Spybait Rod

[CRANKENSTIEN]

Get a whippy 7 ft rod. It will give you a long cast and then give you the play to fight with a light line. I use 4 lb pline cxx I can't believe how far a light lline can cast. The wind can put it into the trees fast if you aren't careful as well. Be careful where you put that $20 bait if you snag it can get expensive on light line.

[S Hovanec]

It's gonna be fished in all open water. Not much of anything to snag it on where I plan to use it in Erie.

[S Hovanec]

Met up with Jim and family last night for dinner, and to deliver Lumberjack Barbie.  We also exchanged some beers and baits.  Among the baits were the spinbaits to be used on this rod.  It put me in the mood to get back to work on it.  Turned the grip and glued it up this morning.

 

[FD.]

Where did you get the cork rings?  I like the spots in them.

[S Hovanec]

Where did you get the cork rings?  I like the spots in them.

 

 

I picked them up at the ICRBE in February from the guys at customflygrips.com.  It is called Tiger Trout .

 

http://customflygrips.com/en/grip-materials/50-premium-burl-cork-rings-12.html#/60-premium_burl-tiger_trout

[.ghoti.]

When you first posted this I really did not care for the color of that blank. Seeing it with the burl grip installed has completely changed my perception. What color for the wraps?

[J Francho]

Love the border collie on the decal! Fits you perfect.

[S Hovanec]

I still don't know what to wrap it with. Was thinking charcoal. Ight even be a candidate for spring green without CP.

[S Hovanec]

It released last Monday March 30th here. Let me know if you do not find any.

Jeff

Was thinking about shooting you a message about some KBS cause I haven't heard from my distributor. My phone rang right after lunch today...... my case is in!

[00 mod]

Good deal!  Glad you got some!

 

Jeff

[S Hovanec]

Dug through my reel box and found this. I think the gold tone of the body plays well with the green of the blank.

[.ghoti.]

Very nice thing to just dig around and find. Good looking combo.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Very nice thing to just dig around and find. Good looking combo.

Ya that's like finding $10's & $20's in the couch cushions instead of coins. lol

[S Hovanec]

Ya that's like finding $10's & $20's in the couch cushions instead of coins. lol

Just wish I could find my other Chronarch 101SF!!

[J Francho]

Last year when I cleaned my boat up after winter storage, I found a JDM Zillion I'd forgotten about.

[S Hovanec]

Attended a Youth and Family outdoor show today where I demonstrated how fishing rods were made. Managed to totally wrap a customers red jerkbait rod and half of my Spybait rod. Here is the stripper guide. Still need to tie in the titanium metallic trim band on this wrap.

[.ghoti.]

Excellent looking wrap! A quick question. Do you ever use a locking wrap on those larger spinning guides? Not questioning your work, just your thoughts on the matter.

[S Hovanec]

No, I only use the locking wrap on the running guides. I tried locking wraps on the large guides in the past, but not all of them are formed properly to allow you to go in front of the guide without creating a gap in the wrap. It's just aesthetics, but I prefer to not have the gap.

Here's is one I did with the locking wrap and the gap is very noticable.

THere was no way to eliminate that without the wrap starting up the guide leg.

BTW, this is my favorite pic of one of my wraps. I love how you can see the guide size through the thread.

On another aside pertaining to the green rod. I normally don't do guide wraps this long, but the gold 'saddle' wrap didn't look right with a shorter main wrap.

[.ghoti.]

Beautiful wrap man. One day I hope to do some half as good looking as that one.

The gap you mentioned is why I asked. I'm ok with the the way mine look on the smaller guides, but just could never get one to look good to me on a large guide. Thanks for the answer.

[S Hovanec]

Beautiful wrap man. One day I hope to do some half as good looking as that one

Thank you. Wraps are easy. I don't do anything fancy with the thread. Some guys do some amazing work with cross wraps and weaves.

Finish is where the practice shows, in IMO. Once you figure what technique you're comfortable with, it all clicks and finish becomes easy too. I used to fret when it came time to apply finish. Now, I slap it on, scrape off the excess, set it turning and walk away. If something goes wrong, I'll fix it after it cures.

[Lucky Craft Man]

No, I only use the locking wrap on the running guides. I tried locking wraps on the large guides in the past, but not all of them are formed properly to allow you to go in front of the guide without creating a gap in the wrap. It's just aesthetics, but I prefer to not have the gap.

Here's is one I did with the locking wrap and the gap is very noticable.

THere was no way to eliminate that without the wrap starting up the guide leg.

BTW, this is my favorite pic of one of my wraps. I love how you can see the guide size through the thread.

On another aside pertaining to the green rod. I normally don't do guide wraps this long, but the gold 'saddle' wrap didn't look right with a shorter main wrap.

 

Now this is what I want on the 11 wt. you are making me!  I love how the guide foot shows through.  Do you have any green threads that become transparent like that?

[S Hovanec]

Now this is what I want on the 11 wt. you are making me!  I love how the guide foot shows through.  Do you have any green threads that become transparent like that?

 

Yep.  Spring Green, Medium Green and possibly Dark Green will.  The Spring Green will be my first choice.  I'll do a test wrap before I decide.  Hoping it will almost disappear and let the blank color come through too.

[.ghoti.]

I've tried cross wraps, and decided I don't have the patience required to do such work. And weaves just look to be totally beyond me. I did do a lot of experimenting with scraps to get a decent looking holo wrap. I like to have something in the area of the hook-keeper to provide some extra protection, and a holo wrap fits the bill for me. The first one I did on a customer rod turned out just the way I wanted it to.

 

The second one has been a comedy of errors. All the problems have been on the top wrap. On the first try I forgot to add CP, and the top gunmetal thread almost disappeared. I stripped it off, sanded down the finish, applied another thin coat and started again. Second attempt failed. When I pulled out the sacrificial thread, I managed to move the remaining gunmetal thread, screwing up the pattern. Stripped, sanded and recoated again. This time I increased the tension, and the heating to soften the epoxy, to help insure the remaining thread would remain in place. After a coat of CP, I discovered most of the gaps were almost filled with fuzzies. I used a medium brown thread for the sacrificial because I could see it better against the gunmetal and the darker blue/gunmetal underwrap. The fuzzies were not brown, they were the same color as the remaining gunmetal thread. So, I've stripped it, sanded it down, and recoated with epoxy one more time.

 

I've used that spool of gunmetal thread several times with no problems. But maybe there is a bad run in the middle of the spool. That spool went into File 13. I also speculated that the increase in tension, and the extra heat I applied caused the fuzzies.

 

I put a post about the fuzzy problem on the rodbuilder forum. To date there have been 190 views and no replies.

[S Hovanec]

I've had spools like that. They don't stick around long!

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

The foot on the big guides is plenty long for a secure wrap. Make if you use a locking wrap on teh runners that the guide is straight before locking it down....don't ask