tHeINFamoUS

Agreed….its like the Wild West out here these days. Anyone with a moderate set of skills and an Instagram page full of fire emoji’s can monetize their hobbies. That’s not to knock the folks out there doing it well, just seems like it’s too easy for the others. My stomach would be in knots if I had a conquest dc floating around out there. Hope you get your reel back OP. Most reliable service I get is from the manufacturers, you can usually call their reel service department to schedule a return for service or find an authorized tech.

They don’t get any hotter than a standard black nylon reel seat. 110* heat, I put a laser thermometer on the alps reel seat and a Fuji, and the Fuji was hotter. Neither seat felt unbearable when picked up though. In the cold, metal will absorb the heat from your hands. Unless you’re fishing extreme cold, you’re probably not going to find a noticeable difference. Functionally, Nylon seats are pretty strong; there’s a lot of different ergo shapes to choose from, different trigger styles etc, so you can find one that’s comfortable; and they’re lighter. I have had nylon reel seats break down over time, split in the hood, stripped threads that won’t tighten, but it’s usually when the rod is at the end of its useful life…..like decades old. Style wise…..nylon seats have a ton of options; hydro dipping and different paint finishes. You can do some cool thread work under some of the skeleton seats. Aluminum seats, they’re stronger and heavier built, will last forever, feel solid in your hand and the bling factor, they are cool and the colors can really pop like a gemstone, especially on a custom rod. Ergonomically, they fit my hand perfect but that varies by user. Alps is starting to offer newer shapes too, so we’re probably going to start seeing more options there. Theoretically, you’re gonna be dropping some coin and your rod is a tool you’re gonna be physically swinging around a couple hundred, possibly thousand(s) of times a day. You can usually work with your rod builder to discuss goals, techniques and specific characteristics that you’re looking for……then choose the hardware. I’d go with nylon if weight was an ultra high priority, or if the ergonomics of a particular seat fit my hand better. If it’s your first custom build or you want something that’s general purpose, the alps al seats are the standard and again….they got the playboy factor to em. If you have a specific goal, feel or look in mind…..nylon may be the best bet. In the pics attached. The rods with alot of thread work wouldn’t have been done any justice with a nylon seat. The rods with the carbon grips have a light feel, and I went with nylon handles…..they got the f1 racer effect to em. Last one with a little threadwork under the seat. ……..infinite possibilities.

Now that we got to the bottom of that one……with Christmas coming up, whose this Jesus dude everyone is talking bout?

Theoretically, when the rod is flexed, the line should be supported through the length of the blank, so as to not rub the blank (heat and friction will break line) and prevent any hard angle changes that will stress the line. A foot between guides anywhere near the arch of the rod would most likely touch, and be a no go. If it’s closer to the butt section where the power is, the rod won’t flex that much and you may be able to get away with it. You can run line through the rod guides and test it out Practically speaking, I’ve seen guys with 7’ ugly sticks, factory built with too few guides…..line rubbing all over the place…..land good fish. So depends on your appetite for risk. 4 weeks is kind of a long wait. Try to find a local rod builder and see if they can slip it into their rotation for a couple bucks over their normal guide replacement cost. Or grab a repair kit and do it yourself, it’s not that hard.

Time for an 808

A 10lber, ten years from now……is a small fish at present. And rare would imply there’s few with potential to even get there.

I did…..still sounds silly……what am I missing?

…..so your thesis here…..is that you have a preference for lakes with no big fish, instead of lakes with lots of big fish?

I’m opposed to there being any additional rules imposed by SU……but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be an unwritten agreement amongst members that we absolutely flood the inbox of sellers asking to pm offers on hype baits. PS…..someone needs to start a swimbait escrow service for them high dollar transactions and trades.

