spoonplugger1

Just some information, the Batson Revelations I mentioned being like the Traditions II, they retail for $167.76.

You can also raise a bit of a nap on the eva by scuffing lightly with course sandpaper. If you don't like it you can reverse it with finer paper.

Angler's Workshop has the Pac Bay Arctos 935-4 - NAT if you can live with a 3 inch longer blank, they have 3 it looks like. Traditions II 9 ft. blank if you can't, same price, MF instead of fast action, made with a lesser carbon. I have fished both, personally I prefer the Arctos, it is an easy to get along with blank. The Traditions II is virtually the same feel and performance of the Batson Revelation blanks.

If you mean unlimited, all variety blank selection, in all configurations, good luck with that. Otherwise, if you are just looking for a one off for yourself and you know what you need, maybe we can help.

Just remember this is all for looks it will not improve performance if you are a little off. All blanks are not arrow straight, if need be, I align the guides to a straight line not following the blank imperfections.

Maybe we are the same path, looking at it from another angle. All I'm saying is when you install eva grips and you slide the grip into place instead of first reaming to fit, the difference you will see in diameter after you are done will be hard to notice, as the eva expands in OD it also thins materially and therefore stays very close to the OD you originally had. Making up the difference to get what you want may take more tenon size difference.

Not sure I would use tape, especially if there is a chance of water immersion, thread and some kind of watertight finish applied would be my approach to increase the tenon OD, remember EVA does not expand without also thinning so it will be an uphill battle to get that little bit of increased OD taking more to do little. Frankly, I can't imagine how anyone could expect a perfect match up knowing the materials and process. it's not like it was made of a single, solid material like cork, eva, wood, etc. There are certain imperfections involved in the carbon skin/ foam core and different butt caps are not built with identical OD, metal, rubber, eva caps have no standard OD, everyone does the best they can not knowing what type of grip they will be attached to. No standard = no chance of perfect fit universally.

Old adages don't help our endeavors, the new rods are not built like the old ones when increases in modulus meant easier to break, it has been untrue for many years now, carbon and resin systems have come to the point where the use of scrim to maintain hoop strength to keep rods from blowing up isn't necessary anymore and it's been that way for some time now. Time to remove that from our mental filing cabinets. We have had rods/blanks on the market for over 40 years that have used no scrim, they have always had a line of deep sea carbon rods durable enough including the first all carbon deep sea rail rods developed a decade ago.

Lamiglas EC 862, Castaway reel seat, spiral wrapped Alps micros to 3 mm. custom Fluor cork 2 1/2 inch split grips 8 1/2 inch spacing, no foregrip. Pac Bay G 16 winding check, Gudebrod Garnet wraps, and silver 3 wrap trim bands.

You don't hold your rod, nor are your body positioned anything like each other bank fishing vs kayak fishing. Rear grip length and type of grip makes or breaks the comfort and ergonomics of fishing from a kayak, most are short enough that anything over 6 1/2 ft. long with a short enough grip to come in or out of your rocket launcher behind your back, any rod holders without hanging up or having to overextend past a comfortable position, or it won't hang up on any type of clothing you are wearing will work. I classify my kayak rods as workhorse rods, I care how they fish and make my fishing easier and care less how stylish they are, a lot of time and effort goes into getting where the fish are, I save a lot of effort if I don't have to overextend myself or reach uncomfortably to switch rods, remove a rod from a rod holder under heavy fish load or after retying, or risk hanging up on anything while I'm fishing.

Open up the Rod Geeks catalog and pick one, they are now and always have built most of St. Croix's blanks. Your Mojo is either a Carbon 2 or 3 blank, originally all the Mojos were Carbon 2.

Sorry I do not Mick.

Schneider's Rod Shop has some Am Tackle blanks on sale in their Hot Items section, there is a Bushido dropshot blank there that is a dandy and at a price hard to pass up.

