The Better Mousetrap or
Why is a custom rod preferable to a mass
produced commercial rod
Why is a custom rod preferable to a mass
produced commercial rod
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
This section means a lot to me. I've wanted to be able to bring out some technical aspects
of the custom rod that people have asked for and at the same time blend it with the
common sense aspects that I've accumulated thanks to the help of everyone that I've
fished with or been around or read about for the majority of my adult life.
I need to preface this section with a little history. The serious aspects of my fishing
actually started about 30 years ago with a neighbor of mine named Lonnie Stanley who is
probably one the most accomplished jig fishermen in the world. Probably the most
important thing that I learned from Lonnie was the importance of a rod's sensitivity and
I've tried to take that aspect to the nth degree on my rods. There's no way I could cover
all my experiences serving as a director of the TABC and fishing 2 bass clubs seriously
for over 10 years, qualifying for the top six tournament in both clubs simultaneously for
many of the years. I've been blessed the last few years to be able to fish the Gulf coast
with 2 of the most serious fishermen I've ever known, Kane Pustejovsky and Paul
Andersen. They've shown me the necessity of perfection in preparation in order to
achieve a successful end. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.
The common sense approach to fishing techniques shouldn't be understated. After a
while, fishing certain situations over and over yields a natural ability to know what to do.
You listen to guides and tournament fishermen and all other successful fishermen, you
absorb their experiences and learn. Just as important, I've learned from my mistakes.
The hundreds of times I've practiced fished for a tournament and caught nothing was
important... I learned where not to fish the next day. I've accumulated a lifetime of
common sense techniques to fishing and fishing equipment.
The technical combinations of components of a rod are as much a science as they are an
art, blended with years of trial and error by rod masters world wide. The ever changing
technology of new ceramics, coatings, and metallurgy improves the end product but
nothing will ever change the science of what exactly affects a rod's performance in a
certain way. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a large commercial rod
manufacturer cannot cost effectively fine tune the components of a rod while building
hundreds at a time just to be able to market to the large nationwide sporting goods
retailers. Commercial rods are manufactured under the pretext that "The needs of the
many outweigh the needs of the few".
I want to give credit to the majority of my knowledge of the technical aspects of a rod to,
in my opinion, the most accomplished rod master of all time, Dale P. Clemens. His books
and seminars have been acclaimed worldwide as the pinnacle of rod building knowledge.
Also, I want to acknowledge dozens of other rod masters that have shared and continue
to share trial and error rod building techniques. It will not be necessary to mention any
rod manufacturers by name. You know them by name and you probably own their rods.
The majority use good blanks and build good rods. Each one of them always say the same
thing..... That they use the best components and build the best rod....PERIOD...END OF
STORY!
The one thing they never say..... is that their rods are as good or better than a custom
built rod..... that's the rest of the story.
of the custom rod that people have asked for and at the same time blend it with the
common sense aspects that I've accumulated thanks to the help of everyone that I've
fished with or been around or read about for the majority of my adult life.
I need to preface this section with a little history. The serious aspects of my fishing
actually started about 30 years ago with a neighbor of mine named Lonnie Stanley who is
probably one the most accomplished jig fishermen in the world. Probably the most
important thing that I learned from Lonnie was the importance of a rod's sensitivity and
I've tried to take that aspect to the nth degree on my rods. There's no way I could cover
all my experiences serving as a director of the TABC and fishing 2 bass clubs seriously
for over 10 years, qualifying for the top six tournament in both clubs simultaneously for
many of the years. I've been blessed the last few years to be able to fish the Gulf coast
with 2 of the most serious fishermen I've ever known, Kane Pustejovsky and Paul
Andersen. They've shown me the necessity of perfection in preparation in order to
achieve a successful end. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.
The common sense approach to fishing techniques shouldn't be understated. After a
while, fishing certain situations over and over yields a natural ability to know what to do.
You listen to guides and tournament fishermen and all other successful fishermen, you
absorb their experiences and learn. Just as important, I've learned from my mistakes.
The hundreds of times I've practiced fished for a tournament and caught nothing was
important... I learned where not to fish the next day. I've accumulated a lifetime of
common sense techniques to fishing and fishing equipment.
The technical combinations of components of a rod are as much a science as they are an
art, blended with years of trial and error by rod masters world wide. The ever changing
technology of new ceramics, coatings, and metallurgy improves the end product but
nothing will ever change the science of what exactly affects a rod's performance in a
certain way. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a large commercial rod
manufacturer cannot cost effectively fine tune the components of a rod while building
hundreds at a time just to be able to market to the large nationwide sporting goods
retailers. Commercial rods are manufactured under the pretext that "The needs of the
many outweigh the needs of the few".
