ITO_ZILLION

Hey WRB, I am looking at Quail Lake on Google Maps and I notice it has a water inlet/entryway and a water outlet/exitway. Do you know which one is the inlet? Is the inlet the one all the way to the far east? If it is, that is going to be a pretty far hike.

The reason for shortening is... 1. I mostly fish from the bank and so I prefer shorter rods in order to be able to cast in and around tight places or cover that is lining the bank. 2. I am a short guy at only 5'6". I am not very tall so longer rods always feel very cumbersome at the end of a long day of fishing. 3. Topwater is my favorite technique. I prefer shorter rods for my frogs, wakebaits and walk-the-dog type baits where you need to have the tip of the rod close to the water's surface. I already had a rod laying around and I did not want to go out and buy a brand new blank. I had a 7'4" Heavy, Mod. Fast, 1/2-2oz, 15-65lb rod that I finally got done stripping all the way down to the bare blank. I ended up taking 2 inches off the butt end to make it a 7'2". 2" is not very much and the rod is pretty stout/beefy, therefore I think I am pretty 'safe' as far as not changing the action/taper all that much if anything at all. Thanks for all the help and replies guys I really appreciate it.

I was really confused but now it looks like I don't have to put any epoxy since I am not planning to put a hook keeper, decal/logo or decorative wrap in this area. Thanks for the heads up guys.

Will a standard 10" hacksaw or a pipe cutter work best in cutting the blank?

I see so I am guessing that most rod builders who want to shorten or cut a blank will most likely cut from the butt end and not the tip end right? I guess I will just have to cut from the butt end first and see where that takes me. Thanks for the heads up guys. Hopefully I don't mess my blank up. Fingers crossed =).

When cutting or shortening blanks, you will eventually change the blanks 'initial/original' action and taper correct? Therefore, how are you supposed to cut the blank in order to change the action or taper in your favor for what you think the rod could perform like when complete? I have been thinking about this for a few weeks now and I eventually came up with the train of thought that is... Taking blank material off the butt end will eventually... A. Decrease the backbone area and therefore... B. Decrease the strength of the blank (i.e. Hvy to Med Hvy or Med Hvy to Med etc.) and therefore... C. Decreases maximum lure weights or lure weight range. D. Lengthens the taper and therefore makes the blank more slower and moderate/parabolic. Taking blank material off the top end will eventually... A. Increase the backbone area and therefore... B. Increase the strength of the blank (i.e. Med to Med Hvy or Med Hvy to Hvy etc.) and therefore... C. Increases maximum lure weights or lure weight range. D. Shortens the taper and therefore makes the blank more fast. Taking blank material off both the top and butt ends will eventually be a compromise or middle ground of what's been stated above already. Therefore, a rod builder could very well take material off on only the butt end or only the top end or on both ends depending on what he/she wants to achieve right? Does my train of thought/theory seem right? I am wanting to cut some blanks and I am trying to figure out how to cut them in order to get the action and taper I want in the completed rod.

Why do rod manufacturers always put a bunch of epoxy coating between the top of the reel seat and the 1st guide area where the logo/specs and hook keeper is...? Is it mainly for... A. Strength. Which leads me to... B. Protection against breakage during hard/brutal hooksets. From what I have seen and heard, this area is the area most prone to breakage on a hookset. C. Protection for the blank against hooks/baits when using the hook keeper. Protection for the logo/specs sticker/label. D. Counter balance. That is, in order to make the rod not so 'tip heavy', you would need to add more weight towards the back 3rd of the rod, which usually means adding some epoxy in this area. E. General durability/longevity of the life of the rod. F. All of the above. Therefore... 1. Am I supposed to do the same thing also when building a rod? 2. How much epoxy (i.e. layers) are you supposed to use in this area in order to achieve the same thing as above? 3. How much of the area (i.e. inches of the blank) are you supposed to cover up in epoxy? Is it going to depend on the blank's quality and/or length? 4. Can you forgo the epoxy in this area if you are going for the 'lightest weight possible' rod build? 5. Can you forgo the epoxy in this area if you are working with a high quality blank? 6. Does questions 4 & 5 above mean that you will also sacrifice a lot of the advantages of having the epoxy there like stated above? Sorry for all the noobie questions.

