grub_man

No! About the only thing that has changed is the resin systems used. They make blanks a little lighter and slightly more durable. St. Croix leads the way in blank technology and manufacturing, and most of the improvements in design go into making things more consistent with marginal improvements in weight. I was given an old Lamiglas blank by a rod building friend that was new old stock from his father's supplies. It's a yellow fiberglass blank from the late 60's. The action and power is very similar to the top of the line glass cranking blanks made today. I've built it out and it fishes great. A great blank is a great blank regardless of the date of manufacture. High quality blanks have been made with graphite since it was introduced as a rod building material, and the ones that were good in the early days are still good. The mid and high modulus materials have been around for over 20 years, and surprising little has changed. The aesthetics of modern bass rods with their split grip, no fore grip, and split reel seat designs can be traced back to Rich Forhan. The result is that rods have become lighter and more sensitive more to removing material that did not need to be there than they have been improved by any advances in blank technology. Another thing to keep in mind is that the carbon fiber that rod blanks are made from comes from the aerospace industry. Fishing rods are small potatoes in the market for graphite prepreg materials.

Stepping up from the rods built on SCII, standard modulus, or similar blanks (many rods in the $100 range fall into this category) to something in the SCIII, mid modulus, or similar blanks (many rods in the $150 - $200 range fall into this category) is worth it. The blanks and rods are significantly lighter and more sensitive. You will also notice a distinct difference in how they load and unload when working with them. Things just feel more crisp and efficient. Moving up from there to the high modulus blanks (SCIV and SCV) or similar is where you start getting diminishing returns. Blanks may or may not be lighter, and they are more sensitive, but the jump is not as big as it is going form the standard modulus to mid modulus blanks. The difference in how these rods handle is much less noticeable. I fish two high modulus rods. They are the rods that I built to fish techniques that are my confidence techniques and generally are light line feel related techniques. Spending more here was worth it to me. For techniques that use over 1/4 oz of lead and/or moving baits with a single hook, or techniques I don't use often, I use mid modulus blanks. I really don't give up much here. For moving lures with treble hooks, I generally reach for glass blanks. Don't get stuck into the loop of just because it's more expensive or higher modulus, it's better. The right tool for the job is the rod with the right power and action for the technique you are using. The rods you are using are all of pretty decent quality. As you upgrade, think about what you like and dislike about the rods you are using now. Do you have problems feeling what you lure is doing on the end of your line? At the point you are at, upgrades are expensive, and make sure that you get what you need and what you want. You are also reaching the point that the cost of building your own rods with similar components can be the same or cheaper. It's an addicting hobby, and it is surprisingly easy to build a rod that is better than what you can get off of the shelf.

I use 6lb. mono for most of my finesse fishing. When I do use braid, I tie direct using either 15lb. or 20lb. (4-6lb. mono diameter). I like to keep things simple.

The standard by which all reels should be measured! Not absurdly heavy, smooth, and reliable. Set the spool tension just tight enough to remove side to side play, turn 2 brakes on and go to work. I'm really partial to the smaller 100b and the Citica 100dsv built on the Curado 100b platform.

Shimano built reels on the same frame out of virtually identical parts for about 20 years in the 90's and 2k's. It made taking care of those models very easy, because the same parts were used over and over. But when Shimano changed to the seasonal redesign model, things were bound to change. It makes the ability to keep replacement parts for the long term nearly impossible. It's a consequence of rapid release cycle with planned obsolescence. It works well in the tech, automotive, and other industries, and it's finally making its way to Shimano. Keeping reels in service for 30+ years just doesn't spur growth in product sales, and let's face it, companies are judged based on growth. A company that that is just big enough to pay its bills and keep its employees and customers happy isn't deemed successful. I'll be keeping my old Shimanos going for as long as I can, but their pricing structure has moved my preferred models out of my budget, so as I look to expand and replace reels, I'll be looking across a larger spectrum of brands and models. My brand loyalty in casting reels is likely coming to an end. There aren't many spinning reels that I've used over the years that I disliked, but casting reels were always a whole other issue for me.

