clayton86

Only caught one 10" brook with it during the derby. Tons of small mouth and a baby tiger Muskie around home though.

Lol yeah love some Baja blast. I still got more to do this the rod I plan on doing a tiger wrap on it. I have caught about 50 fish on it already I can't put the thing down. Took it to a trout derby this past weekend and was offered 150 cash for it by a guy at the hotel told him no he gave me 150 anyways to get started and said make him one but with gold trim not chrome. Cost me about 120 so I said ok got it all ordered should be here Thursday. Here's some shots I took at the derby of it though

That may be but I am done having kids cut the things off I don't need them anymore

It does go fast but I already have 3 kids of my own and my gf had 1 ages 6,6,4,1.5 I still fish 3-4 times a week I just Go while they are in school or at the sitters since I work nights I'm home all day sleeping then fish before work and they get home from school or gf from work.

Well this is my second daughter the first one Charlotte is the baby I adopted from the ex wife sleeping around getting knocked up and the father ran off so I took her in as my own. This baby girl is all mine I already know I make some d**n good looking boys can't wait to see my baby girl lol.

Just left the doctors with the girl friend to find out what we are having and it's a girl. Super excited she already has a boy and I have my two boys and my daughter I adopted but this one I was there for the fun part of making lol.

I got out Tuesday and Wednesday also this week smallies have really been on fire.

Sorry John lol Got these guys today Bonus perch on a tube This rat as well Pretty good day could do almost nothing wrong they hit everything

I got this one Friday out of johnsons creek in lyndonville on a rod I had just finished the day before. Gonna head out today see if I can't find some more

Got this hoss today before the wellsville trout derby testing out the rod I just built.

It works!

There were factory winding checks. I like the olive branch trim I did a couple on the rod I just built for myself. Still trying to get the hang of it and had a few ideas to alter it and spruce it up some more just gotta run some test wraps on old arrow shafts to see how it looks.

I went to baran institute of technology which is now Lincoln tech for automotive repair did it for a few years then went on to teach diesel tech at a vocational school. Hated it when I was turning wrenches making great money loved it when teaching it not making crap for money idk how I supported a family on it. Now I'm a shift supervisor in a fiberglass shop breathing in fumes and dust all night long with two apprentices under me and three other employees that do their own thing. Not what I went to school for but I like it and I'm good at it so.

On the dryer now did some olive branches around the hook keeper came out ok my first attempt looked better I think but it's a learning process. This is it for now I'm gonna do the tiger wrap next week and maybe add some abalone but for now it's almost ready for the trout derby Saturday.

Nice

Got the reel mounted and the guides placed and tested. Was able to wrap 4 of them today I was hoping to get them all wrapped but I slept in wayyyy later then I was hoping to. Pics are kinda crappy I'm sorry. My work station/kitchen table is a mess as well lol.

Got 4 smallmouth today nothing big but all were nice and fat. Man I miss out these guys fight.

After my disappointment with the Winn grips and needing to order new grips they finally came in today and I love them. Didn't know the fighting butt wasn't enclosed and I need a plug now I think I'm just going to make one at work with some two part or some black tinted resin or I'll tint the grip epoxy even and just fill in the hole slap some Mylar on it so it's flat and smooth and be done with it. Should have the handles done tonight I'm gonna take it to work to work on during my lunch break because I also need to build a shim/arbor for the reel seat the seat didn't come with an arbor and the one I ordered worked great but the inside of the seat has two different ID so I'm going to make a spacer at work also. Tomorrow I'll hopefully start putting the guides on and getting them set in resin and turning while I'm at work tomorrow night. Gotta have the build done by Friday for a trout derby doubt I'll get the tiger wrap done on the split section but I can always do it later.

I went out this evening for like half an hour after drill bit windy and chilly had something clobber a spinner bait hard but I missed the hook set. Seen some carp and a dead northern that was maybe 12". I was hoping to get out on the kayak tomorrow since the river has cleared up and went back to normal levels but it's calling for rain though the hourly forecast shows it tapering off and switching so sun about the time I get out of bed.

http://www.mudhole.com/Rod-Building/Turnkey-Rod-Building-Kit

Mud hole has a complete kit now that has everything but the blank I think

The abalone was a bit tricky the cardboard backing came off without the sticky part so I couldn't tell what was now my front and back. Had to scramble for a knife to try and peel the sticky backing and then guess which I got wrong so now there is a 1/8 gap on one side. It cracked a little also but not terrible the epoxy hid it well.

One of my good friends asked me to add some bling to his Abu vendetta. He wanted some abalone inlay, mermaid decal and skull and crossbones decal. First I started with the abalone and threw in a JTOB wrap to spruce it up a little pretty easy wrap I wish I would have remembered the original silver band on the rod and added my own after the JTOB to make it look even but I forgot and noticed afterwards. Then the mermaid went over top of the abalone not my choice but it didn't look as bad as I thought it would with te red abalone and red hair mermaid. Then the skull and crossbones went just under the stripper guilde on the top of the blank It was fun experimenting with the abalone and some simple trim wraps to spice up the rod my first jtob took like a half hour trying to figure out the spacing and what not the second went much faster. Abalone was neat also I got some left to play with.

All of my rods are factory rods at the moment except one ice fishing rod I built. I've got a build waiting to take one of my factory rods out of rotation I'm just waiting for my new grips from mudhole so I can start the build.

I've been playing ace fishing a bunch.