Being a 'prop style' bait, I would guess the bait has a lot of resistance just like a spinnerbait or whopper plopper. Therefore a slower gear ratio does sound right. On the other hand, would a 8.X:1 be too fast? Would it hinder the action of the bait/prop or somehow make the bait roll or run improperly? I am hoping it would work in a pinch if I slowed down my retrieve. My fishing style is fast and I am also a bank fisherman. Therefore, I don't like to bring a lot of rod/reel combos with me. I am trying to make due with my high speed frog/pitch/flip reel. I don't want to have to bring another reel just to fish the Sprinker.

What is the best gear ratio in order to fish the Teckel Sprinker frog correctly? I have never fished this style of frog before and I'm kind of confused. Is it possible to fish the bait too fast? Would a 7.0 reel be about right?

What are the best sizes of swimbaits to fish on the 1/4oz 5/0 Owner Flashy Swimmer? I bought a couple to try out and now I need some swimbaits. Seems like a 5" swimbait is the money size but I am not sure. Would 4" be too small and therefore would the large hook size impede the swimbaits action? Is a 6" swimbait doable or is it too big and therefore getting in the way of the hook gap and impeding hooksets? Thinking about buying some 4" Megabass Spark Shads and 4.8 - 5.8 Keitech Swim Impact FATs just to see what sizes work best.

Does anyone have any experience with Ark rods, specifically the Lancer Pro series? I am mainly interested in the 7'2" Heavy 50-80lb braid 3/8-2oz rod. Looking for a all in one frog, swimbait and pitch/flip rod. How's the sensitivity for bottom contact with jigs and texas rigs? How's the balance and does the rod feel tip heavy? Its rated up to 2oz but I was wondering if the rod can cast/fish 2oz baits comfortably? Its rated as a fast action but I was wondering if the rod's action is soft enough to fish treble hook baits also?

What's the difference between the 2020 Tatula CT (dark blue accents) and the 2016 Tatula CT (red accents)? Is it the same exact reel but only with a new color scheme/accents and that's it? Are there any improvements to the new CT on the inside that would make it a better buy over the old CT? I did as much research and looking into the topic as I could for the last couple of days but I can't seem to find anything that would tell me the new CT is a improved reel over the old CT. I was thinking about getting the new CT but if there are no improvements and the only difference is a color scheme change, than I think I would rather just get the old CT off the second hand market and have some extra money for line and baits.

I should probably open a new thread/post but since the topic of grinding guide feet has already come up... 1. What's the main purpose for grinding guide feet...? 2. Is grinding the guide feet something your supposed to do 'all the time' for every rod you make...? 3. Is there a time/place/situation where you would not need to do any guide feet grinding...? 4. Are you supposed to grind ALL the guides on a rod or are you only supposed to grind 'specific' ones...? 5. How do you know if you need to grind a guide feet...? 6. What grade of wretched file/rasp are you supposed to use for grinding guide feet...? 7. Is it possible to take off too much material and therefore damage/ruin the guide feet...? Sorry for all the questions guys and bearing with me. I haven't seen too many videos and/or topics for grinding guide feet so I am a little confused/lost. I want to get it right the first time.

I want to make a trip out to Florida for some snakehead fishing this summer. Will a rod rated somewhere around 10-20lb and up to 1oz be sufficient for snakehead fishing in Florida? On the other hand, I have watched countless Florida snakehead fishing videos on Youtube and the snakehead in Florida can get pretty big. They also live in some pretty nasty stuff and give a mean fight. A rod rated around 20lb and up to 1oz seems kind of light for snakehead fishing. I don't want to break a light rod on a hook set on a 10lb+ snakehead with 50lb braid and a totally locked drag. I also don't want to be 'under gunned' and want some muscle for pulling a 10lb+ snakehead out of some nasty weeds/mats/milfoil/hydrilla. Would it be best to upgrade to something a little more 'beefier' instead? I was planning on using a frog/swimbait rod rated around 30lb and up to 2oz but I don't know if this would be considered 'overkill' for snakehead fishing. Is it even necessary to upgrade to a rod rated around 30lb and up to 2oz? Maybe go with something in the middle like a rod rated around 25lb and up to 1.50oz instead?

Which parts of rod building do you find most enjoyable...? Which parts of rod building do you find least enjoyable/tedious...? Planning to start getting into rod building and was kind of curious as to which parts of the craft guys are finding most enjoyable and least enjoyable and people's personal preferences/taste for certain aspects/workings of the craft. Personally, having watched countless videos on rod building, I think I would find installing grips, reels seats and winding checks the most enjoyable. Wrapping guides would probably feel the most tedious or least enjoyable for me.

