Gobi King Rastaman Rod Socks

[Brewcrafter]

Whipped up some rod socks today, and while I was doing some for myself in my USA color scheme, I whipped up a couple for the Gobi Rods that I have.  I think Rastaman Gobi King is certainly distinctive - no chance of confusion on a Long Range!

[Gobi King]

ya maaaan, dis looks rasta maan 

[Cor]

ya maaaan, dis looks rasta maan 

I'd like the grey and black, like this

[Bryan Young]

Nice. You made those?  Too cool.

[pjstevko]

Nice! 
I make my own too.  How do you finish the ends?

[Brewcrafter]

PJ - The tips are done with shrink tubing, and I make an notation with paint pen what rod they fit (nothing like being on the last night of long range bundling up 10 rods and not knowing what sleeve goes where - ask me how I know).  For the bottom I roll the end inside of itself like a cuff, place over an appropriate beer bottle, and hit with the heat gun to lightly melt/fuse the material to keep it from unraveling. - john

[thorhammer]

where do you get the mesh?

[Brewcrafter]

where do you get the mesh?

I use a company called Cable Ties and More, although it is sold many places. The material is PET Flexweave - it's "intended" purpose is wire looms and the wide variety of colors are for keeping insane wiring systems organized. = john

[thorhammer]

perfect. I use the stuff on trolling motor cables etc. Thanks!

[Brewcrafter]

Ultimately I learned about rod sleeves when I was living in Missouri, and pretty much any mid > pro level angler used them because they had a dozen fully rigged rods laying on the deck getting beat up and ready to go at any time and it kept them from getting tangled.  I suspect that is why most of the commercially available sleeves are in limited sizes - based on freshwater gear, and probably not a large demand outside of that.  Given what a nice rod costs, I like giving them a little extra layer. - john

[thorhammer]

100 agree...I firmly believe transit is WAY harder on gear than actual fishing... heavy Internationals or really any aluminum reels can tear each other up, and guides can scratch other rods which is death sentence on graphite. I had a couple, but after I saw ALL Alan's rods in sleeves, I bought a bunch when I got home, having reel covers already. That's why I'm intrigued by this: I need MORE

Hunting for something to go over size 50 spinning guides on surf rods and need to make a couple of custom 8' for my 5/8 split surf casting rods. Can't find any commercially, and the 13' are CTS with K alconites. $700 each... NO scratching needed....