S Hovanec

This color is fantastic, IMO, once the finish goes on. Almost looks black until the light hits it.

It's my favorite. I prefer it in block form over rings. The pattern is nicer.

Teaching 8 rodbuilding classes since the middle of January has kinda sparked my desire to get back to building. My final class finished up Sunday morning and I came home and knocked this one out. Need to put the final coat of finish on it after work tonight. St. Croix 3S70MF-2 17mm Fuji skeleton hardware (cobra finish) Mudhole butt cap. Cactus Cork from Southwest Custom Rods. Checker ring I made from old stock Andy Dear burnt strips. Kigan XLA hook keep. Fuji Fazlite guides. Cobalt Makoi nylon. Inspiration by Founders! Little bit of liquid motivation!

Suck it up and pay if you want to ship long rods. I won't ship them anymore.

St Croix's Inshore ML fits between their freshwater ML and M

You must be seeing some really incompetent rodbuilders offerings then. There are a lot of hacks out there that have no business selling rods, but I'd put my basement built rods up against any manufactured rod for asthetics, performance and fit and finish.

I like cheap wine. Not so much for rods or beer!

I prefer natural cork and composite and burl cork. You can do so much more with that material than the Winn stuff.

If you're spending $300+, I'd seriously look custom. Give DVT shout. He'll hook you up

Since moving to a new house in December, my rodbuilding has taken a backseat to life. There's a large area for a new shop, but things haven't materialized in that space yet. My repair backlog has now exceeded the capacity of my coffee table, so I commandeered one of the spare bedrooms for my temporary rod shop. Can't do grips or anything cool in there, but at least I can wrap and finish.

You could build up a Rodgeeks for her. No sacrifices on the quality and like 27 colors to pick. Pinks, purples, blues.

Yeah. The blank isn't smart enough to know what you're using it for. Lots of fly to spin conversions and spey to float rods out there. Blanks are labeled spinning ir casting based on certain tapers or actions. For years, my favorite dropshot rod was a mlxf casting blank built as a spinning rod. It was a touch more powerful than the spinning model.

Spine may affect a rod if you only fish it on one axis. I build on straightest axis with the curve tip up. On super heavy offshore rods, it may make a difference to build on spine. I think it's negligible on most freshwater rods.

I've done a couple regrips that $40 didn't even cover the labor of removing the old grip. I lost money on those ones. Some rods are just a pain and you don't know til you start in to them.

What he said ^. Just recoat the guide.

About $17 in parts plus shipping. Actually that sounds about right considering the labor required to cleanly strip a grip from a rod.

Well, life is getting in the way this year. I'm gonna have to cancel my reservation and bail on the show.

That was the first thing I said to myself when I read that.

I was just gonna post that. St. Croix's Highest Performance Blanks Now Available at RODgeeks We are very pleased to announce that RODgeeks now offers St.Croix SC5 blanks. These blanks are made in the U.S.A. in St. Croix’s Wisconsin factory. They are shipped to our factory in Mexico where they will be painted to order, just like the rest of the RODgeeks line-up. The SC5 blanks are St. Croix’s most advanced designs. They are made with high modulus carbon fiber prepreg that features a carbon veil scrim cloth, and nanotechnology FRS - a Fortified Resin System. Add in St. Croix’s ART – Advanced Reinforcement Technology, and TET – Taper Enhancement Technology, and it is clear that these are the most advanced blank designs in the world. These blanks are shockingly light and insanely sensitive, but still have the power and durability demanded by the most discerning anglers. At prices ranging from $165 to $260, these blanks are an outstanding value. Click here to see the lineup. Key things to know: We are initially offering 21 of the most popular SC5 models. Let us know what other models you would like to see in the line-up. As always, we will expand our offerings with your input. All RODgeeks paint options – 34 colors, 2 tones, clear coats – are offered as options on the St. Croix SC5 blanks. The RODgeeks C2 Series are St. Croix SC2 designs, and the C4 Series are St. Croix SC4 designs. If you currently build on St. Croix SC2, SC3, or SC4 blanks, you will likely find comparable models in the RODgeeks lineup. The only difference between the blanks is that the RODgeeks blanks are made in our factory in Mexico. We use the same materials, tooling, and processes that St. Croix uses to make these blanks in the U.S.A. Let us know if there are some models we should add to our lineup, SC1 - SC5. We have been basing all of our product development on customer input for 5 years and we will continue to do so. We are excited to take our partnership with St. Croix to a new level since it enables us to offer so much more to our customers. Thank you for all of your support. Bob Penicka RODgeeks Buy Now Copyright © 2019 RODgeeks, All rights reserved. You are receiving this because you subscribed to our email distribution. We will use email to announce new products and special offers. Our mailing address is: RODgeeks 7 Avis Drive Unit B Latham, NY 12110 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Ya gotta wonder if this upcoming Croix announcement had anything to do with their absence? They were listed 2 vendor announcements ago and this last one they're gone.

Bummed that Rodgeeks isn't gonna be there this year. Love to shake and feel their offerings and drool over the candy colors!

Just hope they don't do like one retailer did when Loomis stopped selling blanks and suspend all wholesale purchases. Everything became retail after their announcement!

It won't affect production rods. All blanks made will now be dedicated to production rods.

My dealer said the SCV will still be made in Park Falls, just distributed through Geeks.

That's what I posted. Discontinuing the sale of blanks. The Park Falls made blanks will be used for their production rods only, except for the SCV. They will be distributed to builders exclusivity through Rodgeeks.