S Hovanec

Here's another one Steve.

Ok. Here's a littlet teaser.

This subject has been But I'll take another whack. If you're judging a 'micro' guided rod based off of one purchased off the shelf, you're doing am injustice to all properly built 'micro' rods. The manufacturers saw what the custom builders were doing and said "Hey, we can market this and sell a bunch of rods". They started slapping micro guides on everything, with no regard to what they will be used for. They are not a 'one size fits all' concept. They suck in freezing conditions, when the cottonwood and dogwood starts blowing, when there's feathers on the water and when they are not properly laid out. EVERYTHING sucks in cottonwood, as well as feathers. There are benefits to using them, you just have to weigh that against the cons and use the best tool to accomplish the job. I'm building myself a new 7'6" ML to drift eggs on the lower Niagara in winter. I'm sure as hell not gonna use 3.5mm or 4mm guides. I'll be using 5.5mm or 6mm guides because that rod will be fished the majority of its life in freezing conditions. The only way to truly test the difference in performance between micro and standard is build a rod with the standard guides and test it. Then strip the guides and rebuild it with the micros and test it again. Those 6mm guides hanging out there on the end of a 7' rod make a big difference compared to the 4mm. It takes four 4mm guides to equal the weight of a single 6mm (Alconite). Most 7' spinning rods have 5 or 6 running guides. Think how much weight you remove from the most important area on the rod by using the 4mm. The result is a crisper feel and a more responsive rod. You're not talking about ounces, but just fractions of an ounce, but every bit you remove from the tip helps the rod. Now back to the OP's question. Yes, a rod using braid can benefit from the use of smaller stripper guides. Now that I'm using braid, I've gone from using 20mm and 25mm strippers down to 16mm.

Nope, it's a band saw.

No Steve, this isn't your grip!! I love customers that let me experiment on their rods!! I hope I didn't jump the gun by posting this. This thing may end up in my 'Grips I'm not too proud of' drawer before it's all over!

He's looking for a boat for rough water, not skinny water. A bass boat isn't where it's at for his needs. He's probably like me, I want to be IN a boat, not ON a boat. All I do is bass fish and I would never own a bass boat. They're not the best option for the water I fish.

My Lund drafts less than a foot. Never really need to utilize that tho cause shallow fishing to me is 6'-10'!!

I do, anytime the conditions allow it. Granted, my boat only tops out at 43. The longest run I ever have made at WOT was 12 miles. And the only reason I went 12 miles was cause I was back at the ramp. I could have ran the tank dry that evening, the lake was so flat. I did run over 70 miles one day during a tourney, most of which were WOT, but none of the runs were very long.

I have a friend that's a guide in NY. He recently retired his tired Lund and bought a Starcraft. He hates it and is looking to get back into a Lund. I also have a Lund. The biggest reason I have it was price. It was the cheaper of the 3 boats I was considering. Also, it was the only one that offered Honda as motor option.

Had I opted to use CP, the wraps would have matched the grip perfectly.

Neither. It was one of the medium grey shades of prowrap. Before finish.

Thanks. Totally unintentional. Just a happy accident. I thought they would be darker.

You would have to have a pretty high-end scale to be able to discern between a painted blank and the same blank stripped. no way could you feel the difference in hand.

Just laid down the final coat on project Agent Orange (that's what Jim decided to call it). The rod sock I ordered for it didn't work out, so wifey whipped this up last night.

paint and clear were both Krylon.

I got burned by it three different times. You would think I would have learned. first time was when it was new. I spooled it up on my steelhead rod and broke off every fish I had on in the morning until the temperature got to about 40 degrees.I tossed that spool and swore it off. Tried it again a few years later on my bass rod. I figured maybe it was just a cold temperature thing. I was wrong. Stripped that spool off and swore it off again. the last time I tried it was when they supposedly reformulated and improved it. put it on my drop shot rod again. I don't think I landed a fish that day. switched to P-line Halo and was extremely happy for many years. when I ran out of my 2000 yard spool, I switched over to Powerpro and floro leader.

Don't know how he does it. There is more money in parts than what he is charging for the finished reel seats.

I have done a couple from a rattle can. Ended up stripping it back off. Even after almost a week of setting up, it was too soft to wrap. The thread just sunk into the paint. Best bet is a body shop.

People that build their own rods or buy customs don't do it with the intent of resale. They get customs because the major manufacturers don't offer what they want. and speaking of inferior workmanship, have you ever looked at an off the shelf NRX of St. Croix? gaps in wraps, bubbles in finish, misaligned guides, wavy finish, too much finish, too many guides. in many instances, custom builders have the newest technology before it makes it to mass produced rods. many of the ideas implemented in today's factory built rods were ripped off of custom builders.

Stella is a metal bodied real, therefore it will be heavier than your CI4.

I removed my Nova G3 to replace it with the Supernova2 to bore the elliptical foregrip. Spun it on by hand, like always and locked the set screw. When I went to take it of, it was stuck on the adapter. I took the assembly off of the lathe, put my 1/2"x18" mandrel between the jaws for leverage and put a 15" crescent wrench on the adapter. Had to lean on it to get it to back out. Half the threads are gone on the adapter, half the threads are gone in the chuck and it now wobbles. Also, the jaws no longer align properly when I install them on the G3. Supernova2 + 35mm jaws + threaded adapter + mandrel = $300+/-

after my little fiasco last week, I need to spend about $300 to get my lathe back in the condition it was prior.

I have a bin of grips that I'm not too proud of. they end up getting cut apart and I salvage pieces that are acceptable.

As DVT said. Cork rings turn easy with a drill. The burl blocks are another story.