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Next Build
Ordered a Sevier Tiger Eye 6' for 2/3 wt 2 piece blank from Schneider Rods yesterday.
Will pick up the components, a St. Croix reel seat and grip combination, black single foot guides, tip top and hook keeper, and black thread this morning from Jimmy's All Seasons Angler in Idaho Falls.
Plan to take more time and care on this one to end up with a nicely finished small stream rod. Should be able to finish building it by the end of next week and get it out on some of the creeks around here the following week.
From everything I've read about the Tiger Eye blanks this rod should be nearly perfect for my casting style, and it should be a real kick to fish for bows and cutts mostly in the 8" to 12" range, but up to 18", on some of our small streams.
Really looking forward to building this one and fishing it !!
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I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of this creation, and hearing the reviews when completed!!!
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Can't wait to see this one John!
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Interested to hear what you think of the T.E. Blank..........I've been building them (all weights and lengths) for some time and havent heard a complaint yet. Good luck and Good Fishing.
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Got started on building the rod yesterday. By late afternoon, I had the reel seat assembled and epoxied and the grip prepped. This morning I did the final assembly on the reel seat and grip and epoxied them to the blank.
This afternoon, I was ready to start with the guides, spacing, aligning, and perhaps wrapping a couple if I got that far. BUT, before I started with the guides, I happened to notice a comment by spoonplugger on my earlier thread regarding guide sizes. His comment caused me to take another look at the spacing and size chart I was using, and to realize that I had misinterpretted it to the point of really screwing up on the guides.
This post is not to update my progress on the rod build. It is to explain why I want to publicly thank spoonplugger for taking the time to make an observation on the earlier thread, which observation saved me from a mini-disaster.
On a broader note, spoonplugger represents so many people on this Forum who so freely give opinions, advice, suggestions, information, THEIR EXPERIENCE AND WISDOM, all of whom have earned and deserve my respect and gratitude.
THANKS to you all.
John
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John.....here's another suggestion. Using guide charts are fine , but you have to understand these measurements are general. Here is what I do ,which may be a help in the future.
Using the general guide spacing provided by whatever chart you are using, tie your guides on with stretchy string (elastic string sold at most craft stores).
Once you have all the guides on and spaced per the chart, take it out back and cast it.
If it cast fine for you, leave it alone. If not change the spacing around a bit until it does (it is easy when the guides are tied on as explained above).
Not all rods cast the same even though they may be the same length. Once you have the guides solid on the rod and finished , it's a heck of a time to realize the rod doesnt cast very well. Using the stretchy string allows you to get the optimum spacing for what you need........just a little trick I've learned.
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All but done
Learned a few more things ( and still have a lot more to learn ) and ran into a few glitches along the way, but, overall, I'm very happy with how this one turned out. The wrapping station I borrowed from Buzz made a big difference in that part of the build.
From most of what I had read, I thought the single foot guides might pose a real challenge, especially out near the tip. But it seemed easier to wrap them than it did regular snake guides, and the final alignment seemed easier ( maybe a combination of the experience from the first build and the wrapping station ?? ).
Put the second coat of finish on the wrappings this morning. Just waiting for it to cure.
The reel seat and grip are an economy item from St. Croix, quite suitable for this build.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...087_edited.jpg
Used a single foot black guide for the hook keeper, partly because I couldn't find a standard hook keeper in black.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...088_edited.jpg
The stripping guide almost seems out of place ( maybe it is ?? ).
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...089_edited.jpg
I'm delighted with the aesthetics of this rod. Came out just the way I envisioned it. The Tiger Eye is striking in bright sunlight, and the black guides and wrapping thread keep the focus on the blank, to my way of looking at it, anyway.
If it casts ( for me ) as well as it looks ( to me ), I will consider it a total success, even with the flaws that you all won't see unless you join me some time I am fishing it. You are welcome, any time, folks.
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That tiger eye blank is beautiful! Great job!!!!!
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Looks pretty good to me John..........the true test will be fishing it. The reward will be the first fish.......nice job and good luck with the new rod.
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john ,
that really is a great looking rod. i'd be interested to find out what rods on the market have a comparable action since i cant cast a sevier around here. i like the looks of that blank alot.
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Thanks folks.
Very tempting to fish it someplace familiar where I know that I will catch fish with it. But more of a challenge to christen it on brand new water - someplace I haven't fished before - which will most likely be the Big Wood River in the forest country north of Ketchum or the Salmon River in the Sawtooth Valley around Stanley sometime in the next couple days.
