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15 hours ago, newapti5 said:

 

Gee, you guys got expensive customized bday present(s). What I got last time was a steak dinner without cake. 

To be fair, my wife asks me what I want for my birthday every year.  So my answer was always, "I dunno? Socks and underwear?"  The first few years, she took it literally and I got exactly that.  A couple of years ago, she's going through the closet bagging old clothes to give away and says to me, "how'd you accumulate so many socks?  You have enough underwear to survive nuclear war."  So I smile, give her the look and say "most of this was birthday gifts from you", then it dawned on her that I was pulling her chain the entire time.  So now she just says "I never know what to get you, but I know you're going to buy fishing stuff anyway."  That's my girl!

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On 8/24/2022 at 3:28 PM, newapti5 said:

... What I got last time was a steak dinner without cake. 

Went to B/D lunch at El Mirasol with my folks and sister - ate a birthday flan - it was good, and I was buzzing from the sugar rush. 

Ambassadeurs are a bit like tinkertoys, and a lot of fun to work on. 

 I've always liked the CNC-mill swirl pattern on Zzeta side plates, which needs reflection to photo. They also make the only surf/tournament frame for 4500 (they also make 3600, 5600, and 6600, which no others offer)

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Inside, the left plate doesn't have a post for a LW idler gear, and has the built-in bronze "bullet" that accepts the spool spindle.  Mine has Avail mag brake added. 

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The barstock frame foot is longer than a normal reel foot, needing a custom split reel seat (I have the rod), the spool is also 8 mm closer to the rod, and brings it that much closer to your thumb. 

About 6 years ago, UK maker Akios made a limited run of level-wind 5500 and 6500 barstock frames, which are hen's teeth, because no one is letting go, and would be a boon to find one. 

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another tough photo to light - here's that completed custom 4500CT built from parts, NLW, 6.3 gears. 

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On 8/11/2022 at 8:26 PM, bulldog1935 said:

Went to next level on my Black Cherry - braid-raced 4600C. 

Added a graphite magnum frog blade to my Smith Super Strike handle, 3/8 to 1 oz,

to compliment my Top Water Light S-glass blade. 

The color match is pretty sharp. 

 

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Unfortunately, didn't get to cast my frog today - it rained - but you won't hear me complain about that

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Beautiful! Do you mind sharing where you bought this? I'm drooling on my keyboard!

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@Crankin4Bass

I have 2 rod blades that go with the Smith Super Strike handle.  It's copied after the old Fenwick Champion handle, but made in lighter magnesium. 

The reel seat is offset low for round reels, bringing the spool very close to your thumb. 

JZp1Md3.jpg

The honey blade is S-glass blend, 5-15 g (up to 1/2 oz, and optimized toward the high end)

Both the red graphite and honey S-glass are similar progressive tapers (stiff butt, more flex in the tip) with different weight range, and both skip-cast (reverse spiral) very well.   I use them for close kayak fishing.  I work the load curves over, and bypass the para taper rods, because I want wide lure weight range for this rod plus one more rod in a kayak.   

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Smith sells the handle options, and rod blades separately.  They also sell the complete rods with a cork pistol-grip handle.  I found the short straight handle (they also make a long) for a very good price on Amazon.JP, (no stock there now) and I bought the two blades one at a time from Asian Portal (haven't checked their stock lately). 

Stock comes and goes on the Super Strike - Smith makes so many other rod types - the trick is watch for what you want and snag them when they show up.  Ebay scalpers sell them at double mark-up. 

 

The reel was a custom braid-race project, beginning with a near-mint Royal Express II - I hunted a reel in this unused estate condition for a 4500 or 4600 project around the AMO spool, and bought it for a song. 

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Finished reel casts crazy reliable, backlash-free from 3 g to an ounce. 

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When I discovered the graphite-filled plastic foot would spit out of the reel seat, I found a great buy on a red NOS 4600C frame with metal foot from UK - probably a tough color to sell, and was very happy with the result.

GjCnQlx.jpg

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3 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@Crankin4Bass

I have 2 rod blades that go with the Smith Super Strike handle.  It's copied after the old Fenwick Champion handle, but made in lighter magnesium. 

The reel seat is offset low for round reels, bringing the spool very close to your thumb. 

