flechero

No

Honestly, I think your picks are pretty good and you could find a couple more either in the bionic blades or other BPS rods as well as Lightning rods or similar. For a couple uses a year, I think the lightning rod or BPS rod in the $40 range might be my upper limit. One more thing now that I think of it... check with BPS and see if they still have the 3 piece Penn spinning rods... I bought one a couple years ago and it will fit in most backpacks... I bought it to fit in my carry on luggage with my fly rods. They had them in L, ML and M powers and were 6' and 6'6". If I remember correctly, I paid like $50-$60 then so I bet they are still in your budget.

Ok, send me a bill and I'll ship a rod blank to your address- you'll have to buy components for it and then build it!! ;D

Yes, and I'm getting sucked in... Rolo, I think that we'd all be surprised by how high GLX and IMX are... also how high the strain rates are. I think that if the #'s were published, it would take exactly one day for some other company to begin promoting their 1K higher modulous rods. Just like the whole IM6, 7, 8, 9, 10... everyone has to one up the other even though there is no actual standard. Loomis, St. Croix, CTS and a couple others avoid the whole mess by not saying. I am SURE that other companies have sent Loomis rods to the lab for analysis... If IMX or GLX were "surprisingly low" or anything but very high, I believe it would be published all over the place and duplicated by the cheaper brands looking for validation. There are other ways to measure a blank so I feel confident that a few people out there have the numbers. -keith

I think the terminology has been confused a little. Since the 70's I think the biggest advances have come in the use of non glass based scrim. What people are talking about, I think, will prove to be manufacturing technology... as an example, many of the rod companies still have people hand tacking and rolling sheets of material onto mandrels for blank manufacture... whereas "new" technology may be an automated line or facility. If I'm just behind the times and there is some new technology out... you can just consider me old school, like Carl. ....lol Avid, just curiously, can you give me a source for your info, like who or which companies called the technology old?

When I read the title of thir thread I was going to suggest the All Star 786... other options you might look at just to have a point of comparison are the shimanos and St. Croix rods that come in at the $100 mark- they also seem to be pretty popular. One of those 3 ought to feel great in your hand.

Cast overhand and release the spool sooner... if you release earlier, you'll get a higher trajectory.

Ahh... the addiction begins, for yet another unsuspecting soul!!!! ;D Good job, can't wait to see a pic of the first lunker caught with it!

Send a PM to justtrying (ronnie jones) and I bet he'll tell you.

If I was buying a new reel today and had $250- no question about it, a Chronarch 50 MG.

You guys have already gotten some great advice... just wanted to add that good flyrods are expensive and I would never buy one without casting it first... I've never been to a fly shop that wasn't happy to take you outside to do some casting. (even when they know you aren't buying today) All my buddies that flyfish swear the new temple fork outfitter's rods (Left Kreh) are awesome... and these guys also own Xi2 & GLX flyrods. I'm looking at the TFO blanks for my next project.

Based on your conclusion of the 843 being the right tool- if money isn't a major factor I'd go IMX. The IMX should handle the lighter bait just a little better as the IMX tip is a little lighter (and faster) than a GL3. And as you said it's lighter. If you ever wanted to use it for worms, lighter jigs or another feel technique, it's a heck of a rod for those things as well. If it were me, I would buy IMX or another brand altogether. IMO, for the $$ of GL3 there are other rods I'd rather own.

Avid, all but this line were right on. Actually braid will twist just as much (and maybe more since it's softer and won't resist the twist) but the soft nature of the line will usually keep it from jumping off the spool or winding itself. Same problem, just a dramatically reduced "symptom."

Try the 7' rod for a day... you'll never know which works better for you, regardless of what we say.

BR2K, Yes, the hood nut on the seat will unscrew over the check, that is the other reason for needing to reduce the check size. (it also makes it look finished) I cut my reel seats so to fit the reel with the largest foot. Just remember that once you cut it, you'll need to smooth and square the cut... I do that on a sander but the trick is to cut it a little longer than you need to so you don't go to short when you sand it. I use Locktite 6 min. gel epoxy (orange label) available at lowes and Ace- just scuff up and clean the back of the check before you slip it on the rod. (and remember to do that before taping on the guides ) I use that specific epoxy for many things. ReelMech, I appreciate the compliments!