Will post my thoughts about the action and how it "feels" later in the week, and maybe some pics of a fish or two ??
Just wiggling it, it seems to be on the fast side of medium action. That is how the blank was described in a couple things I read about it. It's a 2/3 according to Sevier. I plan to fish it with a DT3, which should slow it down a bit ?? If nothing else, it will be another interesting learning experience for me.
John
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that is a very beautiful blank, in the photo it looks like a Fisher (root beer colored blank) that I built up many years back as my float tube trout rod, still fish with it as my favorite rod. In the sun you can see some tiger stripes deep in the beautiful gloss of the rod. Dang, that sure does bost my interest back up into getting back into rod building and building a few new rods up this fall :)
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John,
OK, so I was wrong. I should NOT have asked for pictures of that rod.
Doggone it! I already have 3 blanks, for Cary, down on my work table. I don't NEED any more. OK, so it was my fault for looking. It was also my fault for going to their web page. Somehow I have to figure out a way to blame you for posting. I couldn't just ignore your post, could I?
Oh, well, a pretty little 6 footer and a pretty little bit bigger 7'6" will look nice in my quiver!!! :rolleyes::p
Betty
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Betty, I posted before about these blanks..how did you ignore that, only to succumb now?
These are really nice blanks w/a great action and I'm using them as my standard builds.
Now all you need is more arms........lol
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Sorry!! The pressure just got to me ... and he was the closest to blame!!!:p
Plus, if I remember right ... you had the decency to NOT post pictures. Yes, John! I asked, you posted!! And I weakened!
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Fished some new water on the North Fork of the Big Lost yesterday afternoon, upstream of any water I had fished on that fork before, to christen my new rod.
Since Betty thinks I am responsible for her wanting to run out and buy some new blanks, I will dedicate the following pictures to her.
This picture shows a very small pool on the North Fork, which is actually a little bigger stream than I had in mind for this rod, but was handy for the christening.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/P8100009.jpg
Fishing with a DT3F line and a homemade furled leader with about 3' of 4X tippet to a Harrop's Henry's Fork Caddis, for about two hours, I landed seven cutthroat and three rainbows, turned several more and just missed hooking the biggest cutthroat I've seen in this fork of the river. This one came out of the little pool shown in the picture above.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...007_edited.jpg
I've not cast a rod this short before, so that took some getting used to. After only a couple hours with it, I'm not sure I have a really good feel for it, and am hard put to describe it. Also, I don't "get" some of the language others use to describe rod action and feel, so I can't use language that others might use or prefer in talking about the rod. Finally, there was a pretty good breeze on and off, and that definitely effected what was happening with a very supple furled leader on a 3 wt line.
Having said that - I had an Abel TR1 reel on it with full backing and a Rio Selective Trout DT3F line. Too heavy a combination for this rod. The balance point in hand was just barely in front of the reel. That did effect how casting the rod felt.
It loaded well at short distance, as evidenced by the picture above. Casting into the shadows above the pool only required ten feet or so of line. On the other hand, there were places where I was casting up to thirty feet of line and the rod handled that well with good accuracy. So, overall, I was pretty pleased with the range of the rod. ( Thirty feet is actually more than I would ever expect to cast on the waters for which I built the rod. )
I spent a fair amount of time casting to specific targets to get a feel for the accuracy. The rod consistently does its part in hitting the target. I also did a variety of casts that I do with my longer rods - roll casts, flip and flick casts, and a couple odd ones for special situations. No let down at all, which considering it is a 6' rod, kind of surprised me.
Where the rod really shined, was picking up the fly after a drift and firing it back quickly upstream for another drift over the same water with no false casting and shooting a bit of line. This was particularly true in the shorter ranges, say fifteen to twenty feet. I did this kind of cast repeatedly on a couple occasions just because of my initial surprise at how well the rod worked in that situation. The accuracy on these short "pick up and deliver" casts was very good, even when the breeze would come up in the middle of the cast.
That's about it for my first time out. Overall, I was pretty pleased with how the rod performed. I think it will shine on the really small creeks I had in mind when I started the build.
Hopefully, Smernsky will get back to this thread and comment one way or the other how my description compares to his experience with this blank.
John
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<Fortunately I have Seviers on my speed dial!!>
John, thank you! That's just what I "needed"!! Most of the streams I fish are of the smaller variety, and the actions of these rods look to fit the bill. Beautiful rod, beautiful area, beautiful fish!