Here is a project I was working on this week. This is not at all a restoration but a rod to be used for haddock (bait fishing at 200'). The cradle will get a 505 Penn added to it. We took an old Calstar 196 blank and used old stock Gudebrod nylon thread some size E, D, and A. Also put a hypalon crosscut front grip and Fuji guides. This is going to be sweet to fish with and I hope I can make its trip with John when he fishes it.
Dave
Nice shadow box you did. 196 is a classic blank. Great light tip for casting. Never seen a calstar on a cradle. Interesting combo. Nice work
Thanks Sheridan. Wait till you see the new one I'll be working on at the end of the week. Another Cal-Star but the coolest looking handle I've ever seen. I really love mixing the old stuff with the new.
Dave
Dave, I'm not a rod builder but I can recognize beauty.
Who makes the cradle?
Steve
Steve, these is a Neptuna cradle.
Dave didn't mention it but he took the old short butt that Nep-Tuna used with the gimbal on it off and replaced it with a much longer stout piece of fiberglass rod he had cut off another blank then put Hypalon on it with a nice rubber end cap. Nep-Tuna butts are way to short for most especially for bottom fishing !! I like a butt about 18" to the reel that works good for jigging or bait fishing for me !!
I can't wait to try it !! As many cradles as I have I have still never fished one but this year I will have two all set up for the head boat one for jigging and one for bait fishing !! Thanks Dave !! John Taylor
Quote from: 54bullseye on April 01, 2018, 10:05:26 PM
Nep-Tuna butts are way to short for most especially for bottom fishing !! I like a butt about 18" to the reel that works good for jigging or bait fishing for me !!
I can't wait to try it !! As many cradles as I have I have still never fished one but this year I will have two all set up for the head boat one for jigging and one for bait fishing !!
What I'm curious of is if it will affect the casting distance. The lower center of the spool seems like that would help. lol, but then again if you put ceramic bearings and balanced the spool you might get an extra 25 feet ;) Looking forward to a better season this year than last.
Dave
This is a rod Dave did for a cradle a few years back. It was a Nep-Tuna light gold cradle with a very nice "but to short" dark colored butt of maybe rosewood I am not sure what it was but very hard beautiful wood and a gimbal. The cradle had a nice old 113 black Senator. I cut the nice butt off and drilled out the wood from back of cradle and cleaned it to bare aluminum and roughed that up with a small rotary file. The original butt had an 8-32 set screw about 1/2" long in it. I had a rugged piece of fiberglass butt from an old 80 lb. rod which I ground down to fit perfectly into cradle. Then I drilled and tapped the rod so screw will help hold butt in. I will have Dave fit and glue butt into cradle then put a Hypalon grip and a rubber cap on it.
I took the old black Senator out and put a 113H with 4 to 1 gears into cradle so this will be my "cradle" Jig rod !! The rod. The blank is an older Fenwick "RT 634" blank. Again can't wait to try it out !!!
John Taylor
Few more pics
Very nice work.
Frank