ejtaylor822

Made these up to put in the display case at this year's Custom Rod Builders Exposition (ICRBE) in High Point this weekend. The top rod is soon to be personal favorite. This is a "prototype" cranking rod built on a Lamiglas fiberglass blank - same blank that is used in the Skeet Reese line. Have not fished it yet, but the action, IMHO, is going to be superb for cranks. Nothing like big ol' soft fiberglass for cranks and I love the way it feels. Its a little on the heavy side, but feels nice. The bottom is a new frog rod built on a CastAway Mag bass. This is a very stout rod and hope it sees a lot of action this spring! Should make an excellent pitching rod as it is VERY stiff with a nice fast tip. Both rods are 1 piece 7' and spiral wrapped. The Frog rod has #4 micros; the fiberglass rod has #5 running guides. As can tell, I have been fooling around with painting reel seats and cork inlays. Micro guide on the CastAway frog rod. Reel seat on the frog rod. Went with blue over silver to match the rod and faded in the silver in an attempt to make it look holographic - kind of weak, probably won't do that again..... Chevron wrap on the cranking rod. Butt guide looking towards spiral Don't know why, but, I always like to make the bumper different. Give it a more elegant look.?? Not sure why, just been doing it on every spiral have built...

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

That is cool. I would love to fish that one.

Where are you located? Will help narrow it down some unless you want to ship them.

Those are beautiful. You lure guys are amazing artists.

For me, I would be very leery of putting 25-30 lb co-poly through a #4 tip-top ring. should be fine on the running guides but if I were building this I would be inclined to install a #5, maybe even a #6, tip-top at that line weight. The problem is the memory in the line. The co-poly while not as much memory as mono but will still have some that will cause constriction when it goes through the tip-top and bends. What happens is that the larger dia lines takes an outward (or inward if pointing the tip down) when it bends through the tip. You will notice it most when casting and retrieving. When casting, if there is any bend in the line (ie, the rod is not pointed directly at the line of flight) the line will rub on the ring or blank or both if there is a sharp enough bend. When retrieving you will notice a grinding or rubbing feel/sound. Once again, for me, I would be installing no smaller than a #5 tip-top. If you (customer) were insistent upon the micro tip-top (which you could as it is your rod) I would really want to test cast with your *exact* setup before I committed to that small of a ring with that large of a line. I only put micro tops on rods/users that will not go over 15 lb line. IMHO, anything over that *might* cause problems - not always - but the odds are in favor that it will. Eddie

Ok, now boat rods (sorry if I missed that detail), at least the ones I have seen, will show the line ratings as opposed to the "lure weight" the reason being that they are typically not cast but rather trolled or jigged.

2x what Ronnie said.

This is what I give with the rods I build. Depending upon the material..... Cleaning grips - Use warm soapy warm water to clean cork and EVA grips. - Toothpaste with baking soda, rubbed in a circular motion with a soft cloth is probably the best to clean all grips. - For stubborn stains on natural cork use equal parts water and bleach. Do not use bleach on synthetic, burl, colored cork, or, EVA as discoloration may occur. - Armor All cleaner (not protectant) wipes or liquid, and also Windex on a soft cloth, are good to clean and wipe down synthetic or colored cork, and, EVA. Worst case for stubborn stains, can get some 600 grit and sand out.

Wow! Those look awesome.

Agree with the others. Lure wt will be given on most with a corresponding line weight. Below are the "general guidelines" that I have for the rods I build - lure weight to corresponding line rating. LURE WEIGHT LINE WEIGHT Power 1/64 - 1/16 oz. 1-6 lb. Ultra light 1/16 - 1/4 oz. 6-10 lb. Light 1/8 - 3/8 oz. 8-14 lb. Medium light 3/16 - 5/8 oz. 12-20 lb Medium heavy 1/4 - 3/4 oz. 14-25 lb. Heavy 1/2 - 1 1/2 oz. 17-30 lb. Extra Heavy Sorry its in English units (oz) and not grams.

Question - what is the ring size you are trying to use? Are you looking at micro? IF so, what size line will you be using? The reason I ask is that if you will be using say a 15lb or higher mono not sure I would use a micro top due to constriction and line memory leaving the tip. The smallest ring I will use on "heavy mono" builds is #5. Braid or fluoro in the smaller dia's should be alright. Just a thought.

I have not reamed the ACS reel seats due to the ribs. I try to get those and any blank through reel seat fit on the blank when I order. The ACS have pretty thin walls. Did you mean ECS? I have reamed the ECS blank exposed reel seats including a #17-165 to fit on a 7' fiberglass w/.845 butt. I start with a drill bit that will slide in, then go up by 64ths sanding after each pass until it fits. Just go slow, be careful and check often. If it looks to thin, might want to look at another reel seat. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Agree with others - 3 wt, 7' or 9'. Poppers and small terrestrials are good, but, believe it or not, I have real good luck with black stone fly nymphs - they clobber that one some days.

