Rod Testing

Got out today to try out the rod Ive been modifying and mentioned previously. The rod is a savagear butch light 50-80g 8'6" and i wanted a longer handle as i have long arms and wanted the butt to rest along side my ribs and not the butt end digging into them.

So I extended the handle by about 3-4" and also added about 35g right in the butt to balance it better. I gave it a test last week with some duplon grips just pushed on but on Christmas eve i had time to fully build the handle. First off all i tried to match the gold of the blank above the fore grip but it didn't look right so i went to wipe it off while still wet and it left me with a really nice effect. I liked the custom look of of it so decided to leave it. I went for duplon behind the reel seat for comfort and added a trim ring of dark cork. The butt was turned in cork, i went for cork because the butt would be sat under my arm allot and cork would be much more durable than duplon that is prone to ripping and marking easily. I made the butt quite slim to also make it more comfortable when tucked under arm, and finished it off with a couple of rings of composite cork to cap it off to protect the end. Finished with a black thread and silver trim.

Onto the fishing.. well i was up early looking to make the most of it and out in the sub zero conditions. It was the first time id felt id needed gloves and even with those on my finger tips where painful. I always wear surgical gloves under other gloves to protect from getting wet when using baitcasters as they can spray water all over your hands. I'm not one for wearing gloves and never wear them unless i know I'll be in pain as its just not worth being uncomfortable when fishing. 

The fishing was quite tough to be honest and i didn't expect any less given the temperatures but i was always hoping for something big to show up but sadly it didn't. I managed 3 pike which keeps me in the fish and away from any blanks but it felt like i put allot more effort in than i got out in reward.

Chuffed to bits with the rod though it does and is exactly what i wanted for throwing my shads on, which i fished with today and caught on. Only trouble is now I've developed a problem, and that's the feeling of needing to use my shads because Ive made them. It will be difficult to fish with other lures at the minute, not so much a bad thing if there catching for you but if i had varied things up a bit i might have caught more, finding a lure that they wanted. 

All work and no play..

Ive been pretty busy recently and just not been able to get out fishing for many reasons. Its not often i go a week without fishing but this month i think Ive only fished twice. So I was pretty keen to get out this week for a few hours before Christmas came.
I've been pouring more shads and wanted to try some out along with another rod project i wanted to test. I've been wanting a longer rod (ooer) for awhile now for chucking my 7" shads amongst other things, i wanted a longer rod to help reach over the margins on the bigger rivers, sometimes, due to the quite dangerous banks you can be perched on a mound further up the bank unable to get low enough to the water but still within netting distance. A long rod help with this amongst other things like control and casting distance, i think it also feels better with a fish hooked on a longer rod. Another requirement i had was for a longer handle from the reel seat to the butt, i have quite long arms and find the butt can by right in my ribs at times which is not comfortable. I was looking about for the ideal rod/blank when a mate offered me a savagear Butch light xlnt 30-80g and at 8'6" it certainly fitted the bill. I thought I'd take a punt on it and had plans to re-build the handle anyway. As it turned out the handle did need to be longer so i extended it by 3-4" which sat right under my arm and left comfortable.
I got to try the rod out the other day along with some new poured shads, if the rod suited what i wanted it for my plan was to order the parts to complete the handle. I was a bit dubious whether or not I'd catch and having gone so long without fishing its surprising how the confidence wains not to mention your updated knowledge of venue conditions. I find when your fishing regularly you build up a kind of mental note of conditions on different venues and you can near enough guess what they will be like after differing weather, but i had no clue what was going on out there as id not been out enough.
The river were still going to be a bit of a chance but what the hell i was just glad to get out. I was chuffed to bits when i got a fish on and was already enjoying the rod alone which did everything i wanted it to do for the job in hand. I ended up with 3 pike to scraper double size which was enough to keep me happy until next time.

Some more natural patterns experimenting with subtle multiple pours.

I've also been trying some foil inserts as shown below which should give off lots of flash and at the bottom some of my 4" shad with Mylar tubing inserts. Still enjoying it and finding it addictive, the trouble now is using other lures as you always tend to favour your own when you make them and catch on them, but i don't suppose theres anything wrong in that.

Rod builds compleat

Another reason i have not been blogging so much lately is because Ive been busy building things, two rods in particular.