For all intents and purposes, Medium Fast and Moderate Fast rod actions are 'interchangeable' terms/meanings...right...? In other words, they represent the same action/concept regardless of manufacturer/brand...right...? Or are both terms supposed to represent different actions...? Kind of confused because I see both terms all the time on rods and yet I don't know if they are supposed to be the same action or are they supposed to be different where one is supposed to be slightly faster than the other. On the other hand, even if both terms do mean the same thing in practice/theory, there will always be 'some differences' in action between different rod manufacturer's medium fast or moderate fast action just due to the nature of the rod manufacturing process/craft and the varying degrees of materials and equipment used. So in reality, moderate fast and medium fast actions are not a 'standard-ised' action and will differ somewhat between rod manufacturer's just like how rod strengths are not standard-ised and therefore one manufacturer's medium heavy could very well be another manufacturer's heavy...right...?

Does anyone in here have any experience with buying reels and/or tackle from overseas...? To clarify, I don't mean buying tackle or reels overseas thru the internet using a online retailer/3rd party. I mean, actually making a trip out to a foreign country and buying reels and tackle from an actual brick and mortar tackle shop and bringing it back home. I was thinking about making a fishing trip out to Thailand this summer for my birthday and I was wondering if I could 'kill 2 birds with 1 stone'. Because everyone knows Daiwa has manufacturing/factories in Thailand and Malaysia for some of their lower end tackle, that is than marketed/sold to countries/regions overseas like the US, Canada and Europe. I believe the US/Canadian/European Tatulas are made in Thailand. So, I was wondering, would I be able to save some money since I will have the 'home field advantage' of already being so close to Daiwa's manufacturing and since there is an exchange rate that is already at work. Therefore, would being so close to manufacturing and having the help of the exchange rate allow me to buy some reels at a much lower price than MSRP/retail back in the US? I am not an economist/business type of person so I really don't know how money and goods/commodities work when it comes to travel and exchange rates, purchasing power and location/proximity to goods.

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY. A few years ago I had just recently got into the walk the dog technique and was trying to master/learn it. I had just bought a new topwater bait (Paycheck Baits The One) and was itching to try it out for the first time. I decided to hit up a local lake that I frequent all the time to try and put in some more practice to try and master the technique and the new bait. It was the middle of summer, so walk the dog/pencil poppers were always the 'ticket' at this lake. Got to the lake around noon and could not get a single bite. Decided to try and end the day fishing a big main lake point that is just a few hundred feet from the launch ramp/parking lot. By this time, dusk/sunset had already rolled around and I was getting pretty tired and lazy and was almost ready to call it quits and go home. Its weird but something in the back of my mind told me to stay just for a little while longer. I don't know what happened next but something else in the back of my mind told me to change up my retrieve/cadence just to mix it up a little and see what happens. Over the next few casts, I mustered all the focus and discipline that I could and started to fish the bait a lot slower and more methodical than how I was fishing it that day. Decided to go as slow as I could possibly go for walking the dog and really letting the bait glide as wide as it could possibly go on each twitch. On one of my casts, I decided to make a really long bomber cast as far as I could over the point. As I started my retrieve, I don't know what happened next but my mind went completely blank and I was having some kind of tunnel vision or more likely I was probably 'in the zone' as they say. All I could only think about for the next few seconds was my bait and how I wanted it to look and feel in the water for a really big fish to commit. Next thing I know, I hear one of the biggest topwater blowups I have ever heard in my life. It literally sounded like a gun/explosion going off. Being totally caught by surprise, the fish almost took my whole rod and reel with it. Next thing I know, my braid is screaming out of the guides and the rod is folded over like a limp noodle. It was FULL BENDO! I have never felt a fish this big at the end of my line. I instinctually set the hook and totally forgot about trying to reel with my other hand. A split second later and the fish started to pull me into some rocks or something. By the time my other hand could get to the handle side to try and reel, the fish got un-buttoned and the next thing I know my bait is already floating back up on the surface. I was just in total shock, awe and disbelief at what just took place in that moment. Mostly I was feeling a lot of disappointment as I now know what it feels like to have the one that got away. Decided to call it quits and go home and while I was driving back home, all I could ever think about was what kind of fish was this and how big was it. This lake is known for big bass but it also has some really big stripers and catfish also. By the way it was fighting and pulling me with so much weight, I am thinking its probably a big catfish or striper and not a largemouth bass. I will never forget this evening. Because of this fish, walking the dog is still my absolute favorite technique till this day. Lesson learned. Always be prepared by always using the right gear for the given situation and conditions. The stock hooks were pretty crappy to begin with on the Paycheck Baits The One and I should have upgraded them to Owners knowing that I was going to fish lakes with big stripers, catfish and bass. I also did not use the right rod and I should have been using a rod with a much softer/slower action vs a pretty fast jig rod.

