kayaking_kev

I have the 843c and I can't say for sure if it has the absolute best sensitivity because I haven't tried every single rod out there, but it's pretty dang good and it would check off the rest of your list. It's a joy to fish with though and the nicest looking blank I have seen from top to bottom. I have other high end rods with Torzite guides, but the Conquest is the smoothest casting of them all, I think due to the Spiral X and High Power X technology. The only negative I can say about it is that I don't care for the thread color that much.

I can't offer any solutions, but wanted to say I have sort of the same problem with both Tatula 100's that I've had. I also have the Tatula SV and love that reel, and have also owned the Daiwa Catalina and Tatula CT Type-R and had no problems, but my 100's seem very finicky, especially with fluorocarbon, even when using line conditioner. Sorry I can't help though, I hope you get it resolved.

Do you think 4x4 are a absolute necessity, as I was planning on trying to get away with 2x4 as legs?

I wouldn't worry yet, I've bought a Metanium MGL and SLX MGL 70 from there and both arrived rather quickly. For what's it worth, whenever I place an order from NFC, I never get anything until it has shipped.

I just want to clarify, I called it a foam arbor, but I actually don't know for certain what material the arbor is made of. It's really soft and light and reamed out super easy.

I would second the Phenix X composite rods. I just built a custom Phenix X-10 and love it, weighs 3.9 oz. I've had 3 Dobyns Champion XP Glass Rods and they are very good rods also, but I like the Phenix better. I'm now going to sell my Dobyns Glass and Tatula Crankbait rods because I like it so much. Another Composite that I liked that was cheap at only $70 retail, was the Defy Black Crankbait Rod.

I was wrong about the foam arbor inside the NFC grips going all the way through. I went to ream one out and found it was only about 3" or so and the rest of the inside was hollow like on the G2 grips, this was a pleasant surprise. This was on the 9.75" Full Grip, so I can't really speak for the others for certain. I apologize for incorrect assumption, as it looked like it went all the way through upon first inspection. Lesson learned!

Some good ideas, thanks! I'll look into some prices next time I'm out. There is a restore business just a few blocks from me that has some used inventory that I might be able to find some materials on the cheap also. If not, the $100 for my original design doesn't seem so expensive now, but at least I got some different options now. Thanks again!

I sincerely apologize, but I assure you that you didn't waste your time, because it gave me ideas for when I do buy a new house and able to build something more long term. I'm sure it will also give other people who will read this thread in the future ideas, as I often find solutions by searching and reading old threads. I appreciate the time you and everyone else took to give me suggestions and I will try to do a better job at responding quicker in the future. I don't want to make any excuses, but yesterday was a crazy day, I had to get up early and shovel my driveway out, then the plow came and covered it back up, so I had to shovel again, and then we got a couple more inches of snow later in the day and I had to shovel some more. I would login and a quickly try to check the thread when I had a chance and try to reply to the last person that replied before I returned back to work. Please forgive me!

I converted an upstairs spare bedroom to my fishing & building room because it gets a lot of heat and the very max I could go would be 9 ft. for the doors to open and that would be pushing it. It has two doors on one end, one entry and one closet. That's also the reason I really don't want to cleat anything to the walls, for the users who made those suggestions. We plan on buying a new house in the near future.

Not sure, but I did look at this option from IKEA, but they don't deliver to my area and I've heard some bad things about their products that scare me. It would of been about $20 cheaper and less work. I would of had to buy two of the table tops and 8 legs. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/linnmon-tabletop-black-brown-00251343/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/adils-leg-black-70217973/

Looks to be more expensive than what I was considering, thanks for the suggestion though. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Top-Choice-Blondewood-1-2-in-Whitewood-Plywood-Application-as-4-x-8/50121137 Way better than what I currently got going on, two sawhorses with a piece of pegboard laying on top, haha, it sucks but it's been getting me by.

The design I came up with and priced came to around $100 for the lumber and screws, I was wondering if there were any cheaper options. My design was 8 feet long and 30" deep with 2" overhang to clamp stuff in the front, with 5 legs as support, using all 2x4's and finished plywood, with cross braces for added support.

The Champion would make the warranty much more valuable, if you ever needed it.

I rarely ever fished spinning rods, so I'm not even sure if I make contact with the grips or not, so I'll have to check that out. I did build that X-Ray MB-733 as a spinning rod though and also used a Aero seat, but it's the only build I didn't use the G2 Carbon Fiber Sleeve Foregrips, because I like to put my finger directly on the blank and felt it was easier to do so without a foregrip.

That is so true! A lot of people, myself included assume since they are so light that they have to be underpowered. I kind of always had that feeling about Dobyns rods, especially the Xtasy rods that I've owned because the diameter on the butt section are so dang small, but I've always felt like they were plenty powerful enough. But, I have never done a CCS, so thanks for bringing that up.

I'm sure they do a good enough job. I also used a Tatula & Dobyns Crankbait graphite rod last year for a Whopper Plopper for Smallies and they did a good job also. But, I still prefer a little more flex for the places that I fish. 99% of the time I'm either in a small river that is 2 feet deep or less and all they like to do is jump up out of the water. And, the reservoirs that I fish get most of their Smallies from the same river, so when you put them into 20-40 ft. of depth, they do crazy things. I also started out using an Ugly Stik GX2, which is Composite, so it's kind of what I'm used to. I still think those are great cranking sticks if you don't mind the weight, but I used a 6 footer, so weight wasn't really a problem for me and I loved the short handle fishing from a kayak. I still always keep one in my Truck ready to go.

