SloppyJ

Hey Nunz, I was in your shoes and asked the same questions not too long ago. Since then, I took the plunge and bought the starter kit from Mudhole for around $140. If you're patient, you can wait until they have a sale. I got 15% off on fathers day. I took some time with it and set all of my items up and I'm happy with the purchase. The only thing that the kit didn't come with is a good reamer. The gitbit kit comes with the dream reamers but I didn't like their hand wrapper as much so I went with the mudhole kit. I came to the conclusion that I'll just make my own reamers out of some wooden dowels or old rods that I can cut down. I just ordered my first blank (Seeker SBS756) for deep cranking and all of the components. I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival. I spent about $200 on that picking up extra supplies and multiple sizes of handle material and some extras that I wanted. You can do it much cheaper on a different rod. Grub actually steered me to that one and after some research I think it's a perfect fit for my needs. Due to the butt diameter of 0.9", which is huge compared to the majority of rods, I had to make some educated guesses on the components I would need and I ordered multiples of many components and 2 different sized reel seats just in case. That's what drove the cost up. I could have taken that $350 and bought a really nice rod or two but now I'm setup to build anything that I want to. You can find pretty good deals on blanks under $100 and wind up with some killer rods for cheap.

I like the SPRO squarebills over the KVD but they both work. I have an issue where the front treble hook likes to get stuck on the bill on the KVD models. I don't have this problem with the SPRO brand. If I could find the bomber square bills locally, I would buy those instead. I'm a big bomber fan because that's what me and my grandpa used to throw.

No experience with the fat ikas but I throw a fluke all the time on a 6'6" M Falcon original rod. I love it. I have a stable of MH spinning rods and can make it work on that but I like the Falcon for fluke applications. With that said, go for a MH if you're looking for something more versatile. You can make a weightless fluke work on that. I have a few St. Croix MH spinning rods and that are a little more on the heavy side and I can still work a fluke great on those.

To muddy the waters even more. Check out the Garmin LiveScope: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/591379

I'm with croak on this one. I'd pick up 2 curado K's or the Tatulas for that price.

I don't know if it's proper form or not but I've been fishing a baitcaster since I was a little bit. I learned way back in the day. When I cast I always pick the the rod tip up from the initial launch angle and raise it and the reel up to pick up extra slack in the line. I was never taught to do this technique that's just something that I do. It probably transferred over from pitching jigs but it seems to help. Like previously stated, watch your lure and stop the spool with your thumb the second before it hits the water. While your braking settings might be messed up on that reel, that isn't the reason you're backlashing. You just need more practice. Some people make a long cast, strip out 20' or so of line, and then put a tape backing down on their spool to help with damage control on backlashes. I've never done this but i've been thinking about doing it since I'm trying to teach myself how to skip with a baitcaster. Picking out birdsnests keeps you honest though.

I put an onboard charger on my 18' tracker. It was worth every penny. I leave an extension cord in my garage where I store my boat and I flip the hatch and plug it in when I get home. I got a cheap Genius 2 bank off of amazon and I wouldn't hesitate to get another one. It doesn't do anything but make charging batteries easier. As far as trolling motor goes, I still run a 12v 55# motorguide. It's perfect for my boat. If I got a new one, I'd opt for a 24v system and a 3 bank charger. That's probably the sweet spot for an aluminium boat.

I can tell you that you have to buy additional mapping software if you want a decent chart. A lot of people love the birds, I went with a Garmin echomap plus series and feel that I got a better value. Just something to consider. I was dead set on a helix 5 or 7 because my buddy got one and I was impressed. However, I ended up with the Garmin after I spent some time in a store playing with them. The touch screen, ease of use, no additional money for mapping software, and the screen size led me to purchase the Garmin. Before pulling the trigger, I would highly recommend getting some hands on time with them in a store. It's worth the drive and time to really nail down what you want. Make sure to go through the menu systems and simulate how you would use them on the water. Personally I felt that the helix menu system was a little bulky and cycling through the choices was time consuming always hitting the back button. With that said, I think the Helix side imaging is just a tad better than Garmin's but it wasn't enough for me to justify the cost premium. That's just my $0.02 though.

Not a lot of vegetation in the typical lakes I fish and the only real workable cover are boat docks. I'll hit those early and late with flukes and jigs. During the heat of the day, it's deep crank and finesse time on channels, ledges, and rock/brush piles. That's my general summertime game plan on my local lakes. I adjust as needed or I pack up and go home. It gets super hot down here but it's the time of the year that I get the majority of my fishing in.

Yes, it's a very productive technique. I read an article last week about thinking "outside the box" with a dropshot and throwing it into all kinds of places. I often set my wife up with a dropshot to fish out of the back of the boat while I'm flipping docks and she does well with it. I didn't try it on beds this year but I plan to next year.

