Chris Catignani

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.

Like all things fishing...people will put their own spin on it and say they have improved the process. But that being said...this is how it was taught to me by Steve Headrick, Bobby Gentry and Bob Coan. I have talked to these gents at length about the FnF. First lets talk about the rod...I have a custom rod I made for myself...it basically a 9' 9wt two piece fly rod that has a Tennessee handle. The reel I use is just an old Shakespeare 2052 with no bail...any reel will work. I use 6lb mono. The floats you use are custom. This is something that Bob Coan showed me. He took that cheap Styrofoam float with the weight at the bottom...cut in two...and moved the weight into the middle of the float. What this does is tell you when a fish hits the fly(jig) and rises in the water column...the float will roll over. The preferred jigs are the marabou...they look like their moving when stationary. But people use other things under the float. The long rods are needed for casting...because the floats a fixed to the line about 10' up the line. Its almost like a hybrid fly cast to get the rig where you want it. Keep in mind also that this is how they do it on Dale Hollow. The water is gin clear and the lake is deep and full of points. The FnF seems to work better when its gets colder in Jan and Feb. The juvenile thread fin shad will start to die off and its easy prey for the smallies. As for presentation...you get somewhat close to your spot (say a point) and then you troll motor in somewhat close. You want to be sneaky and not spook the fish...they will be suspended and will also come out of the depths. Make your first casts way off the point first...you really want to just leave the rig alone and not work it...its tempting to reel but just let it "soak" for a bit. Here is a picture of a kit thats sold by Dale Hollow Tackle...you can see what the jigs look like.

Looking at the rods at the component level: Guides: Anything over a $20 set of Aconite guides is overkill. Handle components: Cork is cork...cheaper cork is a little more pitted. Reel seat: Functionally they all do the same thing...though some seats are more desirable. Thread: Is just thread. Rods: This is where the rubber meets the road. Graphite typically cost more than a glass rod. Long rods cost more than short rods. Higher modulus rods typically cost more the lower modulus rods. So...if you ask me, "What's a better deal?" A: 6'6" - 57 modulus graphite for $100. B: 6'6" - 57 modulus graphite for $300. I have to go with A. Reminds me of what is the best kind of salt to buy. Kosher, sea, flake, Himalayan, black, Hawaiian, Celtic....etc...etc... Under the hood its all NaCl (sodium chloride).

A floating Rattle Trap is a bait I throw a lot in shallow water... @the reel ess mentioned this above.