OTI vertical jigging spinning rod

[steelfish]

the new kid on the block, OTI 80-120lb blank, its a short wand of 5.4ft, fuji KW guides, PacBay aluminium reelseat with carbon fiber insert and old stock of red hypalon grip.
built for my personal arsenal but lately Im not putting my name on the fishing rods in case someone want it before I use it 

The Spawn themed

[JasonGotaProblem]

I like it! what size is that first guide? Looks like a 25

[steelfish]

I like it! what size is that first guide? Looks like a 25

I was gonna use a #25 but since the blank its kinda short and the reel is closer to the 1st guide, that caused that when having some weight on the rod (like fighting a fish) the angle of the line coming from the reel to the guide was too sharp, so I switched it for a #30 KW guide which it was larger and that put the line lower making the angle of line bit more smooth all along the blank, it will flow better.

[Swami805]

Very nice Alex. I've been using those reel seats too, the seem to hold up well and the price is right

[steelfish]

thanks Sheridan, I saw them and wanted to try them, they feel and looks pretty good on the rdo, I will use them again for sure.

[sabaman1]

As always very nice work Alex, your rod finish is outstanding! Do you apply a coat to the whole blank, also what rod finish do you like to use? 

[Donnyboat]

Yes Alex, I think you said you are using Diamond 11, I brought some, but I still not getting anywhere near your standard of finish on my rods, you may like to tell us how long you mix it for, and maybe a few other ideas, cheers Don.

[steelfish]

As always very nice work Alex, your rod finish is outstanding! Do you apply a coat to the whole blank, also what rod finish do you like to use?

on custom rods built from the scratch I never coat the whole blank, in this case that shiny on the blank comes from the factory coat of the blank, I put a light coat of epoxy between the guide feet just as an additional protection because this time I dont put any decorative underwrap between the guide feet just a small underwrap under the foot of the guide, about what epoxy brand I use, I use Diamond 2 epoxy.

Yes Alex, I think you said you are using Diamond 11, I brought some, but I still not getting anywhere near your standard of finish on my rods, you may like to tell us how long you mix it for, and maybe a few other ideas, cheers Don.

I have seen/read that some epoxy react the same on different weather zones, so, what works good in sunny california might not work the same on NY or chigago or Baja  , so,  maybe you might try to use another epoxy brand and compare results on a piece of blank, that said, I could never had good results with "LS supreme" expoxy, I tried different mixing times, different coats, etc but nothing was good enough to my OCD, so, I switched to Diamond 2 and after many trials and errors and I meand A LOT of trials and errors I found what worked for me and stayed with that epoxy.

for many months or even years I followed some tips from few guys here like Sheridan, NewellNut, Bryan young, etc but I think my best advice is to read and follow this written down tips from a true rodmisth master as Jon Vadney here and surely you will get better results
https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,12361.0.html

[Gfish]

A vertical jigging rod rated at 80-120lb. ? So, it's not one a those slow pitch type ones?
As always with your creations, it looks real cool.

[steelfish]

A vertical jigging rod rated at 80-120lb. ? So, it's not one a those slow pitch type ones?
As always with your creations, it looks real cool.

hey G man, this is nothing alike those ultrathin SPJ rods, this one is a "normal" type of jigging blank aka as mechanical jigging or vertical jigging rods where you can fight the fish with the rod while with the Slow pitch rods you have to catch the fish with the rod but immediately point the tip of the rod to the water and fight the fish with your reel, now some companies have come with a "new breed" of SPJ rods, they said they have the best of both worlds, SPJ and vertical jigging        fishing is getting too much complicated nowadays with those kinds of  ultra specialized fishing rods and 3-speed reels     

I might try and jump on that SPJ bandwagoon once I start fishing often again, but for now I will stay with my composite and glass rods paired with a mix of upgraded vintage reels and few modern reels to fish.

[JasonGotaProblem]

This is Alex's thread and I don't wanna jump on it too hard but I've been giving a lot of thought lately to how to beat get epoxy to lay down evenly.

I've definitely noticed that epoxy behaves differently depending on time of year and weather conditions. I find it's easier to get a nice flat clear coat when its colder because the epoxy takes longer to set and has more time to level out. But the flipside is that's more time for bugs or dust to find their way to it.

Also make sure your mix is super duper ultra mega precisely evenly measured, use a fork not a stick (every hand movement is 5x as many stirs because of the fork tines) and keep stirring for a bit longer after you think it's done.

The killer is fingerprints. The slightest bit of finger oil and it just won't stick. It'll look like it's sticking, but you come back a few hours later and it looks like you missed a spot. One pass with alcohol-no matter how strong-isnt enough. You gotta go over it a few times. Acetone does it on the first pass but there's a lot of blanks that don't play nice with acetone at all so that's a last resort.

[steelfish]

This is Alex's thread and I don't wanna jump on it too hard but I've been giving a lot of thought lately to how to beat get epoxy to lay down evenly.

I've definitely noticed that epoxy behaves differently depending on time of year and weather conditions. I find it's easier to get a nice flat clear coat when its colder because the epoxy takes longer to set and has more time to level out. But the flipside is that's more time for bugs or dust to find their way to it.

Also make sure your mix is super duper ultra mega precisely evenly measured, use a fork not a stick (every hand movement is 5x as many stirs because of the fork tines) and keep stirring for a bit longer after you think it's done.

The killer is fingerprints. The slightest bit of finger oil and it just won't stick. It'll look like it's sticking, but you come back a few hours later and it looks like you missed a spot. One pass with alcohol-no matter how strong-isnt enough. You gotta go over it a few times. Acetone does it on the first pass but there's a lot of blanks that don't play nice with acetone at all so that's a last resort.

you're welcome to post your findings too amigo, dont worry

completely agree on what you just said, except for using a fork, thats new to me and sounds like a nice tip but a simple stir stick have worked good for me.
I will add that I wash my hands between 5x to 10x when working on a rod specially when applying epoxy but also when installing the guides.

[Donnyboat]

Thanks Alex all very helpful ideas, cheers Don.