Theresamarie1

One thing you may want to do, before trying to mimic what this or that manufacturer tells you what you need to use for each kind of fishing, is to try out some of them (maybe a friend or 2 have some you want to try). Like you, I recently wondered if I could do better with all of the 'right' rods. So I went out and purchased a few rods that were spec'ed to do things like soft plastics and crankbaits better (luckily on sale). While I liked the medium fast and ultra-fast rods for soft plastics (because of their feel), I absolutely hate the specialized st. croix crankbait rod that was recommended by a dealer. It's so soft (medium power-moderate action) it's just mush. There is no feel at all and it casts anything over 3/8 oz terribly. I think I'm going to use one of the medium-fast rods for most of my cranks as they have a lot more castability and really have never had the issue of loosing fish on a fast action rod. I'm going to see if Gander Mountain will take the rod back in exchange..but I have my doubts. All in all, not sure I'm catching any more fish... :

Roadwarrior, when I refer to internal adjustment I am referring to the 6 internal brakes on the non-drive side. Can you comment on the line you use? I Know it must be yo-zuri, but what weight, and which yo-zuri. I'm using yo-zuri, which I like for strength, but this line seems really stiff and seems to be contributing to the overruns. I had to tighten the friction so much, with all of the brakes out, I just couldn't seem to find a place I could cast well consistently. I've really been using baitcasters for years, and while I would not say I'm an expert, I'm surprised to find this very fine reel so difficult to master. Any other thoughts?

Raul, of course you're right. I have 5 other baitcasters I do quite well with, but I don't think they have a spool quite as 'free' as this one. This one just wants to really spin upon a throw of a light lure. I was throwing a 5/16 jig from a med-heavy avid casting rod (pretty light for the rod, which is in fact 1/16 oz. less than it's rated. The line I have on the rod seems really stiff, it's yo-zuri hybrid 12 lb. Most of my other baitcasters have power-pro which is really good for not over running. If this keeps up, I may have to change line to see if that helps or just use it with heavier lures. The reel feels so fine in the hand and it's machined very nicely.

Thanks Twors, I did have some residue that looked like oil on the 'brake drum'. I'm a bit surprised at the design, as it seems very easy to get oil in that area after oiling the bearings. In any case, I cleaned it off. I still had some trouble today, but it was a bit better than yesterday.

Thank you for the reply. I did try that, tighening the friction know as you guessed, as one of the first things. I'll try fiddling some more tomorrow.

I've read all the entries I could find on the subject, including the little tutorial in the sticky area above. I just purchased the subject reel on sale in a year end clearance, and got a great deal. I have to say that it reels like there's no mechanical resistance at all. The thing that I'm having trouble with, is the braking system. I have numerous baitcasters including a Currado, Citica, President, Revo SX, Corvalus, Browning and have had pretty good luck setting them up so they don't backlash. But today, in using the Calcutta, even with the brakes (green heavy ones) all set out, I could not get this thing to stop backlashing. I had the friction brake set pretty hard so the spool would not move at all once it hit the water. It seemed to start backlashing as soon as I threw the lure (a 1/2 oz jig), which I think means it's the centrifical brake rather than friction setting. This was with the wind or against the wind which didn't make much difference, I think because of the heavy jig. Suggestions? As a sideline, we pulled in around 15 pounds of smallmouths today and our biggest was 3lb 11oz which is pretty good for Lake Champlain. We were watching lots of pro bass boats around us and don't think anyone was doing better (we weren't competiting though), but it's a huge lake, so I'm sure someone found a honey hole.

Not sure if this is the right place or not but I've seen others note sales and such. I was just at Dick's and picked up 2 St. Croix AVID spinning rods for 79.99 each. Given the price tags were 159.99, I thought it may be a good deal. When I got home, I checked on line to see if others have similar deals but couldn't find anyone else this low. Selection is limited due to the time of year, but I found 2 for plastics, both 7' medium power and one fast and the other extra fast. Terri

Thanks Flechero, It's apparent that I should have done more on the preparation. They just looked so good and flat, much better than I expected. I have all of the tools too because I do old camera repair and furniture building as well (so not like I'm ill prepared) in the rest of my spare time : . Well, experience counts for a lot in just about every craft. Next time I'll know better. I just bought some rough Cherry for a bedroom set I'm embarking on. Terri

George, thanks much. I must need to do some prep on the guides if the tape works for you guys. Maybe I'll try cutting and retying rubber bands as well. This is Dads rod (Christmas present) so I've been frantically trying to find time between work and travel (for work) to get it down. I'm finally ready for finish now.. I'll make sure to take a pic and post it before putting it in the mail.