JZp1Md3.jpg

The honey blade is S-glass blend, 5-15 g (up to 1/2 oz, and optimized toward the high end)

Both the red graphite and honey S-glass are similar progressive tapers (stiff butt, more flex in the tip) with different weight range, and both skip-cast (reverse spiral) very well.   I use them for close kayak fishing.  I work the load curves over, and bypass the para taper rods, because I want wide lure weight range for this rod plus one more rod in a kayak.   

N2leASZ.jpg
Smith sells the handle options, and rod blades separately.  They also sell the complete rods with a cork pistol-grip handle.  I found the short straight handle (they also make a long) for a very good price on Amazon.JP, (no stock there now) and I bought the two blades one at a time from Asian Portal (haven't checked their stock lately). 

Stock comes and goes on the Super Strike - Smith makes so many other rod types - the trick is watch for what you want and snag them when they show up.  Ebay scalpers sell them at double mark-up. 

 

The reel was a custom braid-race project, beginning with a NOS Royal Express II - I hunted a reel in this condition for a 4500 or 4600 project around the AMO spool, and bought it for a song. 

LaUDpyc.jpg?1 wrFfy8p.jpg?3

Finished reel casts crazy reliable, backlash-free from 3 g to an ounce. 

iKBZCkS.jpg

When I discovered the graphite-filled plastic foot would spit out of the reel seat, I found a great buy on a red NOS 4600C frame with metal foot from UK - probably a tough color to sell, and was very happy with the result.

GjCnQlx.jpg

Thank you so much for sharing all this detail! Must be a joy to fish from a kayak.

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Got a couple new spinning combos for this fall and winter.

 

From top to bottom:

 

Combo 1

Rod:

JDM Gamakatsu Luxxe Efreet S70MHF 1100g Toray blank weighs in at 85 grams (head to head competition with the NRX+ 822S SYR, my money is on the Luxxe just based off initial impressions)

 

Reel:

Shimano C3000MHG with 8lb J-Flouro

 

Intended use

3/16-1/4 shakyheads/Mojo rig

 

Combo 2

Rod:

G Loomis NRX+ 822S SYR

 

Reel: JDM Shimano 22 Stella C3000MHG with 8lb J-Flouro

 

Intended use

 

3/16-1/4 shakyheads/Mojo rig

 

Combo 3

Rod: 

G Loomis NRX+ 852S JWR

 

Reel: JDM Shimano 22 Stella C3000MHG with 8lb J-Flouro

 

Intended use:

1/4 Keitech and Bass Union football jigs with 4-5 inch GYCB trailers.

 

Combo 4

Rod:

G Loomis NRX+ 822S DSR

 

Reel: JDM Shimano 22 Stella

C2500S with 5lb J-Flouro 

 

Intended use:

Casting nose hooked 3 inch Keitech Easy Shiners/ Megabass Hazedong shads on 1/8-3/16 ounce dropshot weights. (This rod is a tad bit stiffer than the previous generation NRX 822DSR) it's like a +.25 compared to the first generation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Threw the wallet at this one.

 

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Avail 2520R

Hedgehog Air bearings

Avail 2BB level wind

Avail pinion bearing

Avail line guide

Avail 2BB idler 

Avail 4 post duralumin driveshaft

Avail duralumin click wheel

Avail 6.1:1 duralumin gear set

Homemade carbon drag washers

Haneda Craft 80mm handle

 

It shed a fair bit of weight too.

 

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8 hours ago, Cbump said:

Dobyns Champions Extreme HP DX746c

https://dobynsrods.com/product/dx-746c/

Thanks!

I've been looking to add another flip/pitch setup to the arsenal. Something for modest cover (not punching). What size weight/rigs do you think is it's sweet spot? Do you know how much it weighs? The only Dobyns I have is a Sierra and a Kaden (and Fury SB rod). They are on the heavier side (weight-wise) but in hand they balance great. 

 

I know a lot of people throw jigs on this rod. Not sure if the 745 would be better for what I'm looking to do?

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I actually had the 745 and traded It out for the 746. I really like to have a lot of power and this rod is so light and thin (to me anyway) that I just felt better with the 6 power. I don’t know what It weighs but I’ve thrown 1/2 oz weight, hook, and 10” power worm a lot on It which is perfect. Would have no issue putting a 1oz weight on It if needed. I’ve also thrown 1/4 oz weight, hook, and UV speed worm. Still worked fine for me. 
I really like the setup. 

