Finally My New Rod For This Year Is Done!!

[Capt.Bob]

Ah the wait is over, and I although we couldn't do everything I wanted to, it turned out better than I would have dreamed. My build this year I wanted

1) a 6'6" MLF for Walleye rigging, and light (1/4 oz and under jig's) , and using it for Smallmouth as a light and weightless plastics and finesse work in lakes.

2) I did not want to go over 7" long with the handle but balanced rite at the line pickup.

3) sensitivity very important.

4) tip speed for hooksets on fish with hard mouths with this action and power.

5) no EYE bling like fancy wraps and lace or extra inlays.

 

Well as soon as I seen it I was impressed. My builder "I thought" put just enough eye appeal without adding anything unnecessary to give it some great aesthetics! We did accomplish what I wanted the rod to do. It is extremely fast and sensitive. He had to add a little more rubberized cork to the handle to balance the rod where I wanted with the 1000FG in place. It was a 3.2 oz finished weight and 9.7 oz with the reel in place. But I have to say weighing almost Identical towhat my 6'3" MXF w/1000FJ Stradic on it does, this rod feels much lighter faster and is more sensitive if that is possible. The best part, for no eye candy to speak of, the cork is used to add weight for balance while giving it some eye bling, but the subtle petite harvest gold wraps with the pastel green I thought made the rod pop without adding weight, the hookeeper and label along with the first guide up from the reel seat, which received 2 wraps, and the next guide 1 wrap, and nothing after that. that was the end of any bling built into the rod. My ugly duckling if you will.

 

Regardless how little eye candy he did on the rod, the real smile came when about an hour after picking it up and about a half dozen cast in the river above the rifles a 14" small mouth inhaled a 3" tube w/a 1/16 oz weighted tube hook and put the first bend in the rod. I was assured this was my goal and it did the job admirably.    

 

The new addition:

 

He utilized the full advantage of the blanks taper by not skimping on the # of guides to cut weight.

I am sure not everyone's color preference, but it is exactly what I wanted, subtle and just enough to slightly add a little eye apeal, without screaming BLING,,,I am happy with his choice of where and how much.

 

With the light Sustain being 1/2 oz over my 1000 FA Ci4+ and the balance point here we did manage the 7" handle length, and the balance point is virtually the same place with the 1000FA Ci4+ in the seat.

 

I have several custom rods but I think this has to be one of my favorite. When I started having rods built I was more about LOOK at ME, lace and wraps and inlays, and bright colors. I will say they are still nice rods, but I have a few that would have had more performance and less weight, with better components if I had not played as much on the it has to look fancy. This rod is far from fancy, but I think my builder put together as a high a performance rod as possible on this blank with comfort and ergonomics the top priority. This will be a pattern closely followed for the next rod, and as I am getting older and realizing a lot of techniques are more fatiguing than I prefer today, I am thinking about parting with several outfits. But I always see a new one I should have had. ,,,,,,a LF maybe for the Ci4+,,,,, lighter and shorter maybe,,,,, hmm. time will tell. Till I have some more water time on this rod I have plenty of time to think that over, but for now, I got Walleye and Smalmouth that need tamed with this one! My Thanks to K.R. he never ever has let me down.

[OntarioFishingGuy]

WOW! It's a beauty! Matches perfectly with the Sustain too. Congrats!

[EvanT123]

Very nice Bob. Looks like it will be a lot of fun for your intended purpose.

[Dwight Hottle]

Beautiful rod. Seriously fun blank for your purpose. Enjoy.

[FishTank]

Very nice.  I like the cork design.  It looks like it will be a fun rod to fish. You will have to report back after you have put through a long day of fishing.

[F14A-B]

Sweet!

[Balshy Fishing]

I need to have someone make me a rod like this, that's awesome.

 

How much does something like that "generally" run someone? 

[Arv]

Very nice looking rod. I really like the wraps on the guides. The green and gold looks sharp imo

[Capt.Bob]

I need to have someone make me a rod like this, that's awesome.

 

How much does something like that "generally" run someone? 

You know it is not that much more to have it your way. If I had used a standard one piece cork handle contoured like this one,instead of built up using 1/2" different type rings, and I had went with a comparable set of guides, I would have had no more in this rod than the factory Legend Elite. The recoil guides were 100 bucks which is almost double what a good set of Sic Concept guides would have been. With a standard handle the cost would be comparable to factory.

 

Thanks for all the kind words, I will let my builder know, I was right,,,,he is that good!