.dsaavedra.

lol that was a pretty good one. i remember seeing that on TV quite a bit about a year or so ago.

i cant remember what theyre called, maroons maybe? but they are a coconut cookie w/ chocolate on the top. by far the best girlscout cookie!

CAUSE IT LOOKS BAD***!!!!! lol but seriously, it reduces the weight of the rod (not by much though). like Tin said, its mainly personal preference, there really is no benefit, but i think most people like it because it looks attractive (at least thats why i like a split grip). however, rods without a foregrip, not only do they reduce a minute amount of weight, but they allow your fingers of your left hand to be in contact with the blank when u palm the reel, and that gives you more sensativity.

VERY well said mattm!

i have found bitsy bugs to be crap. they always skimp out on the skirts. most of my bitsy bugs have hardly any strands on them, maybe like 20 strands TOPS. my favorite jig would definitley be terminators pro's top secret jig. this is one very nice jig. everything about it is good, full skirts, great colors, strong hook, rattles, trailer keeper, recessed eye, its a great jig.

Nope the key to removing the epoxy is HEAT. You heat the area slightly with a hair dryer (it softens the epoxy) and then using the dull edge of a razor you carefully scrap the epoxy off. Once the old epoxy has been scraped then you can use a ultra fine sanding pad to finish up the area. You never use any solvents stronger than denatured alcohol on a rod blank.vicdotcom, I didn't. I first read everything I could to actually learn the processes involved with prepping the blank then, prepping the grip, and then the guides and so on, learning the differences in actions and backbones, about spline etc.. Then I purchased a rod kit and built a rod. You don't learn that re-modifying a rod....IMPO the re-modifying of and existing factory rack rod is nothing more than keeping idle hands busy. thank you so much for that information david! i would have never thought to use heat. so now i have another question for you, i want to clean off all my work (polyurethane, paint) and get back to the epoxy so i can use heat to get it off....how can i do this?

would rubbing alcohol work? dont think i have any denatured alcohol.

i saw the post "cali bass in tn" on the main forum and i thought "oh boy i hope paul started this thread" when i opened up the outings section i was excited to see this was your thread! those are some sweet fish paul. hope you can meet up with them again in about 3 years!

you dont have enough posts to post a link. here is the video he is reffering to:

my thought are i wish i understood what you just said :-? but i think i understood it and i think it makes sense. ;D

i never thin it, but i like the way yours turned out. what do you use to thin it?

He's been lucky so far... any chemical that's strong enough to eat cured epoxy can also eat what's holding your rod's graphite fibers together! The safest way is to get through the cork and down to the epoxy and only smooth the high spots in the epoxy with a fine grit paper. Then finish it with a tinted or marbled finish to hide the old epoxy. Or use a light leveling coat and then thread wrap a pattern or color scheme over the area to hide the uglyness underneath. The new finish will level it all out if applied properly. the ugly stik's warranty had probably already expired, and i found the lightning rod at one of the places i fish so that thing didnt even have a warranty. i knew it would void the warranty and i would never to this to one of my nicer rods. i tried sanding the eopxy off and it is tough stuff! it would not come off! i dont have any "leveling coat". what is that? also, i dont have a rod wrapper, so doing the threads would be very difficult, and i personally think that marbling is very ugly. what could i do to hide the uneveness of the blank?

yeah two weeks sounds better and alot less complicated than my plan ;D

how does it take long to break down a 2pc. rod? theres nothin to it! just take it apart (2 seconds) and then reel in the slack (5 seconds) and stuff it in your backpack (10 seconds). its that easy. as far as getting a new rod just for this situation, i would much rather buy a different bait than buy a different rod. im sure the fish will bite other things than the shallow shad rap or glass shad rap. so do like stringjam said, either get a heavier shallow diver or a lighter deep diver and only pack one rod.

i think a good time limit on keeping the lure would be something like this: take it along and fish it a good amount of time on the next fishing trip after you get the lure. if you catch a fish, then send it along. if you dont catch a fish, then take the lure with you on your next fishing trip and fish it a good amount of time again. if still no fish, then just send it to the next person. how does that sound?

i did not sand off the old paint, i just worked right over top of it. you can still see where the old paint is on the belly and back in the first two pics (first post). i didnt really paint the entire thing either. for the sides (the realistic looking part) i used a photo finishing method, where you print a photo on tissue paper and then glue it to foil and glue the foil to your lure. and then you epoxy over it. and the epoxy makes the tissue paper translucent and the foil shines thru. then i painted the back and belly by hand to match the photo finish.

well mine took me longer than they should have. on the first one i did (spinning) i didnt sand down the glue on the blank well enough so after i painted it i had to sand off the paint because the paint really accentuated how rough it was under neath :-[ so i had to re sand it and it still wasnt too smooth. i might do like Tin told me and take some carborator or brake cleaner and wipe it down w/ that because that will eat away all the glue and just leave a bare graphite underneath. but all in all both those rods took me one day to complete.

where was the classic this year? i didnt even bother to watch it. i remember last year or two years ago they had it on the potomac and it was being held about a 45min drive from where i live. i didnt go.

very pretty fish. and a pretty rod too

great fish and great picture. i really like the lighting on that pic! ;D

i guess i did sound like a jackass earlier. i should have chose better words : but i think it would be great if there were a new members section opened up so that way the "general bass fishing" section could be all about fishing, and not have new member threads.

jake, this is my first time. i think split grips look good on both rods, but i like baitcasters more when theyre split and have the foregrip removed...i didnt have the balls to remove the foregrip on this one though :-/ and tin, i thought about doing this long before you told me you were doing it ;D

thanks smallieking. im glad you like it here is a pic of what the lure looked like before (its the circled one)

I split the grips on two of my rods. its pretty fun! im overall pleased with how they turned out, i just wish i sanded the blank smoother before i painted it.

LOL ;D I hear ya man!