Crookedneck

It could be carbs, but, it could also be a head gasket problem too. I had an older evinrude start acting up on me last year. It started fine, idled fine. No guts to it. After a compression check which turned out ok. It turned out that the head gasket was bad. I was loosing compression due to gaps in the gasket. In saying that, very rarely does a gasket go bad. Just what happened on my motor. Good luck.

I take a look back and my first 3 builds aren't too much too look at. Actually, I want to run them through the garbage disposal. But, they belong to my dad and brothers and they love them. Finish is probably one of the most difficult things to master. My advice is to keep the finish thin when applying. Having to do 2 or 3 thin coats may take longer but, in the end a nice smooth finish is better than foot ball looking guides and wavy lumpy thread wraps. It was probably 6 or so builds before I started turning my own grips and figuring out what guide set ups and spacing worked the best for my builds. My advice is to start with some cheaper blanks or maybe do some rewraps. Mike

If the reels are clamped on then you should be able to tighten the clamps.

Is the reel seat loose or is the threaded hood stripped out?

Red to positive, black to negative...

This is a rod I built for one of my best friends. He is headed off on a small mouth fishing trip this weekend. Last Tuesday he asked if I would be able to make a rod for his dad for the trip. Nothing like making me jump through hoops on a 10 day notice. Got it done in 7 days... My buddy and his dad are avid turkey hunters. So with the permision of his wife I broke into my buddies garage, plucked some turkey feathers from this years bird. And even found the shot gun shell from this years bird in his turkey vest. The blank is a Pac Bay Professional series PRMBC843. Awesome blank, it has a real soft feel to it. About as close to the old Fenwickrods as you can get. I turned the grip out of Spalted Hackberry with a CA (superglue) finish. The Reel seat I turned out of a piece of wood that was in a scrap box. I think it is spalted Maple. Alittle more golden color to it. I inlayed a turkey feather on the top of the reel seat, and grizzly hackle on the bottom of the seat (I tried to make it look like a turkey track) I imbedded the shot gun shell in the butt of the rod. The decal, font was picked by my buddy. The Dead Eye is the fathers radio call from when he used to drive truck. I delivered the rod tonight. My buddy was pretty stoked. He is probably still sitting there looking at it. LOL Mike

Here are the pics of the rod finished up. It is an MHX MB843 with a Fuji SK2 reel seat and American Tackle guides.

I did it one time. Fishing with a buddy, he was begging me to try out his new set up. I am extremely cautious about using others gear. I don't like to borrow others fishing gear (or loan my out for that matter). After about 25 minutes of him telling me to try out his new rod and reel. So I grabbed it. First cast, ping.......his favorite spinner bait sailed about 300 feet. I felt bad, but still laughed pretty hard.

Thanks guys. BussHunter re-wraps can be done on rods.

This is a cross wrap I spun up last night for a rod. Not the greatest pic as I took it with my phone

Smalljaw, Good point to bring up about the hollow bodied swimbaits. I actually use a Gamakatsu weighted hook. I like the wable it gives the bait. I usually would use an 1/8 oz hook it seemed to handle the current and the depth pretty good.

Strike King baby rodent (3.5") green pumpkin with a 1/4 oz black bullet weight

I started fishing swim baits last year for smallies. I learned through numerous missed fish that for some reason they short strike alot. I was using a 4.5 soft swim bait. I figured out if i felt or saw the hit to stop my retrieve, let the bait fall wait for the pressure then set the hook. My catch ratio went up drastically. I even got my personal best on a swim bait last year. All of my smallies on swim baits came in 3 to 12 feet of water on the river. Good luck!

Take a look at Mudhole. Get a blank, the components, and and any one of about 500 thread colors. Build her a matching rod. Not only will it match but it will be made by you. Which will make her happier because you took the time to build it. Then you can put a custom decal on it with her name. Just my 2 cents. If you need some help PM me I will gladly help out. Mike

This is a rod that I built for myself. Builds for myself tend to be a little straight forward. Not so much bling. This is a MHX 7' 3" Heavy. I set this up for myself to pull some hogs out of the stumps this summer. I spruced up the split grip with a CKW. Base wrap is the same as a tiger wrap. A couple coats of epoxy and then instead of doing a top wrap I wrapped it with 50# mono. A different kind of look. Thanks MIke

Like the color combo.

little bass on a fly rod I built...

You should have called your back ups. I don't care if I get a call at 4am as long as it has to do with fishing or hunting....better than getting a call at 4am for work..

You could always go with a Fuji SK2 spinning seat flipped upside down. Or go with a ALPS aluminum triangle spinning seet again flipped upside donw. Or Fuji has a Palm Support reel seat. Fuji PSS the trigger sits back farther for when Palming a reel. The trigger also has a different angle to it. http://www.mudhole.com/Shop-Our-Catalog/Graphite_4/PSS-Palm-Support-Reel-Seat

I've said it before, I will say it again, that is to get the best gear you can get afford. In the back of the boat you have to cast longer, and more be more accurate. My advice is to slow down. Concentrate on the struture. Get your cast where you want, and due to the speed of the boater, even if you can only present your bait your way for a fraction of what you normally do, then do it. It may mean more casts and shorter presentations, but fish those your way, the way you know it works. Use your practice to throw cranks and different baits. Use the tournaments to fish what you know. A boater will always slow down when you have a fish on. I have fished the back of the boat for 2 years. The first year I did horrible. 13 tourneys, I weighed in only 5 fish. Last year, I zeroed 1 time, co-incidently my boater did too that day. My boater took second overall last year I took 4th out of 60. My changes were a total make over in gear. And place perfect casting. (And I switched from unpainted bullet sinkers to black). Last but not least have Fun! Build on success even if, success means a short here and there. A short is better than nothing. Good Luck!

If over tightened the reel seat hood can crack or you can strip the threads on them. No weight lifting before tightening your reel down.

Rod breakage is an issue all at some point everyone will probably deal with. To help minimize your rod breakage here are a few do's and don'ts. 1.) Don't Tuna Boat a fish into the boat. Use a net or retrieve the fish by hand 2.) Inspect your rods after every outing. Use a mild detergent (dish soap and water) to clean your rods on a regular basis. Prevents things like oil, fuel, other chemicals from damaging your rods. (Inspect your rods at this point also, look for signs of damage due to lure strikes ect.) 3.) When reeling in a fish keep your hands on the grip. The grip is there to provide a hand hold. Moving your hands up the rod to land a fish is putting undo stress on the blank. 4.) When using techniques that require a lot of twitching and snapping of the rod, keep the rod from striking the side of the boat. You shouldn't need to send Morse Code to the fish to trigger a strike. The repeated strikes in a general area will increase the odds of breakage. 5.) Use rod socks or gloves when storing your rods. Even in your rod locker they prevent alot of tangling and guide breakage. 6.) No High sticking 7.) When storing a rod when not in the boat invest in a rod rack or use the rod sock to hang the rod. 7.) Keep your rods away from windows, truck doors and feet. If all of the above can not be avoided I recommend a broomstick or fiberglass rod. Ugly stik also comes to mind (also good for your kids, wife and buddies who forgot their gear).

I used Vanish Floro all last year. I liked it I did not have any breaks on fish. I did have breaks on rocks and zebra mussels but that is a given, zebra mussels can play havoc on any line. I liked the performance of this line. I was thinking of changing up this year to a higher quality floro to see if the performance and feel increased. But it is one of those deals where do you fix it when it isn't broken?

That first one is wicked cool!

I use PVC pipe to ship my rods.