The epoxy we use is developed to be in the potting resin category, it is not particularly strong nor is a very good adhesive, if you have removed a guide you have seen this. Going back to Permagloss, it is a very tough material, light, flexible and a good adhesive, you can pull out a new razor blade and easily remove all the epoxied guides on a rod with it, good luck doing that with a Permagloss finished rod and it's harder to remove the thread afterwards. the finish is light and thin and more easily absorbed into the thread, if you want a thicker application, let it set for a half hour and then apply it, I use this method only on my final coat though, I want the thin, absorbing, sealing, first coats before doing this. I have never seen a pulled guide on a Permaglossed rod.

Chris, They are using thread, using epoxy, using larger guides than necessary, and a myriad of other things because they don't know there are other options, because it is out of their comfort zone, because it doesn't look like every rod they have seen or used before, because they don't want or need to try something new even though they know it wasn't that long ago, what they are using now was far from the norm and it was the rod builders and the people willing to try something new, that got them the rod they now use.

Do you believe picture evidence? Permagloss only wrap.

I own and have built many rods with REC Recoil guides, what do you need to know? I have not used the newer, higher framed models, I don't get a call to use RECs very often. All the rods I need to trust, the ones that will make or break a fishing trip have REC guides on them, the same with my blanks and other components, they have to be as failsafe as I can make them.

Alot of times rods feel better simply because you expect them to, expectation and confidence go a long way. One thing G Loomis had from the very first was the "right feel" noted by many anglers over the decades, in other words ergonomics.

I've used an awful lot of 3 mm guides over the last 15 years with no ill effects and on lighter rods down to 2 mm. A 3 mm guide weighs almost 1/6 of a 6 mm guide, which has been the industry standard in the US for decades, your selection of 4 mm guides for rods has been done since WW II around the world, I have some factory G Loomis rods that are 40 years old with 4 mm running guides. This is what 12 lb. mono looks like in a 3 mm guide ring.

If I remember right the Warfare reels are the model that replaced the nice GTi reels that have done well for decades. The drag powers appear the same also, I would have no concern about using 40 lb. braid on this reel for two reasons, one, I have used 80 lb. braid and lighter on the Penn GTi reels that came out before the big push to braid with no issues since the late 80's, early 90's with no problems. Two, the Warfare were wholly designed within the braid's increase in use and it would have been designed with braid in mind.

If you really want to throw 5/8 oz. you have to look at something at least in the 20 range or you'll blowout the tip and not get the performance, you are expecting.

I'd buy the shortest grip length I could find, which today would probably be 7 inches, an UL blank with light, small guides like used today would have zero chance of a excessive, tip heavy balance problem, you could always shorten the grip with a hand drill, drill bit to fit and an exacto knife or similar. Mudhole Elite EBMG, or ECMG-11 guide set, NBRLMT tip top which is black to match black guides would be the easiest match in both color and tube sizes available. Frankly I'm concerned any 9.5 reel seat bore would be to big if any distance from the butt, Batson seats that are identical the the Fuji ECSM start at an 8.5 mm bore.

A spin jig blank is blank with a lighter power for the same power number, a 4 power SJ will be closer to a 3 power Mag Bass in backbone, they typically have softer/faster tips also designed to throw lighter presentations. When you look at most catalogs, they will display lighter line and lure recommendations. Back in the 80's when we had the push of smaller lures made on the same patterns as the old standbys and the introduction of finesse techniques a lot of SJ and SB blanks were made into casting rods to throw the 1/8 oz. and slightly heavier offerings along with some home-grown reel lightening to fish them better. This also brought out the introduction of the first attempt at an UL casting reel I knew of, the Shimano Bantam 100EX. A work of art back in the day.

Epoxy finish isn't very hard, cuts off easy with a razor blade, sharp knife blade or exacto knife. There are however other finishes being used now, still it can be done fairly easily.

Cut the thread off the tip top, heat it while you pull the broke tip out, let it cool than see if it will fit on the rod.