I had great fun early this year chasing trout on the small jungle streams, i used a couple of rods, a small daiwa spinmatic 5'6" and a spro passion UL over 6'. Some of the swims are that overgrown its requires quite a skillful little flick rather than a cast so the 6'+ rods were not really suitable and it was harder work. The spinmatic is a great little rod and bullet proof but its just a bit too soft for trout fishing, you end up missing more takes than hooking up due to the through action cushioning the take.

I decided I would use the winter time at home to build myself a perfect little rod for this kind of fishing, it had to be 5'6" and fast actioned. I chose a St Croix 3S56ULF2 blank that fitted the bill perfectly. After placing my order for the blank, along with all the bits and pieces to build this rod and another rod which I'll mention later. I chose Fuji K series micro guides with SIC rings, not really needed for this application but i also might use the rod for perch occasionally on none pike waters so the extra spend was worth it.

Another thing i wanted to do with my stream rod was to hide the thread of the reel seat which i think sometimes spoils the aesthetics and its also not nice to hold. I also wanted to incorporate some wood to make it have a slightly traditional feel and also have that 'trouty' kind of touch to it, like a fly rod reel seat incorporates wood. I really love mixed materials on rod handles and mixing the corks adds a nice 'custom' look to it. Primarily rods are functional things but that's not to say we can't make them look nice too.

Something else i wanted to make sure i did with this rod was to make myself a rod turner and use proper epoxy suited for the job, with my last build i used 5 minute epoxy which did the job but it wasn't good enough. I was spending more money on this rod so i wanted it to be as good as i could get it. the results are far better.

My favourite part of rod building by a mile is turning the cork/eva, i love it. All my turning is done with a drill and a mandrel i made. You can basically shape it anyway you want easily with different grades of sandpaper.

So here it is ready for spring, I'm really pleased with it and I'm chuffed to bits on the quality of the build, i was abit worried at first spending so much that i wasn't quite up to scratch with building rods and might spoil it.
I still struggle to take photos of rods, so the photos don't really show the scale of the rod and what a delicate tool it actually looks/is.

 

 

As you know over the last few months I've taken an interest to building my own rods, this can get quite addictive and I'm always looking for excuses to start another project.

I had a Spro passion UL spinning rod that had lost 2 inch off the top and was sat doing nothing so i wondered if i could make use of the blank. I thought it might make a good baitcast rod with it being slightly shorter so turned it upside down and stuck a baitcast reel on it to try it out for loading and to see if it would be worth while. I was quite surprised how well it cast even as it was set up in its spinning rod state. That was enough for me to want to start another rod build. It was going to be a short handled UL/light baitcast rod for using light soft plastics for perch primarily. I wanted the short handle to make it very 'wristy' I always think a longer handle hinders you when your imparting action with your wrist.

I stripped the rod back to its blank and ordered some parts along with my gear for my small stream trout rod, I didn't want to go overboard as i might as well have just bought a much better blank. I already had the reel seat when i accidentally ordered two in a previous order, so all that was needed really was the guides and some bits of eva and cork for the handle. A big thanks again to Rob for helping me decide on the right guides and correct sizes, the guides are alconite micro guides for anyone interested. I was just going to make this rod simple and practical as it was on a budget....ok that was the plan but when have i ever done anything simple! Not needing to buy anything else to build the rod i could still let my artistic flare go and make it look nice and more 'expensive' or should that be 'mega tarty' 

Again, i just love turning the materials, and for this rod i turned all cork, eva and aluminium trim parts myself. The trim parts were made from scraps of aluminium sheet i salvaged some time ago, its amazing what i have lying around in 'shed 2' that comes in handy from time to time. I just basically cut out a circle with a hole in the centre and popped it on my mandrel in the drill, then simple sand and grind it until you get to the right diameter then drop down grades of wet and dry until its smooth and shiny

like the trout rod I'm very pleased with this one and can't wait to try it out, in the hand it feels brilliant and you really get that 'wristy' feel with it that i wanted.

I'll try to get some photos of my recent rods when I'm out fishing with them so you can get some perspective, as again the baitcaster handle doesn't come across as it is in reality you don't get an idea of the small scale and shortness of the handle, hopefully you get an idea from the bottom photo though.

 

 

 

I Got out yesterday to test my small stream trout rod on the perch, and christened it very early on with a handful of small perch. I was amazed with it on the first few casts, I was only giving it a light flick and had to stop the line as it was shooting the kopyto right across and beyond the far bank. I'm not sure if its the SIC rings, the layout, the rod loading or what but it sure does cast a long way with ease. I dare say it will cast beyond what i would probably ever need.

