ChicagoEd

"rat rod" I love it! Good, a few people have mentioned rod integrity looks fine. I will continue to clean her up and see if I can get her looking good. Are rods given a coat of varnish...like a clear coat? Or is it epoxy down the entire blank? I know epoxy is used on the wraps. It did have a reel. Rod had an old Bantam CU200 on it. Reel was encased in a block of mud moss and slime. Some portions of the reel had some solidified crap inside...had to carve it out. I let it soak in a soap and water bath overnight and cleaned off all the gunk. The spool still turned but the frame was pitted and it has a terrible grinding feel. Almost like its running through sand. I might give it a go next winter to see if I can possibly restore it. The parts will likely cost me more than buying the same reel from fleabay. But its not about the money right ;-) There's a certain satisfaction in bringing something back from the dead. Especially when it's fishing tackle!

I think you can view the picks with this photobucket link. Not the best pics but you still see how the scrim is showing and the woefull condition of the cork. http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k593/edwarddlopez/47D632D9-BFE4-49EB-ABBA-BD61A79763C8_zpsn4vy6yz7.jpg

I will definitely try denatured alcohol on the tough spots. The epoxy suggestion is a good idea I think. However, the entire length of the rod has trouble spots so I'm wondering if I should epoxy the entire rod. Is that a good thing to do? Or is that too much epoxy? Regarding the blank, I definitely think it's the scrim that's showing on many parts of the blank. I wish I could post some pics for you to see but I keep getting a file size error. Anyway, I don't see any substantial nicks on the blank, no cuts or anything like that. It seems more like the cleaning solution I used simply melted away a layer of the blank. The more I "tackle" this restore project the more it seems like I just need to strip the rod down to the bare blank and start from scratch. I was really hoping I didn't have to do that. Never built a rod before. Lol mudhole must love people like me...just can't throw out a rod that has the potential to be restored. Let's first see what a further cleaning will do. Thanks DVT!

Thanks for the info. Will definitely try to clean out and test the guides. I was hoping I didn't have to strip the rod down to the bare blank, never built a rod before so if it comes to that I think trial and error will be my new friend on this project!

Tried that, and also plastic razor blade. Didn't take much off. It just rolled over the rock solid muck. I plan to try again with different cleaning solutions.

I tried that, warm water, warm water with Dawn, and even let it soak overnight. Didn't work for me. CLR did remove the most gunk. But yes, I think it was too abrasive. Some parts of the blank have a solid black matte finish and other parts of the blank have a screen looking pattern...almost as if the scrim is showing. Ah well, lesson learned.

Hey all, looking for some tips on rod cleaning and restoration. I fished out a nice combo this summer and wanted to try and bring the rod back to life. Its a nice looking custom built 7ft one piece rod with split grips and micro guides with a spiral wrap. Reel seat is Pacific Bay and guides seem to have ceramic inserts. I think its a Rainshadow blank because it has the CB70MH designation. When i fished it out of the river the rod was loaded with caked on muck. Couldn't even take a finger nail to scrape it off. If I had to wager I bet the combo was sitting at the bottom of the river for at least a couple seasons. I figured I'd use the winter to work on it. I don't think it's a very expensive custom but it does look to have been done with a lot of thought and care. Now that the cold weather is here I finally started. I soaked it for 24 hours using dawn and water. Some of the muck loosened up, then using a damp rag I gave it a good wipe down. Still a lot of caked muck so I tried some CLR on a rag and gave it a good scrubbing. I was finally able to get rid of most of the caked on muck but there are still some stubborn spots. I was looking for any advice on what to use. Are there any cleaning solutions that you have used for similar problems? Also, once I have the blank clean, what do you recommend to bring the rod back to a nice finish? Something like pledge maybe? Also, for cork, I assume using an extra fine grit sandpaper is the best bet? Cork looks to have a nice alternating design of dark and light cork but its in terrible shape, a bunch of different shades of black. Not sure if it can be restored but worth giving it a shot before I think of replacing. I tried adding pics but won't let me because file size is to large. Thanks for any advice.

Argh I want!

There is one available on the flea...not cheap but available. It's a beauty for sure.

Those sound like sweet setups. Wooohooo my NRX 822S DSR and Sustain arrived on time! I have to give it up to *, they really came through for me. I highly recommend them! I'll post pics when i return, hopefully I catch some nice ones!

I'm glad to hear it! Unfortunately I probably didn't time my purchase correctly. Rod and reel are in route but sitting in Indy ARRGHH. Well, if it doesn't get here in time it's my own fault for sitting on the fence. I leave tomorrow night so fingers crossed.

Nice catch!! Northern are a blast to fight. I'll be getting my fill next week in Northern Ontario. They grow some monsters up there.

Any Montana 600 gurus out there? Anyone know how to organize waypoints into folders for easy access. For instance...I have tons of waypoints but they are all in either alpha or numerical order by title. I would like to be able to create a folder such as Lake Name and date. Within that folder all my waypoints for that date are organized for easy access. Any suggestions? I did read through the manual, scoured youtube, and googled my a$$ off but cant seem to find an answer. To make it worse, I can't even find a definitive "no you can't accomplish that with the Montana 600". I've called Garmin and they said they "think" it can be done they just don't know how. They were very pleasant and definitely trying to help, but in the end they couldn't figure it out. Help!

LOL, learning curve? I'm convinced mine curves down...the more i learn the more i realize i dont know squat. I've wondered the same thing and I'm already two seasons into bass fishing. I get skunked more times than not. But, I've recently started to downsize and I'm catching more than I have since I started. They're all small but at least I'm getting bit. I've really taken a liking to drop shotting, wacky, and small chatterbaits slow rolled right below the surface. All I can do is read, learn from these guys on the forum, become an expert with my gear and ultimately spend as much time on the water. I know this isn't really helpful but I think there are a lot of us still trying to figure this out. Keep at it and Good luck!

Nice fish! Cali sure has some good fishing.