MickD

I have used Bionic Blade casting rods and found them very good. I use a 6 1/2 foot medium action casting rod in Canada every year. It is 2 piece so travels well. I would expect the spinning rods to be good as well. My advice would be to try to match whatever rod you can get with the type of fishing you will be doing, and with crankbaits, you want something a little soft on the tip compared to what you might use with fishing suspending jerk baits. It is not as important that you have a Bionic Blade or an Extreme or a Loomis as it is that you match the action with what you want to do with it. If I remember correctly, there are a lot of Bionic Blade options, so try to buy the one that best matches what you are going to be using it for.

Doesn't sound like a problem to me, sounds like an opportunity to buy another Curado.

Bill Norman Deep Baby N in Gel Craw finish-I've done better with that lure over the years than any other, although around here it seems to have slowed down. could be the fish have seen it too much. I've caught LM Bass, SM Bass, Rock Bass, Carp, N Pike, Red Horse Suckers, Walleye, Perch, Salmon, & Crappies on this lure.

I have a great deal of respect for the opinion of many of the members of this forum, and they are advocating the usual brands, but I have to testify that the Cabela's XML 2 piece ML 7 foot spinning rod I just made for a gift for my daughter in law turned out to be the lightest spinning rod I ever made, even lighter than the St Croix SCV 7 footer I made for my son earlier. My son's rod had titanium guides, and the Cabela's had gold SIC's. I haven't fished with it , but it sure felt like a really nice, responsive, rod when I finished it. I have an 8 weight Cabela's fly rod that I made from one of their higher level blanks, fast action, and took it to Belize. It did very well casting in the wind there, and the guide used it for a while and commented that he thought it was a great rod. I would not dismiss the higher level Cabela's blanks. I really doubt that they make them, and maybe some of the experts on the forum can tell us who really makes them. Are they Loomis IMX's? Mick

I just received my Grizzly Hobby Lathe, and surprise, it works only with a drill with a 41 mm housing nose, which I think might be only with a Grizzly 1/2 " drill. Since I have two other drills, and was planning on using them, I am disappointed. If I have to buy a Grizzly drill + the lathe it costs almost as much as a more versatile mini wood lathe, so I'm sending it back and am going with a real lathe. Thanks for the tips, fellows, but I think the Hobby Lathe makes sense only if you don't already have a drill and plan to buy one anyway.

Jannsnetcraft.com is worth a look, also. Order their hard copy catalog. I recommend checking around whenever you have a specific blank in mind, you might find some sales, clearances, or just someone who hasn't updated their price list to the latest higher prices. Mick

A great string of posts-nice work guys, but you are a little over my head-can you tell me of a good souurce for spiral wrap 101? thanks, Mick

Thanks, Riverwarrier, for the lathe tips. I sure do learn something every time I open this forum! Mick

If you cheat a little and go pike fishing be sure to have a firetiger-check out the version of firetiger that is made by Terminator- it is a really good color for pike, even in clear water. It has a triple color effect-green chartreuse, then ends in hot orange (very bright orange). Looks so good in the water I almost want to strike it. I use it with a bright chartreuse or hot orange 5 inch grub as a trailer to make the whole thing look bigger. I don't even cast spoons any more for pike. Sorry bass zealots for adding this post.

Re: If you think your going to be turning more than cork, and some other harder meterial for the grips I would reccomend RIKON Mini Lathe combine that with a good quality chuck and you can turn just about anything you want. Plan right now is to just use for light stuff, but I'll have to compare prices to see if it makes sense to go higher. I noticed a Wilton light duty lathe on Amazon for only $100, thought it would probably do what I need to do. Have any experience on Wilton? thanks, Mick

What are the recommendations for lathes for use in forming cork rod handle components?

No one has mentioned my favorite reel under $200, the Shimano Calcutta. Only has 2 ball bearings (where do the other reels have their 10 ball bearings, anyway). Most important are two that mount the spool, a good drag which it has, a good backlash preventative system which it has, a good anti reverse which it has, well made in all other aspects, has lasted 15 years of pretty hard fishing and still casts like new. I have a few other reels with more bearings, but they don't cast as well. When I buy a new reel I may go Curado based on all the stuff I've read here, but if bucks are an issue, check out the Calcutta. More important than getting everyone's opinion of their favorite would be to find out where we can try out the various reels before we buy. How about some help on this issue, guys? (and gals, sorry)