I want to give credit to the majority of my knowledge of the technical aspects of a rod to,
in my opinion, the most accomplished rod master of all time, Dale P. Clemens. His books
and seminars have been acclaimed worldwide as the pinnacle of rod building knowledge.
Also, I want to acknowledge dozens of other rod masters that have shared and continue
to share trial and error rod building techniques. It will not be necessary to mention any
rod manufacturers by name. You know them by name and you probably own their rods.
The majority use good blanks and build good rods. Each one of them always say the same
thing..... That they use the best components and build the best rod....PERIOD...END OF
STORY!
The one thing they never say..... is that their rods are as good or better than a custom
built rod..... that's the rest of the story.
The Rest of the Story
In 1974, Fenwick first introduced rods built of a new "space age" material called graphite. Not since the introduction of
fiberglass 25 years before, did the attention of fishermen and rod builders focus so sharply on rod performance. Those of us
that built rods and fished realized that we needed to harness the qualities of this new rod material and maneuver the
components to enhance the actual characteristics that we wanted in a particular rod. We found the characteristics of graphite
were easily defined so we actually had specific data to base the results of our trial and error experiments with the rod
components.
Because graphite is so much stiffer than fiberglass, it transmits even the faintest messages to the anglers hand increasing
sensitivity like never before.
Graphite is much more responsive than fiberglass therefore it stores and releases energy more decisively giving it more control
in casting accuracy.
At the completion of a cast, graphite dampens better than any other rod material, meaning the tip stops vibrating quickly,
eliminating distance robbing waves (or whip) in the line. I'll address this often in this section because I've used many rod
building techniques (such as guide foot number and size, flexibility, placement, and wrap) to further reduce this line whip.
Smaller diameters of the graphite rods mean less air resistance so as the rod moves through the casting arc more of the force
from the casting hand is converted to greater tip speed, thus greater casting distance. Or, same distance and better accuracy
with less effort.
The weight savings is 25%-35% between fiberglass and graphite. This difference is extremely noticeable in longer rods
because the butt must be strong enough to support the weight of the attached lever.
Independent flexing tests have proven that graphite blanks soften less from material fatigue. One test showed that after 30,000
flexings, fiberglass softened 8% and graphite softened 1%.
The technology of modern materials and thousands of man hours in trial and error rod building have manipulated the above
characteristics of graphite rods to match the needs of specific sets of fishing situations. In many instances," The needs of the
few outweigh the needs of the many."
Now, the specifics of what causes a rod to react the way it does.
Before we discuss manipulating components to affect blank action, we need to know what exactly is "blank action". Extra-fast
action means that just the top 25% of the blank bends when casting the weight for which it was designed. Fast action means
the top 33% bends, moderate (or medium) action means the top 50% bends, and slow action means a progressive curve along
the entire blank. I don't think it's necessary to go into how they do it but it should suffice to say the rod blank action is a
manufacturing thing.
Every blank has a "high side" (or a stiffer side). It's generally thought this is the result of manufacturing where the graphite
overlaps in actual production or when the finished rod blank is sanded. Whatever the production variable, there is definitely a
distinguishable point of line running along the length or axis of the rod somewhere along the 360% circumference which is
more powerful than any other point of line along the axis and we call this line "the spline". For example, if the rod is held
parallel to the ground with the spline on top and flexed up and down, the action of the blank will follow the exact 90% angle.
Without going into the advantages of manipulating this characteristic, I'll just leave it at realizing that if the spline is off center,
the casting arc will not be exactly 90% and the rod will cast off center and casting distance will be affected as well as casting
accuracy. Needless to say, locating the spline exactly is critical in building a functional rod and a custom rod builder treats this
aspect of the rod building process religiously.
The modifying effect of the guides is probably the most important aspect of the rod building process. This is where I make the
rod do what I want it to. At this point in the process I begin to create my masterpiece. I use all the past and present technology
at my disposal and build a fishing machine that excels in casting distance and accuracy, strength, sensitivity, comfort, and
beauty. I use combinations of the following guide characteristics to achieve the desired result that I want:
1) The weight of the guides and tip top
2) The strength of the guide (or it's resistance to bending in relation to the blank)
3) The length of the guide's foot (or feet)
4) The length of the wraps holding the guides to the rod blank
5) The height of the guide(s)
6) The number and placement of the guides along the rod blank
7) The inside diameter of the guides
8) The size and placement of the butt guide
I'll briefly cover each of the above. In many cases you'll see that common sense has a way to blend in with the laws of physics
and mechanical engineering. The actual guide insert material will not greatly affect the rod's performance but I will cover the
topic later.
