Well, the prize from last year's contest is done. Moose won the contest, and thus won a custom-built fishing rod. When I asked him what he wanted, he said "Something with skulls on it"
So, I built a rod that is totally evil and metal. It had to be all-black, of course, with no fancy decorative wraps. Rod: charcoal black. Thread: Black. Grips: Black. Guides: Blaack. Guess what color the winding check is? Yes, it's black. So is the hook-keeper and the butt. I found some industrial-looking black crosscut foam that looks like rebar. Mudhole provided a "wall of skulls" reel seat and 4 skull decals to frame the inscription. It's a dark graphite 7 foot medium-heavy blank, made a little heavier because I used black double-foot guides. Lots of them - it has 4 more guides than my store-bought rod of the same length. The butt is a full 15 inches.
I'm driving to the end of the Florida Keys on Friday, and will deliver the prize rod on the way. I'dve finished it earlier, but my house burned down and I have no workshop.
Comments
Dutch
Mon, 03/19/2012 - 20:16
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Very Cool
I just finished my first build a 7' 20-50lb fast live bait. Can you give some more specs? blank, guides, seat etc.....
Congrats Moose I'm sure you'll put it to good use......
Corey
Mon, 03/19/2012 - 20:26
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Specs
Blank: IM7S705-2 (7 foot medium-heavy extra-fast 2-piece IM7 graphite)
Guides: BTVHG (Hialloy Black)
Grip: Crosscut EVA
Reel Seat: Mudhole Inked Series Skulls
That's the major components; if you want more info please ask.
BTW, the guides were a pain. I had to bend them to make them fit flush to the blank, and the feet needed some serious filing. These are awesome guides, and the price is great, but you need to hand-fit every one of them because they don't fit the blank level out of the box. I've gotten used to using Fuji guides which fit perfectly with no modification (so far) but with these guides I had to spend fifteen minutes modifying every single guide before I wrapped it.
I used standard high-build flexcoat for the finish, and a silver-white gel-pen for the inscriptions. The internal components were assembled with marine epoxy from Menard's.
TonyS
Tue, 03/20/2012 - 10:53
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awesome!
that is one metal moose of a rod!
Is the marine epoxy a thick gel type or runny like a typical epoxy? I've gotten spoiled with Rod Bond...
I usually end up having to do some minimal prep to be totally satified with even Fuji guides - though they require way less prep than other brands. On bigger guides a little bench grinder is pretty sweet for foot prep. I'm lucky that can stay late at work and use one to bang out the grinding on a whole set of guides about as fast as I could hand file one of them. I still have to hand file small guides but that doesn't take long (though I've heard the mini 3" grinders are usuable for that too)
Agreed that those Pac Bay guides are a great deal, I built a rod with the same frame but the Mlinima rings for my wife to use on large fish.
Corey
Tue, 03/20/2012 - 13:33
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Epoxy
It's just like regular 30-minute epoxy ... honestly probably works the same anyway.
TonyS
Tue, 03/20/2012 - 20:18
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that is what I figured
functionally the Gel Type (ie Rod Bond, etc) isn't different than standard epoxy either. i will say the thick gel is super easy to work with. arguably not worth the cost though.
andy
Tue, 03/20/2012 - 10:49
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Damn I want a rod just like that...
Love it! A great , every day knock-around custom rod for a guy who will surely use the crap out of it...and it's a little EVIL
Deftik
Tue, 03/20/2012 - 11:26
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.....omfg!
.....omfg!
Must win species contest!
Reekfish
Thu, 03/22/2012 - 16:26
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!!!!
Corey,
Wow! That rod is soooo righteous! I absolutely love it. Moose is one lucky dude!
Have fun in the Keys!
www.fishingleisens.com
Moose439
Thu, 03/22/2012 - 21:21
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KILLER! This makes my f@#$in
KILLER! This makes my f@#$in week. I promise to make good use of that beast.
D.T.
Fri, 03/23/2012 - 15:01
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I sure hope I get to see it
I sure hope I get to see it in action along the river some night with ya Moose. That is so badass! Nice job Corey, and congrats Moose.