permagloss. They are fished HARD by a charter captain, without failure, for 4 years now catching yellowfin and bluefin tuna up to 150 lbs. Having said that, I would never consider wrapping them in a spiral for use in the ocean with inexperienced anglers are likely to use the rod.
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I made the leap myself. Setting up the business is pretty easy, at least in Maryland. The paperwork really isn't that much of a hassle, and I buy EVERYTHING through a credit card or money order so even if I lose the paperwork there is a record on file. I save a considerable amount on purchases, but this is largely offset by the state and federal taxes I now pay. Even though the hassles are mi
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Tom Kirkman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The trouble with a simple feel test, is that you aren't putting the fisherman's hand through the > same exercises that he/she will experience when actually fishing the rod for several hours at a > time out on the water. Tom's exactly right, and this is why I think asking a customer to choose their favori
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You may find, as I did, that some customers with big hands like small grips (and visa versa). One approach I've taken many times is to ask the customer to take a picture and some measurements from their favorite rod grip on a rod they already own. Then I ask what about that might be improved, and I take if from there. I store that info. in a binder along with other info. from the customer for
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Oh yeah, I still have my first rod and I still fish with it every year. It's a 5 weight Orvis Far-n-Fine that's over 20 years old and still going strong other than having to replace the reel seat (which had originally been shimmed with masking tape). Despite my having fished with it for thousands of hours over two decades, Steve (two posts above) has caught a bigger smallmouth on it than me! N
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Do any of you have CC numbers for any of those swimbait blanks?
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How is saying a fish can move a heavier rod more easily than a light rod any different than saying it's easier to move a medicine ball than a beach ball? Or are you using the word heavier to mean rod action (as opposed to mass)? ?
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With all due respect Tom, that's not quite true. Emory is right on. The heavier the rod, the harder it will be for a fish to move and the more of that movement that will be absorbed/deadened by the mass. On top of that, every bit that rod flexes is a bit less movement at your hand. The lever argument is compromised to a large degree by flex. In those lever diagrams, the planes are always
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So Tom/Jean- you are telling us that a 16' long, 6.7 oz rod- which is obviously not going to be very stiff at all, is going to be able to detect the bite of a fish better than a rod that is stiffer and weights perhaps half as much? I find that exceedingly difficult to believe given that weight and flex are two of the things that most negatively affect blank sensitivity (transmission of motion fr
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A compromise I use when the diameters are only barely different is to use fiberglass mesh tape. It's sold for use on drywall corners. Wrap it to get the fit right, then unwrap it most of the way and pack with Rod Bond as you re-wrap it. It will never degrade the way masking tape will. I have personal experience with masking tape failing over time. The first rod I ever built, in fact. Af
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I will second everything stated above. Getting light colored threads to be evenly colored on a dark blank is a royal PITA.
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The question is "is there any MAJOR difference in sensitivity." The answer is no, there will be no major difference. Foam arbors are my choice, and will be stronger and last longer, but there will be no detectable difference.
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I've made a few rods for an Air Force colonel. I had Decal Connection print up the AF logo and the colonel insignia. I used them alongside his name and also as ferrule alignment marks. He loved it.
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I believe it would greatly enhance the sight if there were an "active topics" option. This would bring to the top those topics that had the most replies over the last 7 days (which tend to be the most interesting topics). Once a thread drops below the first page, it pretty much dies no matter how interesting it might have been. Not intended as a criticism- the site is fine as is- j
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Excellent point about the vernacular Tom. I think this is often the root of confusion when discussing rods between builders (and especially between builders and anglers). Anyone trying to communicate this sort of thing needs to take great pains to make sure they are clear on how they define these terms. When Emory and I were e-mailing each other about these issues months ago, I know we somet
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Marc- Tom would be right about the longer rods if all things were equal, but they are not equal. Remember- stiffness is inversely proportional to length SQUARED. So a little increase in length results in a significant decrease in stiffness. To maintain the stiffness a significant amount of added material (and therefore mass) will have to be added. This is why your longer rods begin to feel ti
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