The Beast- and a few others...

[flechero]

Finally got caught up around here and got started on the beast... my big swimbait rod. I'm building it on an All Star BB986 blank, rated 2-8 oz It can double as a push pole when I fly fish the flats. ...lol

It's a monster.. the butt is in the mid .700's in diameter and I needed to heavily ream a 16mm reel seat. ...lol But to my shock and amazement, the tip is only a 6.0 and light enough to cast and pitch some pretty light stuff- so I'll also use this as my big flippin rod for a while to see how I like an 8' rod for that. Also since it's one pc. it's not too heavy, it balances less than 1" in front of the reel foot with a Revo on it.

The second pic is a group shot of handles I needed to show someone, several of them were never posted here so I thought I would include it.

[Alpster]

Keith,

You make the prettiest grips around, and this one is no exception. Good work as usual!  

I get why you call it "The Beast". The 8' Loomis BackBounce blank I am building my swimbait rod on only comes in a GL2. I guess sensitivity becomes less important when your rod doubles as a mast for the emergency sail. LOL

I had a preformed grip, so I used it on the BB because I don't know where else I can use a 12" grip. LOL I will post some pics when I'm farther along. I am anxious to fish with the swimbait rod. I got a Calcutta 400 to go on it. There are no California hawgs in NJ so my swimbait rod will double as a muskie/salmon rod. Canada is only 5 hours from me. The trick is finding time to go. Work gets in the way of fishing way too often. LOL

Ronnie

[flechero]

You should try turning your own grips, it's not hard.  I'm still using that old drill, clamped to a board.  ...lol  If I can ever wear out the drill, I may upgrade to a lathe.  This grip was an extra I had already reamed for another rod, and then changed to burnt cork on it so this was just lying in the garage.

If I lived up there, I'd have a fleet of muskie rods!!  I actually looked at that blank you are using, several times for this purpose.  I picked up the All Start on my last "truckload" buy from Andy ... I could have gotten 8-10 of them but sadly, I only got 1.  If I had any clue then, how good a blank it was, I would have bought all of them and sold the rest as finished rods.

I'm looking forward to your pics!

[justtrying]

flech,

MAN, those are some nice looking grips!   ...makes me remember why i quit posting pics of mine! LOL

but, hey, concerning the Beast... i built a 7'9" "almost beast" last year & keep in my boat all the time.  right now, i have a frog on it, but it's a great flipping stick.    i've got a hi speed reel spooled w/65 lb power pro & i've horsed some pretty big fish from places you wouldn't believe.

one thing it will do, however,  ..it will let you know just how old you are  ...it will wear you OUT!      ...but, in today's fishing, it's part of the arsenal.  you gotta do so much to catch 'em.  fishing behind 1,000 other guys trying to do the same thing, catch the same fish.

have fun!

ronnie