The weight of the guides and tip top: The basic effect here is that the heaver the guides and tip top, the more the action of the
rod will be slowed. Conversely, the lighter the guides and tip top, the more rapid will be the recoil of the rod. You need the
limber tip to gain more casting distance but you can slow the tip down, reducing distance robbing vibration, and distribute the
fast tip effect at the same time by adding a guide in the top third of the rod.
The strength of the guide or it's resistance to bending: Once again, you can distribute more evenly the fast action of the tip by
using rigid two footed guides especially in the tip section eliminating distance robbing vibration.
The length of the guides foot and the length of the wrap on the guides: When a hollow blank flexes it does not stay perfectly
round. It assumes an oval configuration because of the tension on the top and the compression on the bottom. A lightweight
double footed guide wrapped and flex-coated will become somewhat of splint, the same as adding wall thickness without the
overall weight. I achieve approximately the same effect with single footed guides by extending the foot wrap.
I use the first four of the possible guide modifications to more evenly distribute the fast action of the tip to the top half of the
rod. We've seen time and time again that we have more control of the larger fish by being able to work them closer to our
body. You wouldn't want to try to achieve the same thing by using a stiffer rod to start off with because you would lose the
accuracy and distance from the faster action casting characteristic. You can have the best of two worlds with my custom rod,
meaning you can have the sensitive fast tip for distance casting distributed down the rod blended with the strong (yet still
sensitive) back-bone to handle large fish more easily.
I use the last four of the possible guide modifications to eliminate the flat spots and line whip for increased casting accuracy
and distance.
The selection of the proper guides, their number, and especially their placement are the key elements in producing a superior
custom rod. Mass production techniques simply do not allow time to determine the proper guide spacing for each individual
blank. Instead, guide spacing is plotted for the average blank, using the average line and reel. By contrast, the custom rod
builder can take time to fit the guides and spacings for the specific variation of the actual rod blank, insuring maximum casting
accuracy and distance.
The height of the guides; Lightweight, low profile guides (except for the butt guide) will maximize casting distance on casting
rods. Spinning rods, surf rods, offshore rods, and fly rods have different characteristics and need specialized consideration for
guide sizing and spacing.
The number and placement of the guides along the rod blank (butt guide will be covered in a section of it's own later): Not
even considering the fact that rod blanks of the same action and length from the same manufacturer are often different, there
are many factors that influence the number and placement of guides on any given rod blank. With limits, the more guides we
use, the better we can evenly distribute the stress along the rod. On the other hand, with limits, the fewer guides we use, the
less the friction on the line with greater casting distance. The more guides, the more weight we add to the rod, slowing the
action. Too few guides, the line will slap against the blank causing friction and decreasing the casting distance. There are
formulas and charts available for the number and placement of the guides. However, much the same as the commercial rod
manufacturers who are building as many as they can, as fast they can, the charts and formulas are for the theoretical "average
blank". In many cases, the "average blanks" of the same size and action between different rod blank manufacturers are as
different as night and day. There is only one way to do it right. A custom rod builder (one true to his craft) will conduct a
static test for the individual rod he's building to make sure the guide number and placement is correct. Without going into
lengthy details, a static test is simply temporarily fastening the guides on the rod blank in the approximately correct spots,
running a line through the guides, attach to a weight to flex the rod into a natural arc and adjusting the guide placement to make
sure there are no "flat spots" where the line touches the rod.
The inside diameter of the guides (except for the butt guide which is covered next): A high speed, stop action photo of an
arrow shows the arrow whipping in a series of bends. By eliminating this whip over the past few years with the advent of high
tech arrow rests and high tech arrows, the speed has increased. Likewise, the photo of a cast shows the line whip which
causes friction and a decrease in potential casting distance. To decrease much of the line whip, I've used hydraulic principals
to decrease friction for more speed, thus more casting distance by geometrically creating a gradual "cone" of line travel. For
example, my 7 foot inshore series rod has a size 12 butt guide, then 2 size 10's, followed by 2 size 8's, followed by 2 size 7's,
ending with 2 size 6's (including the tip). The inertia driven effect, with proper guide placement, is similar to water traveling
downhill in a graduating pipe actually gaining velocity before it spews out.