Re:A CLAG7 weighs 3.9 grains. A BLAG7 weighs 3.7 grains. A LSG7 weighs 3.1 grains. A TLSG7 weighs 2.4 grains. A TLSG 6 weighs 1.9 grains. and since a grain = .002285 ounce, the difference is a max of 1.5 grains or about .0035 ounces. 3 1/2 1000's of an ounce! The difference between two blanks of different graphites is easily .25-.5 ounce, or about 100-200 grains. While the percentage difference between the guides mentioned is arithmatically significant, it would take the princess with the pea under 10 mattresses to feel the difference. It is difficult to believe the difference is functionally significant. I still maintain that $80 will be better spent on better graphite than on the insignificant difference in mass between the better and the best (for mass) guides. And I think that was sort of what the original question was about-whether titanium guides for $80 extra made sense. As you said, just my opinion. But the only way to tell is to build up two identical rods with the different guides, and hope that you wound the guides identically, finished them identically, had no differences in the cork or other handle material, and the blanks were identical. Then fish them. Not a bad idea, because I expect you would have two terrific rods instead of just one. All in the name of science! regards, Mick

Re: I had to add exactly 3/4 oz of lead to re-balance! and tiny amounts of weight out on the rod make big differences back at the butt. If you start weighing the guides and checking the differences, you will find the weight difference between good quality stainless steel frame single foot guides and titanium frame single foot guides is of the order of a few hundreths of an ounce. The blanks have a larger impact on the feel of the rod, by far. Note that I'm not talking about the kind of guides you find on Ugli Sticks or cheap rods, I'm talking about the difference between good Fuji guides and titanium framed Fuji or Amtech titanium/nanolite guides. You will probably never find differences in guide sets that will come anywhere close to 3/4 ounce, unless you are talking some heavy salt water rods. Keep in mind that the biggest guides are closest to the butt making the small differences in the biggest guides less important. If the 30mm guide were on the end of the rod, then it probably would be a different story. If you want the ultimate, go with titanium. If I can get a good deal on them, I do. But I still maintain it is essentially overkill. I would rather go up $80 on a blank or rod than spend $80 for titanium guides.

See if Cabelas is still on sale with their version of the Daiwa for about $70. Cabelas name for it is Prodigy. I have three of them and really love them. Silky smooth, great drags, all metal bodies, and normally sell for about $120.

I made an 843 for myself last year and love it. It handles the lighter crankbaits very well, and handles big fish very well. I love it, and let my son use it, and he fell in love with it too. I am now making one for him for Christmas/birthday present. As I've mentioned before, if you cast a lot, for many hours a day, a stiff rod will kill you. The softer action of the 843 will load well and throw a long way, is still quite sensitive, and at the end of the day, your arm will feel so much better not having been stressed by the old "broomsticks" that came in with the typical graphite. If you will be throwing mostly lures heavier than about 1/2 ounce, go up to the next stiffer crankbait rod. Yes , they are expensive, but they are really wonderful rods. My 843 is exceptionally light, actually the lightest rod I've ever built. It needs, and has, a light casting reel. You asked what they are made of-Loomis says they are blends of graphite to meet specific technique requirements. Based on price and weight, I would say they are close to their IMX, but have no solid info.

I agree with reelmech. You will never see the advantage of spending $80. I've been making some rods recently and weighing all the components on a postal scale. The difference between Ti framed guides and stainless is almost indetectible. Use a good quality guide from the major manufacturers, and if you want a little reassurance for braid, put a Si C or nanolite tiptop on the end of the rod. It takes the abuse, the rest of the guides take very little. If you are talking about Recoil guides, I know little about them, but they might make sense if you are very tough on the guides, and tend to tear them off. I don't.

Garmin GPS Map76Cx - $400 Display Size: 2.2" x 1.5" Resolution: 240 x 160 pixels Memory Card: 128mb SiRF High-Sensitivity Receiver Waterproof <> Floats Better test it in your sink before trusting the "floats" claim. While researching gps on line I read a review by a person who bought one of these, tested it by dropping it over the side, and watched it disappear. I don't know what the truth is, but don't count on it floating without more/better info. Take it into the bathroom of the store and try it before you buy. Mick

More important than having detailed contour maps are two other issues where any gps can really contribute to your fishing success and safety. First, most units have floating navigation aids preprogrammed into them. If not, don't buy. With this you can always, when fishing in areas that have them, like Saginaw Bay, Lake St Clair, NYC harbor, SF Bay, and so many other areas, find where you are by sliding up to a nav aid and correlating its number and location with what you are viewing on your gps. Second, you can go back to the same hot spot over and over with ease. My old Magellan takes me back to a small perch hole in Canada year after year, accurate to less than 6 feet even though it has no WAAS. These two features of any good gps are much more valuable than detailed contour maps.