Ronnie, I did try that with both the masking and duct tape. The thread would still either push the guide up the rod or would 'snap' around and push the foot up so the foot sat on top of the thread. It was maddening until I just did a sacrificial wrap which held the foot down tightly. I didn't have any of those small rubber bands sitting around but I bet they would work good. You'd think I'd have some laying around having had 2 kids in braces... I'll look at getting some of that flexcoat adhesive. You know the fuji guides were just about perfect in the way they layed on the rod but there was just a bit of a hump at the end of the foot. Maybe I should have taken a dremel and made it paper thin so there was not tendancy to push the foot with the thread. Other than that, the guides were pretty much ready to go (or at least I thought). Always very helpful, thank you much! Terri

Hi rod builders. Does someone have the best way to hold guides on while trying to wrap them?? I've tried masking tape, duct tape, twisted wire, super glue, hot tip glue and none of these seem to work very well. I just finished the wrapping on my first rod and this was by far and away, the most frustrating part of the entire process. The actual wrapping, by comparison, was a piece of cake. In the end, I resorted to doing a sacrificial thread wrap of the guide starting in the middle of the foot, and then once I wrapped up to that point, I'd cut it off. In every other case, with every other method I tried, the guide would lift just as the thread touched the end and/or it would push the guide further up the rod. The hot melt glue just would not allow the guide to sit flat, and my super glue, would not hold well (maybe i have an old or bad batch). There must be a better way, and I hope someone can give me a clue, before I start another build. Regards, Terri

Thanks Guys, I have a very small gap, and I do have the hook keeper very close to the foregrip, so maybe I can just add some more threading up to the grip and when I finish, it should completely hide the small gap. The rod is light, 4-10 lb rated and the fishing my Dad is in the 5 lb and less range. I thought he might appreciate the light weight and action of this rod versus the heavy duty stuff (and pocket fisherman) he usually uses. I bought a nice bass pro baitcasting reel (color coordinated to my threading of course). He hasn't used a baitcaster since I was a kid, I hope he doesn't mind re-learning. I'm thinking of spooling it with 8 lb line. Best Regards, Terri

Hi, Finally getting around to building my Dad's Christmas present (I've been procrastinating.. : ). I have a couple of questions for the experts here. I've already found the spine and mounted my seat, rear and fore grips. Now I'm trying to finalize guide placement. It's a 6' st. croix M-L action casting rod. I bought a set of 9 fuji alconite new concept guides and am in static testing. The problem is that I can always make the line touch the rod, under load, in the first foot from the tip. Seems like I'd need a guide every inch and a half for the first foot to keep the line off the rod under load. Is this normal? Second question. I've only just now realized there is another part that I didn't order, and that's a winding check. I'd rather keep chugging along than stopping to wait for another delivery. Is this something I can forgo? I was wondering, instead of a winding check, can I make a filet of epoxy at the foregrip to rod interface that will stay intact? If possible, how would I do this? Should I use finish epoxy or standard building epoxy? Should the rod be verticle or should I do it horizontally just like normal thread finishing? Are there any special techniques? Thank you much, Terri

The other thing you hear quite often is "I would never throw a bait I don't have confidence in". And while this may make sense to me if the bait is shaped like an old shoe, or the bait has no relevence to the kind of fish in the lake/pond you're fishing, for every other case, the only way to gain confidence is to learn and practice. As for everything else in life, you never learn if you never try. Chris, I think you said it well.

Hey David, my problem was operator error for sure and I wasn't trying to imply that I did the right thing. I knew I wasn't supposed to touch the wrap but while trying to look for bubbles going away and holding the bic, I must have gotten just a tad too close. :-[ I did a second coat today by pouring into a flat tinfoil tray and then blowing on the epoxy and it seemed to work ok. I also used a hot air gun before blowing on it and this helped as well. Thanks for everyones help!

