S Hovanec

It got in the country quick. I ordered it at 10:30pm Thursday (Friday in Japan), it shipped the same day and it got in country on Sunday.

I think customs is holding my reel hostage! Tracking shows its been at at JFK since 11:30 Sunday night.

A couple varieties and colors of burl cork.

Not much wiggle room! Lol. Been there too!!

I've had spools like that. They don't stick around long!

Yep. Spring Green, Medium Green and possibly Dark Green will. The Spring Green will be my first choice. I'll do a test wrap before I decide. Hoping it will almost disappear and let the blank color come through too.

Thank you. Wraps are easy. I don't do anything fancy with the thread. Some guys do some amazing work with cross wraps and weaves.Finish is where the practice shows, in IMO. Once you figure what technique you're comfortable with, it all clicks and finish becomes easy too. I used to fret when it came time to apply finish. Now, I slap it on, scrape off the excess, set it turning and walk away. If something goes wrong, I'll fix it after it cures.

Their decals are top notch.

No real justification other than aesthetics. Nicer looking cork just costs more $$$.

Look at that, the handles are even on the correct side!!

I'm sure they will be getting some of my money real soon for a 51. My order from Digitaka should be in tomorrow.

Contact Decal Connection. Deb and Chuck will be able to hook you up with a nice decal in whatever color you want.

No, I only use the locking wrap on the running guides. I tried locking wraps on the large guides in the past, but not all of them are formed properly to allow you to go in front of the guide without creating a gap in the wrap. It's just aesthetics, but I prefer to not have the gap. Here's is one I did with the locking wrap and the gap is very noticable. THere was no way to eliminate that without the wrap starting up the guide leg. BTW, this is my favorite pic of one of my wraps. I love how you can see the guide size through the thread. On another aside pertaining to the green rod. I normally don't do guide wraps this long, but the gold 'saddle' wrap didn't look right with a shorter main wrap.

Attended a Youth and Family outdoor show today where I demonstrated how fishing rods were made. Managed to totally wrap a customers red jerkbait rod and half of my Spybait rod. Here is the stripper guide. Still need to tie in the titanium metallic trim band on this wrap.

http://www.rodbuilding.org/library/repair-oquinn.html

The guides for repairs. The blank for inner and outer sleeves for repairs or for rod extensions. You could cut it 18"-24" from the tip and make an ice rod. Lots of options for broken rods. I have a whole garbage can full of them for just such emergencies! This is from a few years ago. My collection has grown since then.

I ordered from Digitaka. They were the only place that had that size TwinPower in stock.

I did it. Pulled the trigger on a 2015 TwinPower 2500HGS last night. Email just came in that it shipped alredy.

D. None of the above.

Lure rating is kinda like a guideline telling you what will allow the rod to perform the best. You wouldn't be able to cast a 1/16oz jig on a heavy powered rod. Just like you wouldn't be able to cast a 1 1/2oz lure on a ultralight without, it blowing up.

I giggle every time I scroll past this!

I've been known to order a few hundred worms on varoius standard and custom colors from here. http://www.preferredplasticscustombaits.com/

There is, but you might as well get a custom built for what the rod plus modifications would cost.Give DVT a shout and see what he can do for you.

I'd buy any of the St Croix offerings, even if the warranty was only a month. If it doesn't blow up in the first outing or two, the blank has no defects or wasn't damaged in shipping. Beyond that, its operator error. As for other defects like loose reel seats or grips, I can't say I've ever had a problem in any of my factory built St Croixs. I have a few Avids that are 12+ years old.

6'8" M/XF. 10# mono.