I was reading the rod retirement thread recently (been there, done that with a few) but mostly the repairs of dumb mistakes around car doors or tree limbs on the trail or in the case of the sacrificial busted rod in this build one of those " hey hold my drink and watch this..." moments. It was funny, too, even to me. I jigged an 8 or so pound Cod up from below the dock last fall in Alaska and got an exceptionally brain dead idea of deadlifting it up onto the dock after having laid down on my belly to reach into the water to grab their gill plate to hoist them up a number of times. Not a totally dumb idea and it is doable if done smoothly with momentum.
But Noooooo...i decided I would highstick lift it. Oh SNAP! Yea it snapped alright and I lost more than 6 inches at the ferrule. It was a super cheap Shakespeare two piece med. Heavy casting rod...a Wally world special I had laying around for guests to use and had hauled it to AK for jigging off the dock. It did fine up to the Dumb and Dumber stroke of genius.
So combine that with me web surfing for a conventional jigging rod which is spiral wrapped, lots of backbone, travel savvy two piece, and not in the high 3 figures. Way too many 6 and 700 dollar nano unobtanium Specialised jigging rods out there that I really don't like because they aren't spiral wrapped. Not to mention my frugal nature.
So what did I do? MacGyvered up me very own super deluxe jigging rod.... two piece, extra long jigging handle, trigger grip, 30-50# class e-glass blank, and spiral wrapping the guides as soon as I decide the thread color between red over gold or red over silver.
The MacGyver part really comes into play when I used a thrift store $3 carbon golf club shaft for my handle extension and ferrule. The rest was easy. Measure all the parts, cut them close to finished size, mic the ferrule to the rod blank and go to town with the dozuki saw for final cuts with dry fitting everything a few times before the final assembly. IIRC, it comes out right around 80" and fits nicely into my kendo shinai bag which doubles as a travel rod case.
I will finish it up this weekend or next week and carry it to AK next month for duty on the kayak and boat trips for rockfish, lings, cod and maybe a cabezon this trip.
After final dry fitting I tied and taped a short length of 65# braid onto the tip and dead lifted my DeWalt cordless drill at 6.25#. It revealed a nice parabolic curve, felt pretty good and it should be able to jig up to 16 ounces with not too much effort. Total parts cost? - around $24 bucks. That's for the sacrificial rod, driver shaft and e-glass blank.
First two pics- scavenged parts and at the dry fit stage.
And here's a coiple more pics. Near final dry assembly. It will get either the Komodo 364 reel - shown- or the Pelagic Extreme Omoto 10 series reel on top.
I cut the handle in half and sanded the tapers into each end. The rod blank goes through the foregrip and reel seat to snug and the driver shaft goes onto the blank butt end snug. After getting them all fitted, they got scuffed up and epoxied together, keeping the spine on both blank pieces correctly lined up together on top.
And deadlifitng the DeWalt cordless.
You can't beat the curve in the rod. Good job it looks like equal tension across the entire rod. If it handles well while fishing you can go into production for sale. You can call it the Steve-O Heave-ho. :D ;D :D ;D Dominick
good one dom. harryk
Quote from: Dominick on August 08, 2015, 10:24:28 PM
You can't beat the curve in the rod. Good job it looks like equal tension across the entire rod. If it handles well while fishing you can go into production for sale. You can call it the Steve-O Heave-ho. :D ;D :D ;D Dominick
That's too funny, Dominick!
This one won't be breaking anytime soon.
Just finished the guide wraps and it's slowly spinning in the cradle while the epoxy cures.
Went with red under black for thread colors.
Spiral wrapped guides look like some weird screw machine spinning in the cradle.
Well, for only having built a handful of rods from scratch and restoring or rewrapping a few more it came out just as I thought it would.
Like a rod that's short on looks :o and long on function. :D
My threadwork is less than amateurish, but holds the guides in place. I'm still proud of it and like the old school, e-glass, $6, fleabay special, rod blank I used. The 5 (30-50# class) blanks I got for $30 are probably from the 80's or earlier as they came from a tackle store closure sale a few years back. I built the Baby Blue shortie halibut rod from one, a kayak carp rod from the second one and this heavy jigging rod from the third.