Spoon, Yes, the handle measurements were throwing me way off. I was looking at some rods online and I concluded that the foregrip was included in the measurements so there was no real "standard". Thank you for input, you definitely saved me some time and frustration. I have some old rods that meet the "garage sale" criteria that I can cut down for reamers and I already have the contact cement so that's also very helpful. Grub, After looking at a few of my casting rods, they vary from 9" to 11.5" from the trigger to the end of the butt cap (seems like a solid metric for handle measurement). On paper that doesn't seem like much but I've been fishing with them for years so I know just how much of a difference that makes. Honestly, the best part about this learning process is figuring out what I like and correlating these small differences into a rod that fits my needs. Can't wait to get started when everything shows up. Thanks again to both of you and I hope everyone had a happy Father's Day. Luckily my little one just got on a solid bedtime routine so those few precious hours between his bedtime and mine can be spent productively.

Wow to both of you. My jig color is made up of about 90% watermelon or pumpkin. If I want a different color "pop", I'll pick that up in the trailer. The candy colored rage baits have been solid for me.

Grub, you the man! I know you weren't trying to steer me away from the Rainshadow blank but that Seeker seems to be the gold standard (like you mentioned) based off my limited research. It's cheaper but quite a bit heavier. Something I'll have to dig a little deeper and ponder on. Another thing is that huge butt diameter on that Seeker. I see most reamers don't go that high. Looks like if I go that route, I'll have to get extra creative.

Thank you for the all of the info I didn't have the background of the industry and these crank rods. Like Grub mentioned below, I couldn't find any info on the Judge blanks anywhere else. After reading your response and Grub's, I will look into the Seeker and Wow, thank you so much for the info on this. I will take a serious look at the seeker s-glass series. I have no real preference on a cranking rod material yet and I think having a custom glass rod would be pretty cool. I've been researching pretty hard the last few days trying to determine the components that I think I want to use on this. There are a lot of key decisions to make regarding the build-out that were hard because I have no history with this hobby. Your post helped narrow down a few of these items and I appreciate your time. I love to tinker with things and experiment so I'm looking forward to starting this process. I have a couple general questions that I'd like to ask if I can take some more of your time: 1. I'm pretty dead set on this having a full cork handle so I can rest it against my arm if I'm cranking perpendicular to the lure. Is there any reason to consider a split grip? I've never had a split grip and I'm not 100% sure I would enjoy them. I know that part of the beauty in building your own rod is making it how you like. I plan to try some split grips (and possibly an ACS seat) on a jerkbait rod after this one but I wanted to make sure that my train of thought was at least in the ballpark regarding the handle. Length will be determined based off of my center of palm to inside elbow measurement which is around 12.5". I'll likely add a some sort of ergonomic shaped front grip based on what I find comfortable. Probably a more bulbous design instead of a straight taper...... speaking of which..... 2. I've been drawing a few blanks out based on the butt and tip measurements. The assumption that I have to make is that the rod taper from tip to butt is linear. Any problems in that? I plan on using this info as a rough guide for ordering reel seats, winding checks, or any other diameter specific parts. I know I'll end up reaming them for proper fitment but that should get me close. Since I don't have extra parts laying around, I'd be tickled if I nailed my first order. I can always bust out the calipers and measure once I get the blank but I enjoy the challenge and potential savings on shipping costs. 3. Epoxying guide feet. All of the "starter" videos that I've seen from distributors or youtube don't really touch on epoxy behind the guide feet. It seems like it's a pretty common belief that the feet need a little epoxy from the stuff i've seen on RBO. I read mention of a technique where you saturate the thread at the foot of the guide and work up from there. The poster said that by the time you get up towards the actual guide, that you would see the epoxy under the guide foot. Can I assume that capillary action of the thread will pull some epoxy up under the guide foot or is there a better way to do it? Again, thank you both for the responses. Your information is invaluable for someone like myself who has never done this and doesn't have any other resources than the internet. I can already tell that the hobby is full of nice people that are happy to share their knowledge and just plain like to talk about building rods which is really refreshing.

I'm wanting to build a deep crank rod and strongly considering the MH (3/8 - 1oz) Judge for my first build. I'm also looking into the Revelation line and a Phenix model. The Judge line looks pretty neat and seems to be a brand new design. Just can't figure out if it's worth the premium compared to the Revelation or the Phenix and I'm looking for feedback. I mostly throw DD22s or 6XDs this time of year but I would like this rod to handle smaller baits too. This is the type of rod that I currently "need" and I've decided to take the jump and build it myself instead of shelling out the money for an off the shelf rod. I have a few others that I would like to build this year as well so I'm wanting to start with this one. I understand that learning on a more expensive blank might be a risk, but it's one that I'm willing to take. Thank you for the help in advance.