Custom rods aren't necessary very often these days. Rod manufacturers now offer enough actions and powers to cover most fishing scenarios, but mass producers are still mass producers. As such, they are taking a stab at what most people might want, and use some build practices that may add extra weight to a rod making it more inefficient, and less pleasurable to use. When it comes to something like an UL spinning rod, particularly a longer one, the guide train chosen by manufacturers generally adds way more weight than necessary, taking a great blank and making it feel whippy. From there, handle design and ergonomics are probably the most important features of custom rods if you ask me. As rods go past 6'6", most manufacturers will start using handle that are too long and get in the way while I'm fishing. Being able to take control of this part of the build means that I can have a rod that I will actually fish. Rods I bought with handles that were too long just never got used. As looking for the big one says, being able to get exactly what I want is what makes custom rods a great option. Once I got to the point that I started looking at factory rods that carried a custom rod price tag, I looked into rod building and learned to build my own. It makes for a fantastic hobby!

Falcon makes a nice rod, and nearly bullet proof. I have a 3 or 4 of them in various stages of being stripped down so I could rebuild them, but my God, are those things tough to strip. The medium light and medium power moderate action rods are great for cranking! One of these days I'll get motivated enough to finish stripping those rods to breath some new life into them. They'll make some excellent rods as my kids graduate from their little UL rigs into bass gear.

My advice is as noted above, start practicing with a bit more weight. You won't be throwing many lures that are truly 1/8 oz in weight. Rig up something like a 1/4oz. ball head jig and grub and cut off the hook at the bend, i.e. use something realistic to practice with. Or take the hooks off of a crank bait body and use it for practice. I run my reels really free so I can get good casting distance with little effort. Set the spool tension just tight enough that the spool stops when your lure hits the ground when the rod is held straight out in front of you at waist level. Crank your magnets up to about 3/4 of their max and go to work. With 3/8 - 5/8 oz of weight, you will be able to easily cast without backlashing, and most of the time, you can get by without thumbing the spool at all. When you backlash with the reel set up this way, it is most likely that you are dropping the tip before the cast and releasing the spool too early. Now it is time to start adjusting things to find what your limits are. Start by reducing the spool tension a bit. If you start getting overruns at the end of the cast, then tighten it up a bit. Next start backing of the magnets. If you start backlashing at the beginning of the cast, turn them back up a bit. Then start going to lighter lures. You may find that you want to make small adjustments as the lure weight changes.

Nope, unfortunately, it isn't. It's one sourced from overseas in a matte clear finish. I started building a year or two after they started sourcing the blanks overseas. I know the old Cascade blanks had a strong following. Those early builds may not always be the prettiest, but they sure are good at becoming attached. I used Lumiseal for the first time on that rod as a thread finish, and I loved it. I just wish I had a good way to keep the moisture cure urethanes fresh for the occasional build. A few light coats to seal the thread with very little build up really suits what I try to accomplish well. One of these days I'll get ahold of a little paint can and some permagloss or lumiseal, but I'm sure I'll dump a couple bottles in and still manage to screw it up and have it harden on me. For targeting bigger panfish and perch, I would have recommended something like an SJ781, but Batson doesn't offer those anymore, and I haven't built on another manufacturer's to know how comparable they are. That blank is phenomenal for light jigs and is not whippy in the least, but is a bit overkill for smaller gills. I have a couple of guides to replace on mine (built as a casting rod) to get it back into the rotation. I left the guide foot tunnels unfilled on that one to see what the consequences are. In case anyone was wondering, it means the guides pull out way easier.

I really like XT on casting reels. I fish 10lb XT clear regularly, and really like its abrasion resistance. FYI, XT's diameter is generally equal to the next size up in XL. XT does have memory, but I find that I like it better than Big Game, which is another one with memory issues. For general purpose use something like XL, Cabela's ProLine, or something with a little less memory is nice. I'm a huge fan of McCoy's Mean Green copolymer line for general purpose use, but when I can find Cabela's ProLine for pennies on the dollar in comparison, I'm willing to settle.

