.ghoti.

Been trying for years to cut down. It's pretty close to a complete failure. I don't need help, I need therapy. Then again, it ain't broke, why try to fix it.

I haven't opened all the boxes yet.

A mixed collection of silk thread; J&P Coats, Gudebrod, Queen City, Belding Heminway, Coats & Clarks, Richardson Silk, Belding Corticelli, Talon, Springfield, Pilgrim, Semper Idem, Royal Silk, and I probably missed at least one brand.

All Gudebrod thread; very small, what appear to be styrofoam spools.

That's good to know. I have nine of those boxes, all full, all the same color. Plus a whole bunch more. I'll have to take some time out, get a bunch of decent pics, and post it for all to see.

Got a box full of old stuff from my brother. a couple of examples

Well, I thought I was almost done with this rod. That's what I get for thoughtin. I left it for a couple of days to cure out before trying an inscription. Been practicing with extra fine nib, Bombay ink, and some acrylic inks. I'll never be a calligrapher, but I've started to get some almost acceptable results. Went back this morning to give it a shot, if the finish was cured hard enough. It was hard enough. It was also very hazy. Almost hazy enough to block the holo effect. (expletives deleted) if you look at the last pic I posted, you'll see that coat of finish, looking pretty decent. That was Wednesday evening. Sometime between then and this morning, it went fugly. Stripped it down and started over. Again. (more expletives deleted) Starting to think this project is cursed.

That is exactly the way to break a rod.

I've made a serious effort over the last couple of years to trim down the amount of stuff I carry around. One some areas I've made some progress, but overall it's been a miserable failure. I still pack around way too much stuff. You being a guide, this is something you wouldn't even consider. You no doubt use all of the stuff you carry. I really did not. Another thing is, I use a t-rig, c-rig, drop-shot, etc a lot less these days. I put most of my plastics on some kind of jighead. I have 3 3700 boxes full of jigheads. Several sizes each of quite a few different varieties. No way I could trim that selection down to fit in one of those hook & sinker boxes.

Got a story about BFS. My first setup was a 6'9" ML-XF LTB, with an Alphas. Had 6lb fluoro line on it. I had that Alphas tuned to perfection. Was out with a buddy one day, and asked him if he wanted to try a BFS setup. He took it and backlashed it about 6 times in a row. After he handed it back to me he asked, what the *&%% is BFS anyway? I replied, "in your hands it means Backlash For Sure".

The curse of the information age. We have to pigeonhole everything. If it doesn't have a label, it doesn't matter. Right. Not all that long ago I'd have called it a wimpy arsed bait caster.

I was shooting for something a bit more subtle. I ain't doing it a fourth time. Unless I get bored mid-winter, that is. Lava lamp, Mike? You old enough to have had one? I am, and so is Dwight. LOL Yeah, I had one.

That was my problem as well. I solved that by reducing the number of styles and sizes of hooks and weights down to items I actually use regularly. I got rid of a bunch of stuff that I carried around "just in case".

Don't know about the Zero, but when using smaller diameter 3X or Elaztech baits, the hooks on both the Gammy skipgap jighead, and the discontinued Ike's Tru Tugnsten jigheads hold those baits very well. Otherwise, it's super glue. You can buy the skipgap hooks, but you would have to be very handy with a Dremel to get them to fit into existing molds.

I still a MOOKS tee shirt.

Here's the finished holo wrap. Not exactly what I was going for, but after three tries, this will do.

This is the solution http://www.***.com/Plano_45-501_Hook__Sinker_Organizer_/descpage-PL45501.html

Before I sold off all my muskie gear, I had a 2' piece of Tyger wire tied to every bait with a swivel on the other end. Made changing baits easy. Snip the braid from the swivel, tie onto the swivel on the new bait, wrapped the wire around the old bait and stow it away. I used a 1 1/2 turn clinch knot to tie the wire to the bait and the swivel. Never had one come loose.

You a funny guy, Scoot. Actually, I was gonna depend on you to tell me where to get the guides and blank. I don't know the secret handshake.

That is my attempt to fix one of my problems. I could never seem to get the epoxy looking neat behind the guide. Adding the trim wrap on the back side extended it out far enough that a clean neat edge is something I can do. Without that extra few turns of thread, the back side of my guide wraps is fugly.

Thanks Lee. All I can say is I screwed up enough of them trying to get one to look like I knew what I was doing. And I still screw up about a third of them, and have to unwind and find the correct starting point for the first locking wrap. It's a different spot for every different size and type guide.

Excellent! I'd be excited about it. Even if it will have a Shimano on it. That rod would look cherce with a Certate.

I have a Bushido blank on hand, just not what you're looking at, so I can't say much about it, other than it looks good; very straight, nice blemish free finish, and is light in weight, and seems crisp. If you liked the MHX, why not go with one of theirs? I recently built a crank rod for a guy using the MHX Blend, crankbait blank, 7' H-Mod-fast. Very nice finished rod, for the price. Based on your description of the applications, I'd be very tempted to give the MH version of that blank a shot. I'm with you about the action of most "crankbait" rods. I have little or no use for a moderate action rod. Shoot, I fish DD22's on a fast action, heavy power graphite rod. Keep those mod action rods, and give me something I can yank on when working a crank.

I have three reels which don't have rods; an SS SV, a PX-R and an Alphas R. I've had the SS SV, spooled with #8 Supernatural mono, mounted on the rod and done some test casting. A 3/32oz Gopher mushroom jighead and a TRD bait loaded the rod enough to cast a usable distance. Same bait on a 1/16oz head, not so much. Doable, but not something I would want to do all day. Maybe it would be better with 6lb line, who knows. If I have to go down to 6lb line, I'm going to spinning gear. I'm impressed with these Immortal blanks. Being a St Croix fan, I have several Avids, several LTBs and one Legend Extreme. In terms of sensitivity, I'd rank these Immortals right along with the LTBs. At about 2/3 the cost of an LTB, I'd call these things a bargain.

iPad pics. Didn't notice the dust until I cropped them and posted here. Another lesson learned. Mike, that's the bottom wrap. Fuji thread; black and teal, wrapped left to right. They have been burnished to distort the pattern, just not a whole lot. I pushed it all to left, rotated the rod 90 degrees and pushed it all to the right, 90 degrees push left, 90 degrees push right. Went around the rod three times, pushing gently each time. I pushed them around a lot more on the previous attempt, and did not like how it came out. Tried to do a bit less this time. If I had taken the pic straight on, you would be able to see a wavy pattern. From this angle it doesn't show up. Sorry; I still need to learn how to get good pics, up close and personal. I forgot to add the details. This is an Immortal blank. 7'2" ML-F walleye spinning blank, 1/8 - 3/8oz, 6-12lb. Trimmed down to 7'. Alconite stripper and tip, Recoil running guides. Trimmed ACS reel seat. Fuji thread, teal with #8 blue trim. Teal and black for the bottom holo wrap. I'll do the top holo wrap with the same #8 blue used for the trim bands.