Chris Catignani

I have to agree...to a point. Sometimes when a guide gets bent and bent back...it can come loose and be able to pull out of the thread.

If you have ever had to strip the guides off a rod you would know that thread without and CP is way harder to remove...its like concreate. So ...yes it is by far a better bond for the guide. When you use color preserver...its seals the thread and doesnt let the epoxy seep down to the guide foot. Using CP will make your thread look like what it looks like on the spool...and it just a tad bit lighter vs thread with no CP at all. Each way has its merits. Over the years I personally have opted to use no CP....and tend to use a lighter color thread (since it will eventually go dark)

The color will always go dark...like its wet. Black looks the same...but any thing else goes dark. It will actually take on a lighter (more colorful) look in the sun. I have on occasion created trim bands and also a camo appearance with just color preserver on that part of the thread.

I bet his initials were @MickD ....just kiddin Mick.

Exactly...don't worry a lot over aesthetics. The main thing is function.

No...but I do pay attention to how and where they fish them.

Whenever I've added heat, it was usually from a hair dryer. I completely ruined a blank with a heat gun once.

Maybe a little on the moderate rod...but not enough to make much of a difference. None on the fast rod.

Yes...most rod cutting is done from the butt. But if you need to make a rod a little stiffer you most certainly can cut it from the tip.

Its Texalium.

Thanks.... It is 11"...the tube alone was 10" then add the caps. But I have to agree with you on the grip. There is a (hybrid) version I like to make that is just a 3" piece of graphite tube (reel seat) and the fore and aft is cork. Once the reel seat it taped on it looks all cork.

Its real popular in Celina....School Bus yellow.

This past Fall I've gotten into making hard baits...and that has led to culling old tackle and giving some stuff an upgrade.

@spoonplugger1 I recently made rod out of a Rainshadow CB66M. I cut 6" off the butt to make it 6' and I must say..I love it. I have been fishing a Slider on it and a Ned rig. It has a tube Tennessee handle and a joy to fish. The Handle is just 10" and its easy one handed casting. Dude...true that.

Learn how to take a wake... important Learn how to use your power trim... Good to know... Then learn all the boating regulations...

Touche! Lets just go with techie.

Im a total technophobic. Network engineer and C# dev. ASP/MVC MSSql...and on and on. I love messing with Arduino and ESP32 devices...but firstly...it fishing.

On one of the models I've seen...you unscrewed the butt cap and added or subtracted disks to add or take away weight.

There are many days where I fish all day with my: pitchin stick, flippin stick and grass rake. These are three of the heaviest rods you could ever fish with...total beasts. At the end of the day I feel like I been in the ring with Mike Tyson.

@Tennessee Boy Thats good information. I think what we are seeing is that people using the micro guides and lighter blanks, and longer rear butt handle, are creating a "balanced" scenario...actually just a side effect. Now ...dont get me wrong...I love the feel of a rod that tends to be balanced...but it just seems to me that these are the rods that are in the 6' range. Now a days...reels are getting lighter, plastic and carbon...which effects the balance. Personally, I want a rig to be as light as it can (balanced or not)...especially if I have to fish it all day.

There have been occasions where I might not build it a light as humanly possible... Example: I have on occasion put burl cork (or cork with a burl inlay) on the foregrip of a crankbait rod. It just seems that that particular area of the handle gets a lot of force applied to it and burl will hold up better. I will also do this on other rods for sensitivity...burl cork is more sensitive than just regular cork. But burl is heavier, and I don't use it where it won't help with durability or sensitivity.

@JeffD I have always been baffled when people talk about a "balanced" rod. To me...it just means the right rod for the right reel. Like @spoonplugger1 said..."Make them as light as you can...". I have seen rods where they added weight to the back and I just scratch my head. Obviously..."IF" you were to balance a rod, you would need to add weight as far back on the bottom of the rod as you can. The bulk of the weight is in the reel and its balance point (fulcrum) would be in your hand.

The first FnF rod I had was just a 10' crappie rod...but I needed a little more backbone.