The size and placement of the butt guide: This is the most important guide on the rod. It's size and placement is critical in the
performance of a rod because it is totally responsible for the velocity of the line as it travels through the "cone" of guides and
tip. Your rod's proper setup is just as important as your reel's performance in determining the distance of your cast. This is the
main reason why you can cast farther (using the same reel) with one of your rods than the others, even though their actions
are similar. Look at a bait casting reel and notice that the line comes off in a side to side motion over the width of the spool.
Since the line is unwinding from side to side, it hits the butt guide at various angles. The wider the spool, the greater the
maximum angle, and the more friction against the sides of the butt guide. That's the reason why generally, no matter how
tuned the reels, a 6000-7000 series reel will not cast as efficiently as a 4500-5500 series reel. I see it best with my 30 year old
Fuji speed spool , which has a small V spool and casts like a bullet.
If the butt guide is placed too close to the reel, the angle of the line is great, and too much friction is generated, and friction
slows the line. On the other hand, even though the angle is reduced the farther away the butt guide is placed from the reel,
placing it too far from the reel will allow the line to slap the rod on the cast (friction again) and also allow the line to rub the rod
when flexed on a big fish. This is one of the reasons why performing a static test on the rod before permanently affixing the
guides is so critical.
A custom rod builder takes the opportunity to fine tune the placement and sizing of the guides to maximize the rod's
performance. He has no quality control department to cull rejects as in all major rod manufacturers. A custom rod builder has
no rejects.
We can move toward solving the friction and dead spot problems by using a larger butt guide. A larger diameter butt guide ring
reduces the angle from the side to side travel of the line, therefore chokes the line less to reduce casting distance robbing
friction. Another solution is to use a slightly higher butt guide to raise the line's axis off the rod preventing the line from
rubbing the rod in extreme flex situations. It's a fact that the fish has the advantage when the line touches the rod. It's the same
thing as grabbing the line with your hand. There is no doubt that a larger size butt guide on a higher frame will increase casting
distance, reduce line wear and even ease fighting a large fish. We have consistently handled 30 pound jacks and reds with a 4
ounce, medium action, Rattler Rod, and done so comfortably with 4500-5500 series reels. Handling a fish, especially a large
fish with authority demands more rod performance than reel performance. If you'll notice my Rattler custom rod, you'll see
that the butt guide is a size 12 (minimum) and the guide has a slightly higher frame than on conventional rack rods. It's not
noticeable unless you actually compare it side by side to other rods. It could be larger but as in almost all of rod building,
compromise is the key to keep it sleek and still perform well.
to be continued........TN
fiberglass 25 years before, did the attention of fishermen and rod builders focus so sharply on rod performance. Those of us
that built rods and fished realized that we needed to harness the qualities of this new rod material and maneuver the
components to enhance the actual characteristics that we wanted in a particular rod. We found the characteristics of graphite
were easily defined so we actually had specific data to base the results of our trial and error experiments with the rod
components.
Because graphite is so much stiffer than fiberglass, it transmits even the faintest messages to the anglers hand increasing
sensitivity like never before.
Graphite is much more responsive than fiberglass therefore it stores and releases energy more decisively giving it more control
in casting accuracy.
At the completion of a cast, graphite dampens better than any other rod material, meaning the tip stops vibrating quickly,
eliminating distance robbing waves (or whip) in the line. I'll address this often in this section because I've used many rod
building techniques (such as guide foot number and size, flexibility, placement, and wrap) to further reduce this line whip.
Smaller diameters of the graphite rods mean less air resistance so as the rod moves through the casting arc more of the force
from the casting hand is converted to greater tip speed, thus greater casting distance. Or, same distance and better accuracy
with less effort.
The weight savings is 25%-35% between fiberglass and graphite. This difference is extremely noticeable in longer rods
because the butt must be strong enough to support the weight of the attached lever.
Independent flexing tests have proven that graphite blanks soften less from material fatigue. One test showed that after 30,000
flexings, fiberglass softened 8% and graphite softened 1%.
The technology of modern materials and thousands of man hours in trial and error rod building have manipulated the above
characteristics of graphite rods to match the needs of specific sets of fishing situations. In many instances," The needs of the
few outweigh the needs of the many."
Now, the specifics of what causes a rod to react the way it does.