Yes, I found that out. Maybe I should change my handle to firestarter... ;D Hmmm, air conditioner. You must be a southerner...only heat comes out of our vents. : Wait, we don't have vents..we have radiators. Seriously, thank you for the help, I have a heat gun that I'll try..

I hope you're not at home lieing on the floor laughing at the thought of me with mouth wide open, breathing on my epoxy... But I'll trust you...and give it a try for the second coat. I'm sure the bubbles are nothing more than cosmetic (they are really small).

Hey guys, I finished my test rod guide attachment, threading and color preserver this past weekend and proceeded to add a coat of lite epoxy. Everything went ok except for some confusion around the color preserver. I had two kinds and tried the Gudebrod first and it was thick and lumpy..not a good consistency at all to brush on. So after one guide I switched to the flex coat. This seemed to go well. and dried clear. My problems came with the epoxy. I stirred it up and got a very clear and bubble free mixture. I put it on but noticed some very small pin-***** size bubbles. I remember someone telling me that they used a flame to get the bubbles out. So I used a 'bic' and low and behold I was making cherries jubilee. I blew out the flame quickly, but amazingly the bubbles were still there. I'm wondering if I did something else wrong. The bubbles seemed persistent.

Wow, I'm surprised I'm in the minority here. We fish Lake Champlain which is huge compared most other choices. Lake Champlain is approximately 600 square miles (384,000 acres). :o I'm wondering if we should vist some of the smaller lakes around here.

RW, thanks much for the insight and the pointer to this great resource. I've not really figured out smallmouth yet and maybe some of these articles will help me.

Ronnie, thank you for the reinforcement. I just haven't done this and don't have a lot of 2 piece rods, just a couple of cheapies. This does seem like a very nice blank, although very fine. I may have to build a short M-L one for myself as well after I get the one done for Dad.

David, thanks for the idea. I was unsure what kind of plug to put in there... and nothing is the answer, just epoxy.

Hi David, I ordered the 2C60MLF2, and you're right on, it's a medium light rod. It's really light and has a really small tip. I hope it's going to be ok (durable enough) for my Dad. He's pretty old and has typically used pretty heavy duty stuff. I'm going to put a nice spincast reel on it as I don't think he'll want to deal with the baitcaster and definately not the spinning reel. I remember when he first took us fishing up on Lake Huron and we used some baitcasters that I would create huge rats nests in. The line was some kind of black braided stuff (at least i assume it was braided). I think a couple of times I was relegated to the drop line (green string on flat spool with bobber, split shot and hook) after creating a non-fixable mess of knots. : Anyways, nostalgia aside, thankyou for clearing up my concern/question. I'll put the wrap on the top part. Should I epoxy any kind of plug in the hollow male end to ensure it's durability?

Guys, Just received my 2 part st. croix blank for my dad and it's not at all what i expected. Instead of the top section being the 'male' part and plugging into the bottom section, the top part is actually larger at the base and plugs 'over' the top of the bottom section. So the bottom taper is really fast and at it's tip it's really small so that it'll plug into the top section. Seems to make a very delicate rod and looks really strange to me. When put together it doesn't look like one continual taper, it looks like stacking cones. Is this typical? If this is typical, do I wrap around base of the top (female) section then? Thanks again.

Thanks Reelmech, that's the area I'm doing now on the test pole. I've found out that silver and gold thread (with metalic sub-thread) is really not happy to be around flames . The fuzzies can be removd with the ole bic when it's normal thread, but that metalic stuff just disintegrates. I've done one guide now 3 times.. . The metalic thread is also hard in other aspects in that it doesn't sit like regular thread. The metalic component is like a thin flat ribbon, and just doesn't cooperate. I should have just gotten light grey instead of silver-metalic. The other thing I'm battling is trying to get a flat lay on the rod when it's been painted and paint in the guide area has been removed in places. Wherever there's a paint edge, the thread doesn't lay properly. I'm thinking that if I ever have to redo something I care about, I should sand the area so it's consistent and flat. You've been a great help, thanks!