ejtaylor822

Looking forward to the card tonight. Henderson and Franklin should be a good one. Found an excellent article on Franklin. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090116/SPT/301160082 Henderson is a beast. My fear is that Henderson might be a little too powerful for Franklin. I hope Franklin does well. Shogun and Coleman should be good. Big fan of Marcus Davis and looking forward to watching him.

Hey, Just ran across these on rodbuilding.org - forgot to mention that resource as well - but they can really get "down in the weeds" over there and could be a little overwhelming at times. But, an invaluable resource. http://www.midwestrodandreel.com/Pages/Components/Specials.aspx These kits look good, matched, and priced around $60. Not sure of shipping. Mudhole has some kits around the same price as well you might want to consider. Eddie

As others have suggested, start researching. Another good place to start are the stickies right here in this forum. Also, check out DavidG's (ReelMech's) web site. Buy Tom Kirkman's book on rod building and read it. Start by building your own wrapping tools for next to nothing. I built mine from scrap lumber and have built about 30 rods on it. Buy the cheapest rod building kit, or blank, guides, etc. you can find for your first one. Don't start with anything expensive. The first rod won't be no where as good as your second and your third one will be 10x better than your second . Start slow, do some good research, ask a lot of questions and post pictures of how your doing. Eddie

Awesome. Great bunch of folks here for sure! 8-)

I have several that have paid $20-$25 for. A couple, that were custom made, were well worth the extra $$. They cast farther and have better action. However, I only buy these lures for top-water and shallow to mid depth and only throw them where I am fairly confident they won't get snagged. For that reason, I often catch a lot more fish on cheaper, throw away cranks that I toss into an area before brining out the "pretty ones". :-[

It is an evil, evil creature who's powers of persuasion are in a direct inverse proportion to the amount of money you have AND when the wife is feeling the strongest about you having too much fishing gear. The BM is most often lurking at sales, on-line and in-store, right after all the bills are paid and the wife says "we have no money do not even think about buying anything for fishing." Which, of course, the BM automatically reminds that the $250 reel you want is on sale for $199 and that the two nickels in your pocket can go a long, long way when needed. He's a bad little monkey.

Hey Muddy, where are you at now with this? Needing anything else? Happy to contribute if there are still needs. Great service you are doing there. Eddie

Will do - thanks for the information and passing this on. I used USPS for a couple of ships few years ago, but, have been using FedEX the last several shipments due to the length of the tubes (>7') and hearing some stories about USPS, but, I am ready to give them (USPS) another shot. Last shipment via FedEX of a 5lb 7'8" tube to the midwest was $35 including insurance. I only charge $25 to ship so I wind up eating the difference - including the cost of the tube if I can't use one I already have. Thanks again for the information. Eddie

I tie mine directly to the lure.

$25 to $35 is what I usually end up paying. I use a heavy PVC pipe and wrap in bubble wrap - around the rod and at the ends of the pipe. I also put "non conveyable" and "do not place on conveyer" all over the tube in big letters. Not sure if it does any good, but if a rod shows up bent in two somewhere I can at least say I tried to warn the carrier when I file the claim. For me, so far so good with USPS and Fedex (knocking on wood). Eddie

Excellent paint scheme. Looks very, very nice.

Been using Quantum for several years now. Will admit, they probably do not get as much use as some folks have discussed in here, but, I have had no problems and like them. I use the Energy and PTs.

LBH. Those are cool! Careful around those power tools, bud.

Wow. Those are nice. You lure guys are amazing.