Regarding sources for blanks and components, I usually shop Jann's Netcraft and Cabelas. Sometimes I can get what I want at only one. Recently bought a Loomis Crankbait blank from Netcraft-was more than $20 less than Cabelas and Loomis direct. It may be that Netcraft is sometimes a little slow in raising prices to new levels. I like the titanium frame nanolite guides, and they are pretty reasonable from Jann's. Service from both is excellent. Haven't tried Mudhole yet. For guides, shop ebay, also. "Handler Custom Fishing Rods" often has premium guide sets removed from rods damaged in shipping for good prices, and he is a reliable person to do business with. ebay also sells winding and drying motors. It is easy to build your own "supports" and add the motors. Drying motors are a must have, and buy a collet with the motor to make it easy to adapt something to hold the rod to the motor.

Thanks, David. It looks like I need to shorten up a little on the length of the butt cork. I was thinking, after fishing with my rod, that 10", as in your rod, would have been about right. Mick

Looking for comments from some of the rod-building experts: One dimension that I haven't heard mentioned much on spinning rods is the reel post to rod butt dimension. I made a 7 foot spinning rod recently using a 9 inch rear cork and a 4 inch reel seat. This positioned the reel post about 12 inches from the butt. When jigging the butt keeps hitting my body or biceps-the dimension is too long. With that reel seat, it appears I should have used only about a 7-8 inch rear cork. Or it may have been possible to cut off the reel seat. I haven't heard of that either, but the reel seats seem to be at least an inch longer than necessary. Having said that, you also have to keep rod balance in mind. My rod feels fine for balance with the reel I plan to use most of the time, so I'm not sure how it would feel with a shorter rear cork. The main point is, consider that dimension when designing your rod, and the design of the reel seat will also be a factor in that dimension. I would appreciate comments from some of you expert rod builders on this issue. thanks in advance. Mick

What makes a crankbait rod a crankbait rod? I believe it is that it is somewhat softer and forgiving than most of the graphite rods so that the angler isn't as likely to set too fast and jerk the lure out of the fish's mouth. The softer tip also seems to give better action to hard jerk baits. I tried a glass crankbait rod and really hated it. It was much too heavy and felt "dead." I made a Loomis CB 843 7 foot graphite (they call it a blend, I'm not sure of the details of the material) rod and love it. It is very light, sensitive, yet fairly soft. Check it out at the Loomis site, for a discussion of their crankbait rods' characteristics. Trying to cast crankbaits with a fairly stiff rod is very hard on the arm compared with using a rod like this that loads easily and has a lot of flex. If you choose to go with a cheap glass rod and don't like it, keep in mind that the difference between that rod and one of these Loomis rods is night and day.

I use braid, but always with a fleuro or mono leader tied to it. For that I use the uni knot and have had excellent results. It can be a little tough to tie the first one, but with practice it becomes very easy and reliable. Directions at http://www.fish4fun.com/Joining2Lines.htm These directions say it is good for lines of similar diameter, but I've used it many times when the difference in diameter is about 4 times (thick line to thin) and it has worked fine. There is a double line version of it, but I've not tried that. If you run it through the guides be sure to check the condition of the knot and the line near the knot now and then. In time it will get weakened from repeatedly going through the guides. I use it casting for pike in Canada, hundreds of casts a day, and retie about every other day, so it's not like a few casts will damage it. The recommendation on using palomar for terminal knots sounds good. My son uses it all the time and has no problems. Only problem I've had with it is when I want to tie something large on. The lure has to go through the loop.

I use braid on both bait casting and spinning, and love it. The primary reason I use it has been given very little empahsis on this forum, and that is that it has little or no stretch. Therefore, bites are very much easier to feel on jigging, and hook sets are very much more reliable on bait casting with spinner baits and crankbaits. If it were not for this advantage of braid, I would very much be pleased with using mono. I am willing to put up with the hassle of tying on a fleuro leader to my braid, and retying it every now and then as it becomes compromised by constantly going through the guides, in order to get that really solid feel of braid. I use 10-30 pound braid on spinning, and 25-65 pound on BC depending on the reels and what I'm fishing for and what reels I'm using.