I built a general purpose panfish rod for myself on a Rainshadow IP840 years ago and it is phenomenal for the job. I use it mostly for casting 1/32 - 1/16 oz jigs and UL crankbaits, but will use it for float fishing on occasion. It's not as whippy as most UL rods, and has served me well. The current version is listed below from Batson's Revelation line. The Immortal would be the upgraded blank, but I really don't find it necessary for the task at hand, unless you really want Ti-Chrome finish, which is stunning. REVIP70UL-SB Satin Black 7'0" 1 4-6lb. 1/32-3/16oz. 0.380 5.0 MOD-F UL 1.1oz. Trout/Panfish light jigs and tube etc. My IP840 is trimmed from the butt to 6'8", though at times I wish I would have kept the extra length for a little more lifting power when using UL cranks for bass. It has a Quantum Catalyst PTIa 10 wrapped onto a section of woven graphite tubing with an EVA butt grip for a split TN handle. With 3mm ceramic running guides, I can still pass a well trimmed bobber stop, though I would probably go with 5mm running guides if built for slip float fishing.

Well done! You can start sending me your 'practice attempts' for proper disposal. If you don't mind me asking, did you do this one like Billy V. does with the two tone EVA inlays? I.e. with cork sheets stacked on top of one another and attack with the scroll saw and then wrap the sheet around the grip, or did you cut and gouge out the cork for the inlay? If the former, I am really curious, because I would think it would be hard to wrap a cork sheet that tight. I also get it, if you are developing a new technique (as I don't think I've seen anyone do these types of inlays in cork) and don't want to publicly share your tricks.

On freshwater rods, line and lure ratings are more of a suggestion based on what the manufacturer thinks you will use on the rod. That said, you won't expect to throw a 3 oz. pyramid sinker and a chunk of cut bait on a rod rated up to 1 oz. As you get toward or a bit above the labeled upper limit, the rod will tell you what to do. As the weight gets heavier, the rod loads and unloads slower meaning that you need a slower casting stroke, verging on a lob cast for heavy lures. When pushing the lower limits, you are relying on the tip speed that you can generate to get the light lure out there. Adjust your casting stroke a bit, and you will be fine.

First thing I would try is a drop of oil in each spool bearing. Second thing, put a dab of oil on a Q-tip and run it around the centrifugal brake ring. Third thing. I don't think the level wind disengages with those reels, so make sure that the bushings at the ends of the worm gear and the worm great itself are properly lubricated. After that, I'm at a loss.

The Veritas should make a very nice rod for treble hook lures like crankbaits. If I didn't have many other options, I wouldn't hesitate to use it with single hook swimming presentations like a ball head jig and grub, spinnerbait, or chatterbait. While I prefer rods with faster actions for single hook lures, I've never had issues fishing lures with swimming presentations on rods with slower actions. The Shakespeare, that's a good question. I know lots of guys like the Pflueger spinning reels, and you have a nice one there, but not knowing more about the rod, I can't say for sure. Shakespeare's rods are generally in the one size fits all category, so try it with just about anything. It should work for lures that are light enough that you aren't comfortable throwing them on the casting gear.

In my mind, this is the way it works. I've never gotten a direct answer, but nothing to indicate that I'm terribly far off course. Scrim is a material used to provide hoop strength to a rod blank. In the simplest design, the material that a rod blank is made up of consists of a bunch of long skinny graphite strands laying side by side and coated with a thermoplastic resin that will harden when it is brought up to the proper temperature and cooled. Without something to keep the fibers bundled together they will be easier to separate leading to failures down the road. Scrim is used to keep those fibers bundled together, and serves as sort of a backing as the fabric is made. A scrimless design is one that drops off that backing, most likely incorporating a layer of woven graphite fibers or layers of fibers oriented at different angles to the longitudinal axis of the blank. As the layers are wound around the mandrel together, there are some fibers that then wrap around the longitudinal axis of the blank to help give the hoop strength that the blank needs to stay together.

Big Easy, I started back in about 2008. I built a hand wrapper out of some cheap pine 1"x4", 1"x6", and 1"x2" lumber and some miscellaneous hardware from Lowes. It worked quite well. In fact, I finally tossed it this week after I bought a new wrapping jig at the ICRBE in Feb. One of the best things you can do to get started is buy a copy of Tom Kirkman's book Rodbuilding Guide. It's a relatively short read, something you can handle in a few trips to the throne. It teaches all of the basic skills you need in order to understand basic rod construction, design, and component selection. Yes, there are some newer, smaller, and lighter components than shown in the pages of the book, but after reading you should have a very good idea of how you can use those new components to your advantage. The wrapper I picked up at the ICRBE is Mud Hole's hand wrapper with the aluminum track. The hand wrapper is very well designed and really is all you need. A few things that have been beneficial to me over the years. 1. A good set of reamers makes handle work so much easier and reliable. I use the Batson Dream Reamers, and they are worth every penny! 2. A drying motor makes finish work less time consuming. I built some rods turning by hand, and still do it when I mount spinning reels on my split TN handles since I wrap the reels on with thread and finish, but being able to walk away from the rod with it turning after a few minutes is very nice. 3. Using a mechanical mixer helped a ton with making sure my finish is properly mixed. Put the bearing in, both components of finish, turn on the mixer, listen to a song and you are ready to finish. If you go the kit route, you can save a little bit of money on the bundle, but make sure that you are getting what you need, and that it fits your budget. As you go along in the craft, you can always add more things later on.

