Seeker IGFA 20

[Newell Nut]

My wife has one of these and I was really impressed one day when I took it from her and fought a big 8 foot shark to the boat with it and her Newell 332. Almost ran out of line a couple times but I won in the end and we cut the leader.

Our galley girl was wanting a Newell and I gave her a 338 and then she shows up one day with it mounted on an old Star 35H meat stick. This just was not right so I said give me a couple weeks and I will fix you up something special. Here it is and I mounted my P344 on it and snatched a 20 lb dumbbell off the floor with ease. Very impressive indeed. The Seeker IGFA 20 is 5'8" and very light and very strong with a very nice moderate flex. I put a heavy set of Alps guides on it since she stores her stuff in the galley closet and felt the need to bullet proof it a little.

[swill88]

beautiful!

[sundaytrucka]

Came out nice. The cross wrapping toward the handle looks great, nice pattern and lay out on the white blank.

What does IGFA 20 represent for a rod?

I am not familiar with IGFA rules and regulations, and how it applies to a rod.

[Tightlines667]

Looking good Dwight.  Nice, clean wras and the finish came out great.  I am sure she will be happy.  Maybe I will get a chance to see some of your rods in action next week.  I just finished spooling up my reels.  The Newell 454, which will be mounted to my Okuma 30-60 class travel rod, has about 400yd of ANDE 40lb.  I have a hotrodded JM500 with 2 spools (1 with 300yd of 40lb, and one spooled with 30lb).  Also have a Penn 965 Levelwind with 400yds of 50lb spectra backing and a 75-100 yd 20lbs topshot.  

I may need to borrow a rod or two from you though.

[Newell Nut]

John

Don't worry about a rod. I have plenty around here. You don't need the level wind unless you want some redeyes or porgies. The bottom bite pretty good right now for mangos, big reds, Ajs can be on bottom or half way down. Forty will work but I like 50 on my bottom rod and AJ rod. It is also king mac season and they are in here pretty thick so depending on where George takes us I may be throwing a Viking jig. Flat lining a sardine works good too. Forecast all week is 4 feet and 10 kt wind so hoping we get enough reservations. Make sure you guys call and make reservations. After you arrive I will take care of your guest pass.

Dwight

[Newell Nut]

Came out nice. The cross wrapping toward the handle looks great, nice pattern and lay out on the white blank.

What does IGFA 20 represent for a rod?

I am not familiar with IGFA rules and regulations, and how it applies to a rod.

I don't know all the IGFA rules for tournament rods but I can tell you I love the flex on the 16s and 20s and perfect for a 30 to 40 lb class reel and perfect for Newell 300s or a 400 series. My wife loves hers.

[Tightlines667]

Dwight,
Sounds good!  It will likely be 3 of us (my dad, his friend, and myself), and we will likely want to go sometime during the last week of December, since our schedule is pretty packed this first week here.  I had the narrowed newell spooled with 60 but it just didn't have capacity I wanted, so I switched to 40lb.  I kinda want to try fishing that Okuma rod on this reel, but I may want to borrow another rod for the JM500 spooled up with 40 as well.  I think I would actually prefer 30 on this reel, or maybe 50lb spectra backing with a 40lb topshot.  

*An interesting side note on that Okuma Nomad...

I bought this (NT-C-663M-MH) rod new at a 40% discount because it was advertised as having been a 'display model'.  The rod is 6'6" overall, is rated for 30-60lbs, and has an Alps triangular reel seat, aluminum Alps gimbal butt, Alps 316 SS Zircomium guides and 2 different tips (M/MH).  I am happy with the final result, and think I will like this rod despite it being a bit on the heavy/bulky side.  The few minutes of work was worth the savings.  I got a nearly $200 (retail), for $120 shipped.

When it showed up I immediately noticed the center section would not fit in the lower or the upper 2 sections.  I suspect this was actually a factory reject for this reason.  I pulled the calipers out and calculated the taper rate on the upper European style ferrule to be 86%, and both it and the lower ferrule needed about 30/1000" of material removed.  I tapped it up, and chucked the section in my power wrapper.  I used short strip of Fine ME1 Emory cloth to work the ferrules down to specs, and ended up with a good tight fit on both.  

Both reels should be good enough to tangle with Mangos and reds.  I would like to catch a King or Cobia on a flat line though.  I might put my dad and his friend in charge of procuring a string of Vermillions for dinner, while we can try to get that jackpot fish

Don't mean to thread jack here, or detract away from your latest masterpiece Dwight.

[Newell Nut]

Recent big cobias have been caught on boat rods bottom fishing and squid for bait. If you flat line a sardine it opens up all kinds of opportunity. Remember the no braid rule on the boat.