On most of the "normal" size blanks, the checks work as they come. This was only meant to be a solution for when the checks overhang the seat threads. It's a factor of larger blanks because the threaded section of the reel seat is sized for a foregrip end, not for blank dia. I've run across this with both Fuji and Batson seats on all large dia. blanks. I've tried a few EVA as you suggested, but it just looked wierd, so I never left them... eva is hard to work down to a mm or two- all the ones I tried, ended up more like the little rubber hozels or collars. I do like the aluminum and plated checks but just not for this purpose... Here is a "normal" sized blank and check... if you are wondering what "normal" size is, this is an MBR844 IMX blank with a fuji ECS seat.

I don't actually have a panic box but in years past, my desperation move was go to a rapala CD-7 silver & black or a little trick worm on a spinning rod, in one of the clearish colors. This past year, it's been more of a bow my chest up response.... saying screw it and pulling out the swimbait or the lunkerlure buzzbait. I figure since I don't have a check riding on it anymore, why not throw something I enjoy using. The buzzbait paid off in a bunch of freak ways, the swimbait less often but it sure was sweet to break a bad day with a big fish. Probably not the response you were looking for but sometimes the best answer to panic is to "take 5" and have a cold beer. A bad day is as often mental as it is physical.

We used to make it with Vaseline and Real Baitfish Oil brand attractant. Thin the Vaseline in the microwave just long enough to liquefy and stir it up and then a few minutes in the freezer to set back up. Works well, lasts a long time but once you get married, your wife will make you buy something pre-mixed. ...lol I had a little 2 oz tupperware cup (looked like a big shot glass with a snap on lid) which was perfect.

Catt, Good idea but you'd need an accent filter installed on your cable box!! ;D I have relatives from his area so I can understand it but you're used to a combo of east texas with cajun... I think that could be a life altering experience!! ...lol

You should try turning your own grips, it's not hard. I'm still using that old drill, clamped to a board. ...lol If I can ever wear out the drill, I may upgrade to a lathe. This grip was an extra I had already reamed for another rod, and then changed to burnt cork on it so this was just lying in the garage. If I lived up there, I'd have a fleet of muskie rods!! I actually looked at that blank you are using, several times for this purpose. I picked up the All Start on my last "truckload" buy from Andy ... I could have gotten 8-10 of them but sadly, I only got 1. If I had any clue then, how good a blank it was, I would have bought all of them and sold the rest as finished rods. I'm looking forward to your pics!

Thanks guys! This one won't have any thread in front, in fact I rarely have thread up front. (sometimes I use the space for decal and finish though) That one had no extra room, it was reamed out so far that the threaded section was fit to the blank. When I have a big enough seat, I use the flex coat or fuji arbors in the threaded section of the seats so I can keep it squared up to the blank before epoxying it in place. Speaking of which, I buy arbors just oversize of the threaded section of reel seats and turn them down to fit, on a 1/4" mandrel. (since they do not make them in the right size) Takes only a minute and then you have a perfect fit.

I did notice that, I had a bunch of stuff saved and then logged in one day and bam... lost a bunch of people's contact info and some other tips and stuff. A day's notice would have REALLY helped on that one so I could have printed out instead of lost. LBH, Ronnie was talking about the last 10 from the forums main page where it also has like newest member and stuff.

This is something I played around with for a while. If you build casting rods with no foregrip, you always have to figure out how to finish off the front of the reel seat. I was bouncing between threadmaster ramps and pvc/vinyl winding checks.... I like checks better but they are inconsistently sized and rarely mate with the seat at the height you want. Finally I found the answer - and it is so easy it that I was embarrassed I never saw it sooner. A gunsmithing file and a piece of masking tape is all you need to finish off a check. 2-3 wraps of tape tight to the check will protect the blank (if you pay attention) The file actually cuts the check nicely- go slow and use caution on the blank. Here is one I finished off a little while ago. Notice how close you can match the seat... and that's in a tight macro setting, I promise your eyes can't detect any imperfections. This one was 2-3 minutes worth of file work, taking my sweet time. I also like how it cuts the "plasticy" shine off the check.

Finally got caught up around here and got started on the beast... my big swimbait rod. I'm building it on an All Star BB986 blank, rated 2-8 oz It can double as a push pole when I fly fish the flats. ...lol It's a monster.. the butt is in the mid .700's in diameter and I needed to heavily ream a 16mm reel seat. ...lol But to my shock and amazement, the tip is only a 6.0 and light enough to cast and pitch some pretty light stuff- so I'll also use this as my big flippin rod for a while to see how I like an 8' rod for that. Also since it's one pc. it's not too heavy, it balances less than 1" in front of the reel foot with a Revo on it. The second pic is a group shot of handles I needed to show someone, several of them were never posted here so I thought I would include it.

If you'll look for it, even a plain jane rod will teach you something new as you build it. I find something new in every rod I build.