The short answer: tip drop of 10 to 12 inches, IMHO, is acceptable. In all likelihood you will have the tip down farther than that while fishing, unless of course you are going to be flipping/pitching. My apologies for the length. Started writing this and it just kept growing. Hopefully you will find something useful here. In the short time that I have been doing this, the subject of rod balance is a religion to some and a discussion of this subject often turns into a "religious war". I am expressing my opinion only, hope more experienced guys jump in and give you more perspective. First I will get my opinion out front and out of the way: Depending upon the technique, I just do not put a lot into achieving "perfect balance" of a rod. Unless it's a flipping/pitching rod, and other tip up techniques, IMHO, lower weight (and greater sensitivity) of the rod are more important than achieving "perfect balance". That is not to say that I slap everything together and hope it's balanced. No. I pay attention to balance, but, I give more consideration to other characteristics; mainly sensitivity and the overall weight. I say "perfect balance" because some feel the rod has to be *perfectly* balanced right over the reel seat. This is so the rod will "feel light" in the caster's hand. I read an article on this a while back and it was talking about that in order to achieve "perfect balance" on a rod that an additional 1.75 oz of weight was added. However, to achieve slightly less balance, where the balance point was a couple of inches behind the reel seat, guess how much weight was needed? .25 oz. Yes, a quarter of an ounce. Not saying there is anything wrong with "perfect balance", I, IMHO, just do not believe in adding weight to a rod as it cuts down on sensitivity - once again unless it's a pure "tip up" technique rod and this is just my opinion. Other reasons I do not aim for perfect balance is because things change. Changing lures alters the balance. Pulling a 3/4 oz buzz bait through the water is going to affect "working balance" as compared to pulling a 1/2 oz spinner (weight, drag, etc.). Swapping out a reel to a heavier/lighter one is going to change the balance - switching from 20 lb mono to 20 lb braid will (slightly) alter the balance point. Also, people are different. Some folks palm a baitcaster, some hold at the foregrip. Same with spinning rods, some hold the reel seat, some foregrip, or like me with their pinky around the shaft. No matter how it is held, the positions will change through out the day as well. Unless the person holds the rod at the "perfect balance" point, I just do not see it making that big of a difference. However, to achieve "perfect balance" in building of the rod, they could be holding a much heavier rod that is less sensitive. Some folks want the additional weight for the balanced feel, some don't - all personal preference which is good and why they come to a custom rod builder to get the feel they want. With that said... With split grips, you lose some of the mass and weight on the back. This, among several other reasons, is why I now use Burl Cork (or EVA) as it is more dense and heavier than regular cork and helps offset some of the reduced weight. I also make my handles a little longer to compensate for the reduced weight behind the balance point. Can also bring things back into balance by going with single foot guides towards the tip and a lighter tip-top. This will not only help with the balance but reduce any "softening" of the action. If you do have to add weight, the recommended place is at the very butt of the rod. The recommended approach is to use lead wire and wrap around the last 1/2" of the butt and shape the grip to fit over the lead wraps. You are going to get more benefit from having the weight farther out on the "moment arm" (hey, I finally used something from my mechanical engineering degree) than closer to the reel seat (fulcrum). Of course there is also the option of the removable counter weights that can be used in place of a permanent butt cap. I have seriously been considering those. Are you trying to balance the rod by the blank itself, or, do you have the reel seat, grips, reel, etc. in their rough locations? Should try to balance with everything in place. You will find it is remarkably different - even with/without the guides in place. Once again, sorry for the length. Hopefully there was something useful here. Easy to see why this is a religion for some.

Hey, what you described is how I put my butt caps on - use the rubberized cork discs from Mud Hole. What I do is install the butt/rear grip. Once set up, dried and passes the twist test (I try to twist the grips off), I use 5 minute flexcoat epoxy to attach the butt cap. I mix a good amount and smear it all over the mating side of the disc and the mating side of the butt/rear grip - making sure to get quite a bit inside the blank. When its good tacky I squeeze the cap on and hold it - find a comfortable chair and sit and hold it. Usually takes about 5 mins to be solid. I do not worry about epoxy squeezing out as I sand/shape the cork and cap as one at the same time which of course gets rid of the dried epxoy. Of course, if you do not shape like this and already have grips and cap shaped and just want to glue up, can clean up the epoxy after it sets - the 5 min epoxy peels right off. Recently, I messed up shaping a butt grip and had to pull it off. Just for grins, knowing that it was coming off, I tried to twist off the cap. Now, I test the butt caps by trying to twist off, but, for this I tried to REALLY twist, break it off. It didn't budge. I felt like I was going to torsion the blank before the cap came off. After that I have NO concerns attaching the cap in this manner.

No. Do not think you are missing anything here as something sounds amiss. If you have to turn the handle, defeats the purpose of the switch. Thumb comes off the release bar the spool should lock. Can you take it back?

I use a Quantum Tour Edition PT and love it. Had for couple of years now with no complaints although I use it for more than just cranks - some top waters and lipless - basically any long casting treble hook lure.

Rattlin' Rapala in Baby Bass color. Anxious to get my hands on and throw the new Clackin' raps.

Depends upon conditions, but overall: 1. Rattle trap 2. Senko 3. Medium crank 4. Spinner bait 5. Top water (walk the dog types)

Awesome! Congratulations!

Very cool. Hope you are ready though, looks like to me he is already hooked on this addiction.

Hey, that should definitely work. My last few builds close to what you have I have used: CLNAG-12J CLNAG-10J CLNAG-8J CUNAG-7J CLAG-6J to the tip 3-5 with a 6 ring in the tip top. I go single foot with the CU & CLA's toward the tip (forhan loop wrapped) to keep the weight down for sensitivity - especially for worm and jig rods. What you have will work. Especially if an experienced person you know gave you this. If you might be going back to them for more advice might want to just follow their lead until you are comfortable on your own . Best thing is to lay it out, take it outside and throw it. I'll let others talk to micro guides and spiral wraps as I haven't used them. Good luck and let's see some pictures. Eddie

Awesome. Please post those pics.

That is too cool. I work with a guy who caught a bass and put it in his big garden pond off the side of his porch. He and his wife were out working around it one day and were tossing worms to it and he noticed how after a while the fish would follow them to where they were at. He got to where they would hold worms over the pond and it would jump up and eat them right out of there hand.