The rods are perfectly normal. Perfectly straight rod blanks are very rare indeed. As has been mentioned, a little curvature is perfectly normal. The direction that the curvature goes is going to be determined by the first person to start work on a blank in a mass produced rod. Enjoy the rod and catch some fish with it!

Thanks for sharing guys. So, it sounds like that announcement was as much of a shock to the dealer and distribution network as it was to me, as a hobby builder, when I saw it. I would hate to see the kind of hit the Batson group took on this one, if NFC didn't keep them in the loop with time to reduce inventory. As a retail customer, I welcome price drops, and would like to see the price come down slightly across the board, as blanks are going up in price at a pretty steep rate these days. However, if this business model becomes the norm, the suppliers that I know and enjoy patronizing will be in jeopardy, and will take with them a lot of knowledge and product diversity with them. I will say that if this shift was handled in the way it sounds, I doubt that I will be patronizing NFC anytime soon. I hope you all are able to do something with the stock you have on hand!

I do not, but Alex is a good guy, and I am sure he handles warranty claims well. I can't imagine him doing business any other way. He has grown his business from a regional rod builder to importer of Kigan guides, to developing Hydra blanks, to getting his 'production' rods out there over the course of about 10 years. I suspect he will become a significant player in the industry as time goes on.

I would probably go with the Promise. I know the early Hydra blanks that Alex used were slightly more powerful than I expected for their ratings.

Grooving is not an issue with any modern guide, especially ceramics. The rods I build for myself generally end up with aluminum oxide guides. In fact my personal rods end up with aluminum oxide ceramics most of the time. The guides simply do what they need to do and do it well. I would reconsider my choice if I were fishing for large fast running fish in the salt, but there is nothing swimming in freshwater that is going to run hard enough, fast enough, or long enough to need to upgrade to something with better heat dissipation properties. I've only grooved one guide in my life, and it was a metal ringed tip top on a Browning Superlight Ultralight. That rod was fished with 4lb. mono. It was more likely a flaw in the chrome coating or the underlying steel ring that was the issue than it was from fishing.

Awesome project Goose and DVT, and very well executed!

I see you got the left handed dock skipper version. That bend makes the lure curl around behind the dock pilings when working the left side of the dock. You need a right handed dock skipper version to work the other side of the dock. In all seriousness, the rod looks fine. Rod builders will debate to no end what to do with the natural curvature of the blank as well as the blank's weakest axis. There are many opinions, each with its own logic, but physics rules the day, and the rod is going to seek its configuration of lowest potential when loaded. The truth is that you can build the rod on any axis you want. The torque from the forces being applied to the guides by the line will dictate the way the rod flexes and twists under load. If I were building on that blank, I would have rotated so that the tip pointed up instead of to the right resulting in a built that looks straighter.

I like to use different rods for different types of topwaters. If I had to dedicate a single rod to topwater, it would probably be a CB type rod because topwaters are by nature treble hook lures, and a good CB rod will keep the fish buttoned up. For lures like the Jitterbug that I work with the reel, I'll always opt for the CB rod. For lures that I work primarily with the rod, oftentimes, I'll use a MXF type rod, (think along the lines of an Avid 68MXF). Constantly twitching the CB rod with its extra inertia gets tiring after a while, and with smaller more subtle topwaters that I want small movements the soft tip of the XF rod helps with the action of the bait. The downside is that once the fish is buttoned up, I need to be much more careful not to tear the hooks out when the rod locks up. For single hook applications, buzz baits or frogs, it's an MBR type rod that I'll reach for.