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Nothing fancy. Made a post about a Chatterbait reel last week. Settled on the Tat 150. 
My primary Chatterbait setup is a Mojo Bass MH Mod Fast with 50lb braid. That’s what I made the post for. But I decided to keep the Tat SV on that one. 
Ended up putting the 150 on my backup Chatterbait rod, which happens to be my primary spinnerbait/swim jig setup. I will also pitch 3/8 finesse jigs with this setup. Falcon Head Turner, Tat 150, 16lb Daiwa J-Fluoro Samurai. 

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Don’t know if I’ve shown this one off or not but either way, here’s my primary Chatterbait setup. crazy story, I was fishing CB yesterday and bombed a cast at the exact time a blue heron was flying across the cove. My CB didn’t hit him but flew across the line and caught It. I didn’t engage the spool because I didn’t want to hurt him (or my reel) so I was thumbing the spool trying to get the line off him. In about 3 seconds he completely spooled me. All my Braid and a $15 jack hammer. Gone. Lol

 

He was fine btw. Once my line came off the reel, I watched It fall off him and sink to the bottom. He landed nearby and went about his day, catching fish. 
 

So I respooled. 
 

 

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Here’s my back up pitching setup. Did have a Tat Elite P/F on It but I use my Carolina rig rod way more and decided to take the elite, change spool and bearings and put on that rod. So I had to put something on this one. 
So I got a Tat 150 and put some power knobs on It from a Zillion HD courtesy of jrob here on the forum. Really digging It. 
 

Rod is a Dobyns Sierra 766Flip. Currently trying to sell It and going to get a Dobyns Champion XP 735c. My primary pitching rod is a Champ Extreme 746c so want to get something to pitch a little lighter stuff. Today on my 746 I had a 1/2oz weight and rage bug. I put a 1/4oz with a baby brush hog on the 766 and It was just too light for It. 
 

 

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Last one tonight. Since I’m putting that Elite on the c-rig rod, I moved the Tat 200 that was on that rod onto my punch/frog setup. Falcon Amistad, 65lb braid. 
 

 

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42 minutes ago, Cbump said:

Here’s my back up pitching setup. Did have a Tat Elite P/F on It but I use my Carolina rig rod way more and decided to take the elite, change spool and bearings and put on that rod. So I had to put something on this one. 
So I got a Tat 150 and put some power knobs on It from a Zillion HD courtesy of jrob here on the forum. Really digging It

Glad you got the knobs installed, I randomly thought about it yesterday and wondered if you got that last screw out. lol

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7 minutes ago, Jrob78 said:

Glad you got the knobs installed, I randomly thought about it yesterday and wondered if you got that last screw out. lol

I actually did not! I had to put the knobs on another, different geared 150 I had, then swap handles. That dude is in there forever lol

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7 minutes ago, Cbump said:

I actually did not! I had to put the knobs on another, different geared 150 I had, then swap handles. That dude is in there forever lol

Stuck screw. Try Kroil. It's good stuff.

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Don't need it.  It's simply blue loctite already in the threads from the factory. 

The trick is tighten it a little before you try to loosen it. 

It's very important to have screwdrivers that fit well, though. 

Wiha is a good choice for a  mini screwdriver set. or for a single, #1 Phillips or JS-S, 4 mm. 

 

BTW, Daiwa uses some 1.5-mm hex socket heads in their handle screws. 

Only the Daiwa tool will work for them - without stripping the hex. 

https://japantackle.com/tools-and-others/tools/tog0000048.html

 

 

 

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28 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

Don't need it.  It's simply blue loctite already in the threads from the factory. 

The trick is tighten it a little before you try to loosen it. 

It's very important to have screwdrivers that fit well, though. 

Wiha is a good choice for a  mini screwdriver set. or for a single, #1 Phillips or JS-S, 4 mm. 

 

 

 

The fit well part was my problem. I stripped the head. 

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On 9/6/2022 at 7:13 AM, bulldog1935 said:

BTW, Daiwa uses some 1.5-mm hex socket heads in their handle screws. 

Only the Daiwa tool will work for them - without stripping the hex.

Wiha also makes a 1.5mm hex that fits perfectly.  It runs about $8-ish.

 

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