Before we discuss manipulating components to affect blank action, we need to know what exactly is "blank action". Extra-fast
action means that just the top 25% of the blank bends when casting the weight for which it was designed. Fast action means
the top 33% bends, moderate (or medium) action means the top 50% bends, and slow action means a progressive curve along
the entire blank. I don't think it's necessary to go into how they do it but it should suffice to say the rod blank action is a
manufacturing thing.
Every blank has a "high side" (or a stiffer side). It's generally thought this is the result of manufacturing where the graphite
overlaps in actual production or when the finished rod blank is sanded. Whatever the production variable, there is definitely a
distinguishable point of line running along the length or axis of the rod somewhere along the 360% circumference which is
more powerful than any other point of line along the axis and we call this line "the spline". For example, if the rod is held
parallel to the ground with the spline on top and flexed up and down, the action of the blank will follow the exact 90% angle.
Without going into the advantages of manipulating this characteristic, I'll just leave it at realizing that if the spline is off center,
the casting arc will not be exactly 90% and the rod will cast off center and casting distance will be affected as well as casting
accuracy. Needless to say, locating the spline exactly is critical in building a functional rod and a custom rod builder treats this
aspect of the rod building process religiously.
The modifying effect of the guides is probably the most important aspect of the rod building process. This is where I make the
rod do what I want it to. At this point in the process I begin to create my masterpiece. I use all the past and present technology
at my disposal and build a fishing machine that excels in casting distance and accuracy, strength, sensitivity, comfort, and
beauty. I use combinations of the following guide characteristics to achieve the desired result that I want:
1) The weight of the guides and tip top
2) The strength of the guide (or it's resistance to bending in relation to the blank)
3) The length of the guide's foot (or feet)
4) The length of the wraps holding the guides to the rod blank
5) The height of the guide(s)
6) The number and placement of the guides along the rod blank
7) The inside diameter of the guides
8) The size and placement of the butt guide
I'll briefly cover each of the above. In many cases you'll see that common sense has a way to blend in with the laws of physics
and mechanical engineering. The actual guide insert material will not greatly affect the rod's performance but I will cover the
topic later.
The weight of the guides and tip top: The basic effect here is that the heaver the guides and tip top, the more the action of the
rod will be slowed. Conversely, the lighter the guides and tip top, the more rapid will be the recoil of the rod. You need the
limber tip to gain more casting distance but you can slow the tip down, reducing distance robbing vibration, and distribute the
fast tip effect at the same time by adding a guide in the top third of the rod.
The strength of the guide or it's resistance to bending: Once again, you can distribute more evenly the fast action of the tip by
using rigid two footed guides especially in the tip section eliminating distance robbing vibration.
The length of the guides foot and the length of the wrap on the guides: When a hollow blank flexes it does not stay perfectly
round. It assumes an oval configuration because of the tension on the top and the compression on the bottom. A lightweight
double footed guide wrapped and flex-coated will become somewhat of splint, the same as adding wall thickness without the
overall weight. I achieve approximately the same effect with single footed guides by extending the foot wrap.
I use the first four of the possible guide modifications to more evenly distribute the fast action of the tip to the top half of the
rod. We've seen time and time again that we have more control of the larger fish by being able to work them closer to our
body. You wouldn't want to try to achieve the same thing by using a stiffer rod to start off with because you would lose the
accuracy and distance from the faster action casting characteristic. You can have the best of two worlds with my custom rod,
meaning you can have the sensitive fast tip for distance casting distributed down the rod blended with the strong (yet still
sensitive) back-bone to handle large fish more easily.
I use the last four of the possible guide modifications to eliminate the flat spots and line whip for increased casting accuracy
and distance.
The selection of the proper guides, their number, and especially their placement are the key elements in producing a superior
custom rod. Mass production techniques simply do not allow time to determine the proper guide spacing for each individual
blank. Instead, guide spacing is plotted for the average blank, using the average line and reel. By contrast, the custom rod
builder can take time to fit the guides and spacings for the specific variation of the actual rod blank, insuring maximum casting
accuracy and distance.
The height of the guides; Lightweight, low profile guides (except for the butt guide) will maximize casting distance on casting
rods. Spinning rods, surf rods, offshore rods, and fly rods have different characteristics and need specialized consideration for
guide sizing and spacing.