I didn't get the 2lb perch i was after to test it properly in a fight but did manage 20-25 perch up to about a lb so really enjoyed fishing with it for its first outing, its a joy to fish with and my build quality looks eve better out in the natural light where the whippings and everything show up better. I'm chuffed to bits with it, oh and I've thought of another rod i want/need to build now, didn't think it would be that quick!

 

Rod refurbs...

This year I have been using an old butch light rod for my frogging and it has greatly improved my hook up rate, its quite a bit under rated and I used to chuck 100g on it despite being labelled as 16-50g. Despite this it isn't a heavy or thick blank. I toyed with the idea of buying a blank to build myself a dedicated frog rod then thought why not just strip this rod down and re-build it, there seemed no point buying something that I already had that did the job I wanted well.

The problem I have had with my limited experience in rod building is the fact that you cannot see what your buying so its difficult to gauge scale of anything. I waited up to nearly 4 weeks for my mudhole order to arrive only to find that some of the parts were not suitable. And other parts were different to what expected. The winding checks for example, they are much bigger than I expected and would have preferred something more under stated and subtle but never mind they don't spoil the rod at all but the rod has taken on a totally different path to what I first envisaged. The other problem I had was the butt end of the rod, again the parts ordered were not what I really wanted, I'd bought duplon that was too thin so when I turned it it would be even thinner. In the end I had to buy more parts from guides and blanks and again they were not really what I wanted. I'm happy with the result but there is always somethings I'm not so keen on and would have preferred differently but I'm an artist at heart and that's all part of it, criticising your work and never being 100% happy with it! Its what strives me on to do better next time. So the butt end ended up being as it is but preferably I'd have liked it abit thicker to balance out the proportions.

I've still not got round to making myself a rod turner yet so I'm still using 5min epoxy for my whippings and epoxied sections, it does the job but its not ideal and I know I can vastly improve the next rod if I get a turner made and use suitable epoxy.

I just love doing the whippings and its this part that was quite therapeutic, you can let your imagination go with what you do and even make just abit of string more creative and visual. I like whippings that are subtle on the rod overall but up close show enough to make them look interesting and detailed. I chose brown, black and silver for the the whippings to tie in the mixed handle colour of black duplon and brown composite cork with abit of green on the handle as an extra. Again the most bit I'm disappointed in is the trim cork bits that are a different shade to the handle colour because of the fact i wasn't going to order more from mudhole to finish the rod so had to buy another type from guides and blanks.

I've learnt things while building the rod though that will help improve the next, it is only the second thing Ive built so Ive got to be happy overall with what Ive done. Since i re-built the handle on my spro rod I've realised just how much the customisation effects the way i fish which you wouldn't expect. The very fact that the rods are customised means they are to 'my' taste, its now the first thing that i pick up and i love the way they look, this all makes me happy which in turn builds inner confidence and i think it improves the way i fish. It sounds daft but its true, if you enjoy your gear you enjoy your fishing more, relax, concentrate and fish better.

I hope the photos do it justice as its bloody difficult photographing rods!

I have another couple of rods in the pipeline too, one being a small stream trout rod and the other an ultralight baitcaster. The trout rod won't get done till after Christmas as i wont be needing it till next spring so no point spending funds on that now. I have another Spro pssion UL rod that is rated 2-14g, it has lost the top few inch's so I'm thinking of turning that into a baitcasting rod. I stuck a reel on it today to try it out and it works really well with 5-7g, i tried as light as 3g but it just wouldn't load with that light a weight. cast well though with the 7g and that was just as it was set up for a fixed spool outfit turned upside down. I just tried it to see if it would load.

On the fishing front, I shot out after work to grab an hour or o because my car is in for an MOT tomorrow and wont get it back till the weekend so had to grab my chance. I'm glad I did as it was a fish a chuck, literally! i had loads topped off with the fish below around the 2lb mark. just what I needed before loosing my car all week!

I also found another dead ruffe in the same spot i found another before. This gives me more thought about seriously trying for them on lures one day, they can be quite small so I'd imagine the best bet would be either tiny drop shotted lures or slowly jigged isome maybe? certainly something to give a try one day considering Ive found two dead ones in the same spot. Id love to see a live one in the flesh.