Having a IPT rating at full spool makes no sense at all. A full spool means there is NO cast and no cast means you are NOT fishing at all haha LOL =). So what's the point of even having a IPT in the first place if its rated at full spool and there is NO cast and you can't fish haha sounds like a moot point honestly.

Kind of confused. When a reel manufacturer states/lists the inches per turn for a given reel, at what casting distances or spool depths are they measuring at to get their numbers/inches per turn when you first start to turn the handle for your retrieve...? So is it... A. When the spool/line capacity depth is deep/low-ish at the end of a long cast. B. When the spool/line capacity depth is middle of the road/medium-ish at the end of a average cast. C. When the spool/line capacity depth is shallow/full-ish at the end of a short cast. To add even more confusion, line size also plays a role in inches per turn. The thinner the line, the more line you can put on the reel and therefore leaves more line on the spool after a cast, thus keeping your inches per turn high. Likewise, the thicker the line, the less line you can put on the reel and therefore leaves less line on the spool after a cast, thus making your inches per turn low. I would like some clarification as to how reel manufacturers come up with their inches per turn since they don't indicate anywhere what so ever what kind of line size, casting distances or spool/line capacity depths they are measuring their inches per turn at.

Does the Catalina fish more like a 100 or a 150 sized reel from Daiwa? Its weird because the Catalina is labeled as a 100 sized reel but on TheTackleTrap.com website, the description states '...long casting reel with enough line capacity to launch those mega deep crank baits, umbrella rigs, swimbaits...'. Last time I checked, a 100 sized reel can only handle big baits/weights if it has a deep enough spool. I don't know if my eyes are deceiving me or what but from the images online, the Catalina looks to be sporting a pretty shallow spool similar to most 100 sized Daiwas. The Catalina does not really look like it can handle deep crank baits, umbrella rigs or swimbaits unless you use a pretty thin braid. I am debating between the Catalina or Tatula 150 to pair with the Phenix rod if I get it. The Catalina wins overall on paper and looks but the line capacity looks pretty low and is kind of disappointing and I think it wouldn't be able to handle the weights and baits I want to throw. On the other hand, I like the larger line capacity of the Tatula 150 more since I don't have to worry about spooling the reel on a bomber cast and having decreased inches per turn. What's your overall impression and/or experience of the Catalina like...?

Thanks for the pics and measurements. Appreciate it.

Newbie to rod building and I want to start building my own rods. I have a couple older fishing rods lying around that I was wondering if I could remove everything down to the bare blank in order to have blanks that I can start practicing rod building on. A while back I saw a youtube video of someone using a heat gun to remove all the hardware but I am not sure if that is the proper way to do it. Is it possible to remove everything all the way down to the BARE blank...? What is the best way to melt/soften the epoxy in order to try and remove everything...? Will I have to resort to using some kind of dremel in order to cut the reel seat and grips open in order to get at the epoxy...? How do you guys remove hardware/epoxy from used fishing rods...?

I'm also looking at the IROD Genesis III Jr Swim too but its a little too long for me at 7'8". I prefer shorter rods because I am a shorter guy (5'5") and also because its better for navigating around cover/trees/bushes since I fish from the bank most of the time. I prefer a longer length handle over a standard/normal one also because it balances the weight of the rod and reel a lot better and makes the rod tip not so heavy. I like some extra length for tucking the rod underneath my arm pit for fighting big fish also. If you don't mind taking a measurement for me, what length is the handle on the Jr Swim from the end of the butt to the front of the fore grip/back of reel seat, since your saying its a normal handle length? Thanks for the suggestion and pics.

Does anyone in here have any experience with the Phenix Bass Recon Elite series of rods, specifically the PHX-C766H that is a 7'6" Heavy 12-35lb 3/8 - 2 1/2oz...? Does anyone know if it can handle baits close to 3oz...? I am in need of a rod for topwaters, rats, wakebaits and swimbaits in the 1-3oz weight range and I am thinking about getting the PHX-C766H. I am planning to not go any higher than 3oz with this rod and I am hoping it can handle close to 3oz. I have read that a lot of Phenix rods are a little softer and slower than rated. Is this true...? The rod is rated as a fast but if what people are saying is true, than I am hoping the rod is a little bit slower in action and fishes more like a med/mod fast since I will be fishing a lot of treble hook baits with braid to a leader therefore giving me some advantages/versatility.