.ghoti.

I bought an Alps power wrapper last year, and built an 8' bench into my cabin just for it. Got all the tools I need, and have been building a few rods. At this point, what I've accomplished is to work out my procedures for thread wrapping and finishing. Also trim bands and holo wraps. That's the extent of my thread work. I don't think I have the patience for weaving, but maybe down the road we'll see. The rods I've built so far have used pre-made cork or EVA grips and butt caps. That has been fine for now, but seeing some of Scott's work has inspired me to go to the next level. I have a mini lathe on order, with a pair of Nova chucks, some mandrels and some turning tools. Got a grab bag assortment of cork rings, and some checkboard and slicing jigs so it's almost time to start experimenting. I'll likely do the same thing with cork I did with thread and finish. Screw up a bunch of it before I get my procedures worked out. Hopefully it won't be too long before I get a finished grip that I won't be ashamed to put on a rod.

My collection is completely out of control. I like Roadwarrior's idea. I'm gonna have to put some thought into that. I have a rod rack built into my Commander that holds eight combos, so that's the number I can safely transport. The current reel lineup includes 5 Fuegos, 5 Alphas, 4 Zillions, 2 TD-Zs, a PX-R, an SS SV, a Viento and an ABU Record. Spinning reels are 2 Certates,1 Supreme, 2 Supreme XTs, an Aird, A US Reel Supercaster, and 2 Quantums PTs. 28 reels. The rod collection includes 6 St Croix, 6 Daiwa, 6 Setyr, an Airuss, a Dobyns Champion, a Fenwick Elite Tech, a Pinnacle DHC5, and a Kistler Helium. 23 rods. You could say I have 5 too many reels. Or, you could say I have 5 too few rods. Both statements are, on the face of it, ridiculous. Some of these rods and reels have not been out of the house in I don't know how long. Maybe it's time to thin the pack.

It's very easy to convert a right handed rod to left handed. You simply have to rotate the entire reel seat / grip assembly 720 degrees to the right. Yes, to the right. Trust me on this. You'll need a container tall enough to completely submerge the entire handle assembly. Take this container to the supply shop and get it filled with steam. Make sure you have enough steam to cover the entire handle assembly. Soak the handle in the steam filled container until ice crytals form. The simply rotate 720 degrees. Make sure you perform the operation on August 13.

You are right, it does seem harder to get wrap started. And it surely is smaller than other A size thread. But I like it. It wraps nice, burnishes really nice, accepts finish readily and has fewer fuzzies than any other I've used. Take that all with a grain of salt. I'm new at this game, so my opinion ain't worth a whole heck of a lot.

I use two, for the most part. A Daiwa L&T, 7' H-R, and a St Croix LTB 7' MH-XF. Both are paired with Zillion reel, spooled with 14lb XL. Both will cast a 1/4oz jig/trailer, and both will cast a 3/4oz jig with trailer. Both are about the same in terms of power, or backbone. The difference is the taper, which determines the application. The LTB is a true XF action, while the Daiwa is a regular action, which translates as mod-fast. I use the Daiwa for pitching, because a mod-fast action is a LOT better for pitching. I also use this rod for swimming jigs. The slower action results in more hookups. If I'm only going with one jig tied on, I use this rod. When I have two jigs tied on, the smaller one goes on the LTB. It's a better finesse jig rod than the Daiwa. This rod usually has an Evo Shaky2 jighead tied on; 3/16 - 5/16oz, with a Space Monkey, Rage Lobster or 5" GYCB hula grub. I'm not what you would call a discriminating jig afficiando. I have some Arkie style heads for general use, some football heads for rocks, and some swim types for swimming and weeds. I will discrimate in one case. The Damiki Mamba jig is the best I've ever used for fishing rocks. It gets hung up far less than any other. As far as colors go, I keep it simple; black with blue for dirtier water, and brown with orange for clearer water. Rage Baby craws for the smallest jigs, Lobsters for the largest, and regular Rage craws for mid range weights.

That is so cool. You have some chops, amigo. What's the orange material? Some kind of hard foam?

I sent a text to my wife last night. wife being the operative word. I'd finished grilling our dinner, and she was held up at work My text was supposed to say "taking a quick shower. I smell like grill". The iPhone auto-correct version of this was "taking a quick shower. I smell like girl". Not exactly a message designed to endear oneslf to one's significant other.

The AC goes on when the wife says it does. End of story.

At least once per year. My most used reels may get done four times a year. It depends on usage, which depends on where I go.

I have a pair of 2004 size Daiwa Certates. Doesn't get much better than that.

I despise those type spools. I'd like to find the idiot who designed those and hang him up by his fruit. I use a sanding block and sand them all the way flat and flush.

That's a great spinnerbait. I have a bunch of them, and a bunch of Siebert Outdoors Cosmic double willows. Not sure which one I have more of. I hardly use any others, and I always have at least one spinnerbait tied on ready to go.

I have to ask; did you? Put a stripe in your skivvies, that is.

My iPad turns definitely into defiantly all the time.

If I lived every day like it was my last, the body count would be astonishing.

Neat idea Mick, and nicely realized. I'm gonna have to experiment with that.

A belated Happy Birthday to J FRANCHOW of the Internet.

Congrats flyfisher. You're beginning your teaching career as I'm ending mine. I have one heartfelt wish for you. May the joy of teaching never fade.

You're putting too much oomph into it. Back off a bit and see if that helps.

You can get fined for uniform violations and many players do every week. I think to get suspended though you have to do something pretty crazy in that realm. Lots of big money in what brand apparel a player can wear on the field, everything has to be NFL approved. I rest my case. It appears there is nothing too trivial that won't get somebody's panties in a wad. It's just a kids's game for Pete's sake.

Might be even better. I've planned to go with the E2 blank when I get time build one for myself. I'll be very interested to hear your review.

I for one have a hard time believing that this issue is still being debated, much less that it has resulted in fines and suspensions. This is simply silly, stupid, juvenile, petty, arbitrary; you pick the adjective of your choice, I no longer want to think about it. What's next? The entire team fined and suspended for wearing the wrong #$@%ing socks?

Not funny at all. Simply the result of a process of elimination. I've tried a lot of them, and for my one application, Invizx is what I thought worked best.

I've built three rods on Immortal blanks, none for myself, but I did have them out to give 'em a spin before they left my hands. All I can say is I think the Immortal series are the best bang-for-the-buck blanks you can find right now. They are very light and very sensitive. Seem to be strong as well. As far as durability goes, we'll have to wait and see. They haven't been out long enough to make that determination, but I'm betting they will hold up over time. They also offer a very wide selection of lengths, powers and actions. Kent, I think you're going to be happy with your new stick.

I don't like it. I don't like that it stretches and does not recover. I don't like that a small kink will drastically weaken it. I don't like how finicky I have to be about knots. The deficiencies of the line far outweigh the negligible benefits for almost all of my fishing. Having said that, I do use 4lb test Invizx when trout fishing. It's a little bit harder to see in the water. And the extra density helps with keeping the bait right off the bottom when drift fishing. Not big differences, but enough some times to make the difference between a two fish day and a 50 fish day. These are my opinions, based on my experiences, and they matter to me. If they don't matter to you, that is as it should be.