The pistol grip is a “unique” option. I seen them at the ISE show in Sacramento and kinda dig em. The guy in the booth said he’s been using them and the ergonomics were comfy for them long slow soft bait retrieves. It was a wider grip and I didn’t notice anything uncomfortable about it lol. I’m glad to see some innovation and would probably build myself a pistol gripped rod if the handle was available to the public…..but it’d be more novelty than necessity. I think the average angler would be fine palming the reel with a regular trigger seat. It is kinda cool though.

…..grown man…….came from Facebook to trash talk on the internet…….oh the irony

How’d the rod break?

That’s a good primer to get ya started. A couple more nuggets: NFC makes good blanks…..but still check em all before you build. Have a friend hold the tip and put a good bend in it, from different angles. If it’s going to be a one and done, you can build your own jig in about twenty minutes with a $10 piece of pine from Home Depot. Be sure to make an extra support, like in the pic below, it will come in handy once you get to the tip section. For the tensioner, you can use a fly tying bobbin ( just rotate the rod with one hand and hold the bobbin in the other). I actually still use them occasionally, despite the big fancy carriage on my lathe. When you start putting the handle together, spacing wise, a good starting point for the reel seat is about the same distance from your elbow to your palm. For the reel seat, you may have to build up a tape arbor to get it centered on the blank. Go heavy on the epoxy and ensure the arbors are fully encapsulated in epoxy. Once it’s set in place, spin the reel seat a couple times for good measure, it’ll help the epoxy cover all surfaces. I also sand the surfaces (blank and seat) before I start my glue up Epoxying the handle section can get real messy, real fast. I usually put a couple layers of masking tape on all the parts before hand to keep em clean.That stuff gets everywhere. Paste is easier to work with than the liquid epoxies. If you use epoxy to seal the guides, Have a butane lighter or an alcohol torch ready to flash over the finish. A couple quick passes will help release any bubbles in the finish. If you can rig the rotisserie motor, your finish will be much nicer than the occasional 1/4 turn. For the guides, I wouldn’t reuse single foot guides. You bend those things back and forth a couple times and they have a tendency to snap. They’re cheap, just replace them. Style wise, thread inlays are simple and make for a more finished look. Find a few videos on how to do em. If you order from get bit, go through PayPal. Have read about some issues with erroneous credit charges after shopping on their site. I always go through PayPal, never any issues.

Not sure I’d buy one second hand unless there was a swim video with it. I got a big hater that’s never leaving my wall cause the bill slot is not cut perpendicular to the centerline of the bait…..it’s crooked AF and the bait just spirals through the water on the retrieve. I always suspect that the baits in the BM don’t swim…..but that’s cause I only have as much faith in FE as they’ve earned lol.

The 808 is a monster, the 809 is an absolute beast of a rod. After I built mine I took it down to the local pond and was able to chuck a 16oz diamond jig with it; a legit cast too, no lobbing. I built it to fish a 12" glide but I've spent more time fishing rockfish and lingcod with it lol. It's a good rod, lots of power but will keep a bait pinned. I'm sure you'll be happy with its performance. Regarding NFC in general, wrapped about a dozen of their sticks so far, several in the regular rotation receiving heavy use for over two years now. Haven't had any issues with durability. As mentioned, stress test before the wrap and you can be confident in the integrity of the blank.

I have a machined aluminum bait for trolling bluefin. The plastic version is good for a fish or two before they’re beat to hell and don’t swim properly any more. The aluminum bait is a bruiser. It looks like a two piece clamshell design, you should be able to pop it open and adjust the ballast to change sink rates or add/remove rattles. Have some screw in bump pads in the joint to change the knock sound or make it silent. Could be a more modular bait than the TK or K9 if they came out with different tail sections and bill slots. I think it has a lot of potential.

I heard that swimbaiters sometimes decorate their walls with actual baits, of the very expensive and hard to get variety……and fish a drop shot so they don’t lose the baits.

