RB 77

Very true. R.I.P. Eddie, you are an inspiration to all.

The last part is very nicely put.

This. Also accompanied by light line and finesse baits on the Shakey Head and heavier line and larger baits with the T-Rig.

Double anchoring is absolutely crucial for me in some situations, particularly high wind, deep water bottom dragging presentations.

Also, thank you S Havanec for pointing out the difference of a lighter rod with smaller guides vs a heavier rod with much larger guides. That definitely plays a huge factor.

Very true. I havent built any rods with super small giudes or "micro" guides yet, but I could see where could be a big concern.

I know weight reduction is crucial in bass rods, but a "properly" built can achive this. I've seen it done plenty of times and have built them myself. You dont need 12 guides. It can be done just fine with less. There are a dozen different ways to skin a cat...

In tell you guys one thing, both FloridaFishinFool and Delaware Valley Tackle have got me thinking. Keep the different takes coming guys...

I also agree on the importance being diminished somewhat on a bass rod. Once you get into bigger game however it becomes more important. This comes in to play when fishing straight up and down on the rail vs. several different planes when fishing different techniques and presentations for bass. Interesting food for thought guys.

That line rubbing and extremely wide guide spacing go against everything that professional rod builders with 20 to 30 plus years experience have taught me. None of my factory Shimano, G Loomis, Falcon, Daiwa, etc rods do that as far as I know. Please don’t get it twisted; I’m not trying to start a heated debate, just voicing my opinion. Also, thank you for posting a picture of that rod under load. I would have a hard time believing it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. The pics don’t lie, that line is rubbing. I am blown away by how much contact there is! *Edited to better convey my thoughts.

Exactly! I understand the difference between the two rods. If the line touches the blank at all under load, its simple, add more guides. One thing to note that is the utmost importance is to properly align the guides along the spine of the blank. On top for casting, underneath for spinning. The spiral warp is intriguing because its shifts the torque of the load under pressure on casting and conventional rods.

If a rod is wrapped properly the line should never touch the blank under load. I learned this building rods with mentoring from industry professionals who have been building salt water equipment for decades that are meant to handle fish several hundred pounds. Now I’m not saying I haven’t seen rods do this, but a blank built properly in the hands of a competent builder should never do this. The spiral rods are not all that popular out here on the west coast, but I have seen them on occasion and they have sparked my interest. They seem like the would work well for some applications but not for others, just like any application specific piece of equipment. Horses for courses you could say…

Yeah, great score. I have one that I souped up with a Curado handle, Curado spool, and carbontex drags and it has served me quite well over the years.

Sometimes it will add a huge advantage. Other times it makes no diffrerence at all. I have found it to be very situational and can apply to both reaction and non-reaction strikes alike.

LC Pointer.

This is classic!

Two of my top colors by far.

R.I.P.

Gamakatsu for fresh water, Mustad for Salt water. Owner and VMC make nice hooks as well.

4.5 - 5.5 lbs. Nice catch. Congrats!

I’ve caught all kinds of by-catches over the years, but the first couple that come to mind are the some-what repeated catches of cat fish off bottom contact soft plastics and bull frogs off hollow body frogs. Frog on frog violence!

The one and only New Years tradition I have came to an end this year. For several years a good buddy of mine from Georgia would fly out and stay with me over the holidays and we would start the new year by surfing every morning on new years day. A few years back he calls me to tell me he’s in route to the Appalachian Mountains to elope with his new sweet heart. I wished him well and thought I might not see that boy again. Well, several years and a couple kids later he’s never made that trip back out and understandably so. Per his request I kept the tradition alive by myself every new years. As I got more and more in to both fresh water and salt water fishing the desire to constantly surf dwindled. He spent this new years with his family and I spent mine curled up on the couch with my old lady. That surf session never came and I feel a little bit of closure from its absence. Time to create a new tradition. Perhaps a new years day fishing session…

This times a thousand! I live right down the road and the Santa Ana's aint' nothing nice! Fishing is bad and catching is often worse!

Disclaimer, I could write a book with these stories. Here are some excerpts. Oh the memories… Three incidents immediately popped into my head. Story one is that I was fishing a local clear deep-water reservoir by myself one day during spawning season. All geared up with a brand new setup I told myself I would only stop on the biggest bass in the lake. Well after about an hour and a half of searching I found her. It took her another hour and a half just to get her to go. I danced with her for about a split second and then she jumped me off. I can still see my jig sailing through the air in slow motion. Just like that Nadine twirled away just like a breeze in the night. I took a knee and then a long break and proceeded to snap my rod tip on the very next cast. Back to back casts. Personal best lost. Brand new rod broke… Second story to come to mind was the time I flipped my yak. I have fished some rough weather in my day. Personal boats on the local reservoirs and in the Pacific Ocean, Float tube, Kayak you name it. On about the one of the calmest day of the year I was out kayaking a local reservoir with a buddy of mine and accidentally knocked a set up in to the water. Instead of grabbing my net and getting it, I reached for it and miscalculated my balance. I’m sure yall’ know what came next. All five setups, all five tackle trays, scale, food, drinks etc into the drink. I was able to salvage all the setups and only suffered minor injuries, but needles to say there is some gear at the bottom of that lake… The third story that came to mind has to due with a long drive home from a reservoir notorious for strict quagga mussel regulations. My father and I were anxious to fish a reservoir that had been kicking out some good scores of fish lately. Only problem was they have an extremely strict inspection process to ensure a persons boat is bone dry to help prevent the spread of the invasive quagga mussel. Well, the boat wasn’t dry but my father insisted he would take care of that. The reservoir is two hours from my place and an hour from my pops. Not exactly a couple minutes down street. I meet my dad at the crack of dawn and out of curiosity looked in the bilge. To my surprise there were inches of standing water! I’m tripping out. He nonchalantly assures me we can “wipe” it out. I know there is a ton of water trapped all in the boat. We dry once. Stop a half an hour later dry again. I insist we stop a third time right by the lake and he doesn’t like that one bit. “We either get in or we don’t”. Uh oh… We end up stopping a third time, dry the last bit of water and go off on our way. We pull up to the inspection area and my dad jumps out of the truck and fires off a tirade of how this is inspection is unjust, he’s a hard working Government official and tax paying citizen, etc. The inspection begins, then intensifies, and then drags out. We pass everything, my dad pops off one last time. Right out of a movie, the inspector says “Oh yeah I forgot one last thing”. He lowers the outboard and single tear of water leaks out of the lower unit. Game over. Needless to say, that was one very long, quite ride home… I could go on forever with these types of stories. I could write a book about some of the ones that took place with an ex buddy of mine. Some of the trips with my girl and me are doozies as well. That’s one reason why I appreciate the good times so much. I have also seen my share of stories that involve injury ranging from minor to quite severe. I have seen people take a spill and/ or hook themselves more than I would care to. God bless all and be safe out there…

I haven't used the smaller diameter on a spining reel, but have used the larger (50 & 65 lb) on a baitcaster and love it. It has stayed very smooth and would buy it again.