I'm in the same boat as you as far as iced up water, but if that were not the case I doubt I would of ever begun building rods, I would always be out fishing. I like having the anticipation of looking forward to finally being able to test them all out. I'm a new builder as well, but from reading what experienced rod builders have to say and what logic tells me, I tend to think grips are mostly for looks also, but looks are pretty important to me. I do think that sensitivity is somewhat important also for the small section on your hand that does come in contact with them. I also believe the reel seat is a pretty important component as far as sensitivity goes, that why I love AT Carbon Reel Seats, particular the Razor, because it also leaves the top exposed, underneath the reel and they are some nice looking reel seats. But, I am interested in those skeleton reel seats such as the one being used by the OP, because the AT Carbon Seats require a insert, while the skeleton seat just sits on exposed blank. I'm by far an expert, but if I had to take a stab at ranking the most important components, it would go something like this. 1.) Build Quality - You can have the best of everything, but if it's built really bad, it doesn't mean much. 2.) Blank - From material, design, & weight to preferential actions, lengths, power, etc... 3.) Guides - Spacing, sizing, material, can all have huge effects on rod breakage, sensitivity, weight, longevity, and damage done to line. The 1st rod I built was with Titanium Torzite Guides just because I own two production rods with them and love the way they cast and look compared to others, but I don't believe they are necessary at all. Like, DVT mentions, I believe Alconite guides are sufficient enough as long as you're using small guides the weight difference in minimal and almost a $100 cheaper. I have built one with Torzite and one with Alconite and the other 3 with SiC as I find them to be a happy medium for me, but all my tip tops are Torzite or SiC. 4.) Reel Seat - The component that you come in contact the most with and provides comfort and if you select the right one can add to sensitivity. 5.) Grips - As explained already, mostly for aesthetic purposes, at least for a Bass rod anyway, but does provide some sensitivity in the amount of vibration they transmit to the section your hand does come in contact with. Did I miss anything?

I prefer composite, because I often fish for Smallmouth and need that extra flex that the glass tips gives, especially for river smallies. I know some rods say they are glass, but are actually composite, such as Dobyns Glass rods, and the Colt Series all have 15% of Glass in them. I'm interested to know how many good pure glass rods are out there, beside the St.Croix, I believe that is all glass, correct? I've owned several Dobyns Glass Rods (Composite), 13 Defy Black Crankbait Rod (Composite), and a Custom Phenix X-10 Composite and have loved them all, but my Phenix build weighs 3.9 oz. even with Winn Grips.

I personally used a 6.3.1 for my DC 705cb and a 5.4.1 for rods meant for deep divers. This is due to the most popular feedback that I received when I acquired about the same subject. It seems to work good based from my limited experience, compared to some veterans of the sport on here.

You should put the Fuego on the rod and see how you like it, but I wonder if it might be a little heavy of a reel for such a light rod. It all depends on how it feels to you though. I would personally try to get the lightest reel I could for those rods, but that's just me.

He's right about the Sierra, it's even better for those techniques, the 734c is very popular. There is, at least was a certain store that will get filtered if I mention it's full name that has/had a 20% of Dobyns rods sale this past week, but you can PM me if you want, and I'll tell you the store. It has the word Legacy in it. Also, Military Vets get 30% off of Dobyns Rods by calling them, just incase you are a Military.

The St.Croix Panfish Series rod that I have is made of blended SCII and SCVI. I wish I would of tried more St.Croix rods, but I think I'm probably done buying production rods. I held some Avids and below at a Bass Pro Shop and wasn't impressed though.

I have the NFC Carbon Grips 3KEFX9.75 and they weighed 0.9 oz. or 26 grams on my scales. They are going on the X-Ray SJ-736 I got from you in the trade, BTW , Thanks Again! So to update, I have recently built with these 5 Grips. G2 Matte 3K Full Grip / X-Ray MB-736 G2 Bushido Split Grip / X-Ray MB-733 CFX Composite Carbon Fiber Full Grip / X-Ray MB-7109 NFC EFX/CarbonTex Full Grip / X-Ray SJ-736 Winn Grip (Black) Split Grip / Phenix X-10 Composite Unfortunately, the water is hard and I've only had a chance to fish with the Winn Grips so far, so I can't say much except for my preference for their appearances and feel and everyone will have their own preferences. But, I can confirm that the G2 Full Grips only have two small arbor rings in them, and the split grips only have one. I also believe this will allow more of the vibrations to pass through, but I did have one problem on one of the split grip arbors coming loose, but it was probably my fault for not reaming out just a tad bit more. It was a fairly easy remedy though, albeit a messy one, since the arbor was close enough at the bottom to where I could just epoxy it back in place. The rest of the grips have the full foam type arbor all the way through. As far as appearance goes, I think I like the look of the G2 Matte 3K the best, slightly better than the NFC CarbonTex Grips, just because I think the shape of the NFC grips are a little funky looking. But, I do think the NFC soft touch grips feel the best out of Carbon Grips I have. The G2 Bushido grips just look a little plain to me and even a little grayish, instead of the dark black that I like. I like them all though, but won't have a final opinion on them until I'm actual able to fish with them for awhile. If you ask my wife though, who doesn't fish, she will pick the Winn Grips over all of them, go figure! NFC did add a bunch of Carbon Grips and emailed me a Catalog link for anyone interested. https://northforkcomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021_NFC_Grip_Catalogue.pdf?goal=0_e5485418aa-4cd1164e4b-95894270&mc_cid=4cd1164e4b&mc_eid=ede838fd02

I've fished a friends Phenix Feather before and just recently built a custom rod on a Phenix blank that I'm loving. I never fished a M1, so I can't make any comparisons, but I would say they run more than a little lighter than their ratings, more so than any other rod I have ever fished. I don't really care for the looks of their production rods, but I'm anxious to build on some M1 and K2 blanks in the future. I love how light they are, and for what's it is worth, my friend loves his Phenix Feather.