Line capacity and drag aren’t really the issue for me, it’s more of the amount of flex in the reel when it’s torqued and the madman t-Rex style reeling you gotta do to waterski a fish in. I fish a lot of heavy weed, wood and man made cover, sometimes combos of all three. When they get buried, or I’m really pulling on em, you can feel the reel frame flexing and the side plates will separate a bit while it’s in your hand. I haven’t had any catastrophic breakage, but it can’t be good for the reel long term. This one is probably more of a personal preference but when you’re pulling a bass with several pounds of grass and 6 oz bait hanging off it’s face, the ergonomics of the smaller reel pulling all that weight can be awkward. I liken it to a clown riding one of those little miniature bicycles, furiously pedaling to go nowhere. I just like to drop the hammer and power em in, a winch seems like the better tool for the job….you know, the whole knife to a gun fight thing. If you have smaller hands, I’d look at some of the low profiles built for saltwater, the tranx and Komodo are bit heavier built.

This….it’s the nature of the beast. Most of the silicone baits I’ve bought need some tweaking and boiling to get any action out of them and still don’t get bit as well. The saltwater swimbaits I buy with a tougher blend need to be worked fast in order to get em to kick. I’d rather have soft, pliable and disposable….they’ll get bit. ps…..I wish I could see all the emails he gets from disappointed 16 year old kids complaining that the baits don’t last lol.

I think it’d be interesting to see how bad of a beating a soft bait can make it through. Plus we’d actually see it make it to the end of a list, some of these others seem to lose steam and get lost along the journey.

Not to be a homer but second the SBU gear…….the product I do have has all been quality. The hoodies are heavyweights, thick and the exterior don’t fuzz up or fade right away. Blanks and sizing seem to all be pretty consistent as well, so buying your size and having it fit how you expect it to isn’t an issue….at least not for me. One other recommendation, not swimbait specific….but Aftco has been making some excellent gear for actual fishing. I bought a couple Reaper hoodies at the beginning of the year, they keep you warm but breathe well. I’ve had them offshore fishing tuna in miserable conditions, early spring and fall mornings on the delta when it starts getting crisp and snowboarding…..they’re pretty much golden if you’re physically active in cold weather. And that’s California cold….+45* lol.

Indeed. This should have been a no brainer for those now claiming that they now represent the middle class and average man/woman. I’m sure if you dig a little there’s a money trail leading back to the railroads. So disturbing…..and it’s coming from both sides. I don’t know what’s next for you azsouth, career change after a long stint is a tough call, but I do wish you luck.

I’m plenty familiar with the theoretical and practical applications, it’s just perplexing when people start applying them to bass fishing…..cause there are no empirical benefits. Weight savings from 1-2 less guides can be measured in grams. Casting distance from less friction is pretty much unnoticeable. Rotational torque……bass don’t pull hard enough to make it an issue. To be perfectly honest, nobody has the sensory perception to notice these minute attributes and I’d bet if nobody ever read it on the internet, nobody would ever regurgitate them as benefits. The video posted is kinda misleading. Every blank has a spine, a vertical axis in the rod that creates a natural flexing position that the rod will automatically roll into when pressure is applied. During the layup process, overlapping material flags will unintentionally create the blank spine. I’ve noticed that they’re more pronounced in glass or hybrid composite blanks. In graphite blanks I’ve noticed that blanks may have two or more noticeable spines. When you build a rod, you either find the spine and build off of it (strong or weak side) or find the straightest axis and build off of that (blanks aren’t always cured perfectly straight when they come off a mandrel). Most production rods I’ve seen build off the straightest axis cause they looked better in a sales rack. That or they don’t spine the blank at all and just start building….I’ve seen that more often in overseas rods. In the video, I don’t know what this guy has going on at the other end of that conventional rod or who built it but you can see the rod roll onto its side and stay there…..that’s it’s natural spined position. If that rod was built on top of that axis, it generally wouldn’t roll cause it would naturally bend into that position. Again, pretty much a non issue in bass fishing however. I think the overall moral is there is no right or wrong, only preferences lol.