Can you show the underside, where the reel foot attaches?  I like it...modern Tennessee style grip.

there's a size 17 basic Fuji spinning seat under all that cork. The EVA ring to the far right and the cork behind it rotate. That EVA ring is there to slide over the cork ring to the left of it. The other EVA ring is to cushion when the seat is tightened don on the reel foot.Now that I've osted pics, I can see that I have a bit more shaping and sanding to do.

The size 17 seat is probably a mistake, but it was what I had laying around to experiment with. If this thing works out, the next one will be built on a 16.

yep, more shaping and sanding needed.

Hmmm.  Now you got me thinking.

Wish I could claim I thought of this, but I'm not that clever.

Go to getrodblanks and you'll find a video showing the details. Not too difficult with this guys clear directions.

Ill try to get a closer pic of the hood under the cork. Using a 17 seat doesn't leave much cork. I'd like to have that handle just a little bit smaller, but I'm afraid to take it down much more.

Greg Thorne, of Thorne Brothers fame is the man in the video,

ere's the detail showing how ittle cork remains over the fixed hood. The clamping hood looks the same.

Here's the butt grip for the same rod.

That's cool as heck!

Very nice!

Tight lines,

Bob

here's some pics of the finished rod

Looks really comfortable and well built.

Built this on an Elliot blank, Thorne Brothers new line of rod blanks. Anyone in the upper midwest knows about Thorne Brothers.

6'10" ML-XF, Microwave guides, and the handle assembly I made using variegated cork. The butt grip is variegated cork with a burnt/burl checkerboard pattern. The thread is Fuji brown, Prowrap teak, and Fishhawk Sparkle silk. I like the brown / teak combo. Sparkle silk was an experiment.

The wrap in front of the grip is brown, with teak end caps and sparkle silk inlays. I reversed that for the split wrap. Brown in the middle, with sparkle silk ends and brown inlays. All finished with  CP and TM Lite. I put the rod decal(s) in the brown section, then over-wrapped the decals with sparkle silk and a sacrificial thread. I pulled out the sacrificial, and finished it without CP, so the silk disappeared and the sparkle remained.

The blank was 1.2 ounces, and the finished build is a hair under 3.5 ounces. The blank is as straight as I've ever seen, and has no blemishes. This is my new dropshot rod.

I took this along on a recent trout trip because,,, well just because you know? I fished it on Taneycomo, throwing a 1/16oz marabou jig, and landed several rainbow. The fished it on the White, throwing a large sculpin with a 3/8oz drop weight, drifting for browns. Total weight for the rig was over 1/2oz, and the rod had no problem with that weight. Had no problem with several decent browns either. I like it.

Kent liked it too. HE landed the big fish of the trip using MY ROD!!

14 hours ago, .ghoti. said:

Built this on an Elliot blank, Thorne Brothers new line of rod blanks.

This blank intrigues me.  I just don't know where it would fit in my lineup with 3 SCVs and a NFC. 

If this were an NFC that I spent $250 on, I would be saying MEH. For $80, I'm impressed with it

Seems to me you already have enough dropshot rods. LOL!!!

You can never have enough DS rods!

How did I know you would say  that? LOL

Some people have rods for different techniques.  I have different DS rods for each bait I use!

21 hours ago, S Hovanec said:

Some people have rods for different techniques.  I have different DS rods for each bait I use!

I understand. I have at least a dozen soft plastics rods

On 8/11/2016 at 2:35 PM, .ghoti. said:

I understand. I have at least a dozen soft plastics rods

It's funny how before I started building I thought 6 rods were more than enough.  Now I have to decide which 14 are going in the active roster( rod box) each trip.  I've had to move some veterans the the DL lately so I called up some rookies out of the shop.

A 10.5 lb German Brown using 4 lb test line made for a pretty interesting fight. Fortunately Gary had the drag set perfectly and I was able to maximize the power of the entire set-up trying to move the fish off a ledge and through two large tree trunks.  Browns don't give up like bass and the outcome was always in doubt until the fish was in the net.