What action are your current casting rods? If assume mod/slow for cranks with medium power, fast action for spinnerbaits and jigs with med power. Might want to consider a 7' heavy fast action for a dedicated flipping rod, or, 6'6" pitching - which could also double as a C/T rig rod. The 6x will fit about any technique you may want to use, so I would find a rod action and power that currently do not have.

The only down side to 2-pc, or multi-pc, rods is the possibility of the sections coming apart during casting which can usually be avoided by securely putting them together. Outside of that, most folks can't tell the difference in sensitivity, feel and action between 1-pc and multi-pc rods. Years ago, there might have been some noticeable differences. Today's quality multi-piece rods are similar in all aspects to one-piece rods.

Rattle-traps are one of my favs. I prefer the Rapala's. Baby bass is my most productive.

First, yes you can use a surf rod on the pier. I actually prefer it when using bottom rigs as I rest the rod butt on the deck wedged under my chair and it keeps the tip way up above the rails. Works well for my 10'rs. Not sure sure what you will be fishing for, and, your idea of "lightweight" when throwing 6-12 oz. Those are heavers here on the East coast and the rods are fairly heavy. Unless you are targeting Kings (here East Coast) you typically don't need to be casting 6-12 oz very far. If able, I would check around with some of the "locals" and see what they have to say. I think you could definitely get by with two rods. One for heavy rigs and the other, lighter, for casting jigs and spoons. The reels should be fine as long as you wash them off after each trip in the salt.

What is the action of your rod? And are you missing hookups? If your rod is a soft/slow action you will be OK with fluoro or braid as the rod will give. But, if you rod is pretty stiff you will want some give in the line (mono) or just be really really easy on the hook sets. IMHO, f you are missing hook sets, stay/go with - mono. Braid or fluoro is just going to make it worse.

Raul, nailed it. Also, be aware of where you are throwing it. You don't want to be throwing a jig into junk with 8 lb line.

Good advice, but you have to be careful. If you overheat the tiptop, well, bad, bad, things will happen - don't ask how I know (fortunately, it was my own rod). I have found a good way to do this and have replaced dozens of tip-tops since that first fiasco without a single mishap. Take a look at the pic below - suppose to be worth a 1000 words.....Pull the rod creating tension on the rubberband and apply heat to the tip-top. As soon as the glue softens up, the tip-top will slide right off - WEAR EYE PROTECTION. Only the minimal amount of heat is used. Glue stick glue will work. However, the melting point is typically low which means that if the rod is left in the hot sun (on a boat deck) or in car the glue could melt. Use this glue - can re-use again and again and made specifically for tip-tops - high melting point and high adhesion. http://www.mudhole.com/Shop-Our-Catalog/Flex-Coat/Tip-Top-Adhesive I warm up one end, then slide the "molten" end along a smooth surface creating a "string". I take the strands ball them up length wise and shove them down the new tube - a fly tying bodkin helps. Warm up the new tube until the glue bubbles and slide it back on. Good luck, Eddie

Hey - static deflection test and taking the rod outside and throwing is how I determine "proper" location for the guides. I use the calculations worksheet to get started, but for final locations - static deflection and casting tests. Now, for casting rods I start out with the worksheet for the initial layout. I start the first guide about 3" from the tip-top. The butt guide I locate about 20" from the reel. I have the grips and reel seat installed, attach the reel and measure out 20", then back to the butt for the butt to butt-guide dimension. I layout the guides on the blank from the calculations sheet based upon the number of guides, length of the rod and dimensions I have for the last tip and butt guides. I do mostly concept configuration with the first couple of guides being 2x foot reduction guides then same size running single foot fly guides to the tip - usually #5 or #6. I say this because the reduction guide sizes and locations are determined during layout with the reel and during deflection testing. I like to have my butt guide pretty far out there for most applications, but, do not want the line touching the blank under load and providing a straight travel path to the running guides. For spinning rods, I use the 27x method (27x the dia. of the spinning reel for the choke guide) then work my way back to determine height and location for the reduction guides. I will sometimes use the worksheet to layout the running guides based upon the final location of the butt guide. I then perform a deflection test, adjust the guides then take outside and throw. Hope that helps and makes some sense, Eddie

Hey, Noticed on some other forums their have been a lot of questions in regards to guide layout and positions. For a couple of years now have been using a workbook I created based upon a formula that Dale Clemens used. Found it after I was struggling with a layout for my first surf rod. You enter the number of guides, length of the blank, distance of the first guide from the tip-top and distance of the butt-guide from the butt. The workbook will then give the distance to all guides from the tip-top. I use this for the initial layout *ONLY*. Following the layout I perform a static test then test cast for final position. The workbook is just a starting point and should be used as such. It is not for determining final placement. Here are the downloads. The first is for Excel 2007 and the second is for '97-2003. http://weavercraftfishing.com/DwnldFiles/GuideCalcs_2007_ejt010910v011.xls http://weavercraftfishing.com/DwnldFiles/GuideCalcs_97-2003_ejt010910v011.xlsx Wanted to pass if anyone is interested. Please let me know if you have any comments or questions. Thanks, Eddie

That is pretty! Nice work!

Christmas vacation followed by a Christmas Story.