The number and placement of the guides along the rod blank (butt guide will be covered in a section of it's own later): Not
even considering the fact that rod blanks of the same action and length from the same manufacturer are often different, there
are many factors that influence the number and placement of guides on any given rod blank. With limits, the more guides we
use, the better we can evenly distribute the stress along the rod. On the other hand, with limits, the fewer guides we use, the
less the friction on the line with greater casting distance. The more guides, the more weight we add to the rod, slowing the
action. Too few guides, the line will slap against the blank causing friction and decreasing the casting distance. There are
formulas and charts available for the number and placement of the guides. However, much the same as the commercial rod
manufacturers who are building as many as they can, as fast they can, the charts and formulas are for the theoretical "average
blank". In many cases, the "average blanks" of the same size and action between different rod blank manufacturers are as
different as night and day. There is only one way to do it right. A custom rod builder (one true to his craft) will conduct a
static test for the individual rod he's building to make sure the guide number and placement is correct. Without going into
lengthy details, a static test is simply temporarily fastening the guides on the rod blank in the approximately correct spots,
running a line through the guides, attach to a weight to flex the rod into a natural arc and adjusting the guide placement to make
sure there are no "flat spots" where the line touches the rod.
The inside diameter of the guides (except for the butt guide which is covered next): A high speed, stop action photo of an
arrow shows the arrow whipping in a series of bends. By eliminating this whip over the past few years with the advent of high
tech arrow rests and high tech arrows, the speed has increased. Likewise, the photo of a cast shows the line whip which
causes friction and a decrease in potential casting distance. To decrease much of the line whip, I've used hydraulic principals
to decrease friction for more speed, thus more casting distance by geometrically creating a gradual "cone" of line travel. For
example, my 7 foot inshore series rod has a size 12 butt guide, then 2 size 10's, followed by 2 size 8's, followed by 2 size 7's,
ending with 2 size 6's (including the tip). The inertia driven effect, with proper guide placement, is similar to water traveling
downhill in a graduating pipe actually gaining velocity before it spews out.
The size and placement of the butt guide: This is the most important guide on the rod. It's size and placement is critical in the
performance of a rod because it is totally responsible for the velocity of the line as it travels through the "cone" of guides and
tip. Your rod's proper setup is just as important as your reel's performance in determining the distance of your cast. This is the
main reason why you can cast farther (using the same reel) with one of your rods than the others, even though their actions
are similar. Look at a bait casting reel and notice that the line comes off in a side to side motion over the width of the spool.
Since the line is unwinding from side to side, it hits the butt guide at various angles. The wider the spool, the greater the
maximum angle, and the more friction against the sides of the butt guide. That's the reason why generally, no matter how
tuned the reels, a 6000-7000 series reel will not cast as efficiently as a 4500-5500 series reel. I see it best with my 30 year old
Fuji speed spool , which has a small V spool and casts like a bullet.
If the butt guide is placed too close to the reel, the angle of the line is great, and too much friction is generated, and friction
slows the line. On the other hand, even though the angle is reduced the farther away the butt guide is placed from the reel,
placing it too far from the reel will allow the line to slap the rod on the cast (friction again) and also allow the line to rub the rod
when flexed on a big fish. This is one of the reasons why performing a static test on the rod before permanently affixing the
guides is so critical.
A custom rod builder takes the opportunity to fine tune the placement and sizing of the guides to maximize the rod's
performance. He has no quality control department to cull rejects as in all major rod manufacturers. A custom rod builder has
no rejects.
We can move toward solving the friction and dead spot problems by using a larger butt guide. A larger diameter butt guide ring
reduces the angle from the side to side travel of the line, therefore chokes the line less to reduce casting distance robbing
friction. Another solution is to use a slightly higher butt guide to raise the line's axis off the rod preventing the line from
rubbing the rod in extreme flex situations. It's a fact that the fish has the advantage when the line touches the rod. It's the same
thing as grabbing the line with your hand. There is no doubt that a larger size butt guide on a higher frame will increase casting
distance, reduce line wear and even ease fighting a large fish. We have consistently handled 30 pound jacks and reds with a 4
ounce, medium action, Rattler Rod, and done so comfortably with 4500-5500 series reels. Handling a fish, especially a large
fish with authority demands more rod performance than reel performance. If you'll notice my Rattler custom rod, you'll see
that the butt guide is a size 12 (minimum) and the guide has a slightly higher frame than on conventional rack rods. It's not
noticeable unless you actually compare it side by side to other rods. It could be larger but as in almost all of rod building,
compromise is the key to keep it sleek and still perform well.
to be continued........TN
This is the machine that builds Rattler
Custom Rods, one at a time.
Custom Rods, one at a time.
This is one of many machines used in
building a popular commercially mass
produced and marketed rod, hundreds at
one time.
building a popular commercially mass
produced and marketed rod, hundreds at
one time.