I had time to tie a 2oz lead onto it Sunday evening and cast it across my back yard which is the bigger portion of our half acre lot. Zing! right past the grass and into the peach trees! I think it could handle casting 5 to 8 ounces easily but I will only use heavy stuff from the boat or kayak jigging straight down and keep it around 3-4 oz for land casting. I will try it out on 10 -14 # Carp this week. It sure is nice to have a Rod Testing Pond at work. Maybe another 25 + pound Amur will get to be the rod test victim- errr, subject.
And then next month, I'll carry it to Alaska for some ocean action. ;D ;D ;D Can't wait for that trip.
That is excellent out of the box thinking. We too often get caught up in thinking there is only one way to build something. A+ for creativity. Enjoy.
Steve, great work, did you get a pic up of the finished product? i used to use ski poles to extend butts in similar reclamation projects. i like your carbon idea better....much lighter. well done sir
No pic of it finished, yet, but I will....right now I hear fish calling my name while the wife and kiddos are at an amusement park for the end of summer hoorah.
My amusement park is more like wet and fishy than roller coastery! ;D
I get a free pass today since they'll be away a few more hours.
I'm going to try casting 4.5 ounces later today in a big field.
Very resourceful Steve-O. Looking forward to seeing the finished MacGyver Stev-O Heave-Ho! ;)
this was really clever..
I love all the MacGyver tips.
this actually helped me to decide and restore a rod that got broken almost on the half just barely above the top handle.
I already cut the broken sides with the dremel to make a even cut and find a ferrule or something inside to unify them
Not sure exactly where you broke it but I have had success with an internal sleeve: remove butt cap however it needs to come off. Fit a piece of an old donor rod of correct taper so it will push through the broken butt section and extend 4-5 inches out. Epoxy in place and epoxy broken tip over resulting internal ferrule. Wrap over the joint about 1.5 inches either way and epoxy. Even better if you are re wrapping rod to double wrap guide on top of joint. You might break rod again but not there.
John
it was a freshwater bass rod, an okuma citrix 7ft 1oz rod that I was using to fish inshore bass and other small SW fish.
I already have a donor of the internal sleeve which is a cheapo shakespeare rod from wallyworld but also have few old golf clubs that I got on a fleamarket to see which work better as a internal sleeve donator.
thanks
Quote from: steelfish on August 12, 2015, 04:39:28 PM
it was a freshwater bass rod, an okuma citrix 7ft 1oz rod that I was using to fish inshore bass and other small SW fish.
I already have a donor of the internal sleeve which is a cheapo shakespeare rod from wallyworld but also have few old golf clubs that I got on a fleamarket to see which work better as a internal sleeve donator.
thanks
Mine was a cheapo Shakespeare which broke just above the ferrule and became the donor rod for this project.
The funniest part was high sticking the big Pacific Cod because I was getting lazy from jigging one up every drop, playing it to the surface from 30 feet depth, then lay down on the wet floating dock to reach over the edge 3 feet to the water to grab the fish.
"oh what the heck!...I'll just dead lift the next one" -
SNAP!..doh! lol!
I haven't gotten final pics of it, yet, as a fishing session and another rod project on the table took over. I made another jigging rod out of my brand new Abu Vigilante casting rod. Plus I made it into a two piece travel rod to go to AK next month with me.
They're both in the car with me so I'll go take some pics at lunch.
hmm you know, it would be cool for me to get this rod fixed and make it a two section rod.
how do you search and install a ferrule for a 2-section rods?
it doesnt have to be a pro tip, it could be a Macgyver idea too LOL
Mudhole is the company I use for rod building supplies. And I only use the reinforced ferrules for bigger game. You need a caliper mic to accurately measure you rod diameter.
Measure lots ...make One cut. I've cut 4-5 one piece rods in half to make them travel rods. No failures, yet. And not much if any loss of sensitivity.
My latest two.
Another pic or two. The carbon golf club shaft butt extension looks way long ...however it is measured to end just past my armpit with my elbow at my side and my hand comfortably cradling the reel at jigging position. I'm 6'2" with long arms to boot. They both now fit me perfectly and in my travel case which goes on the plane as a carry on and fits in the overheard compartment.
Bottom pic showing spiral wrapped guides. Went to a park to cast a 5oz weight. Easy lobs go 50m...slightly harder was getting into 60 and 70 m . Had one near overrun that became a thumb burner while slowing the spool a bit. Looks to me like 8 oz could also cast easily but that's heavy iMO for shore casting. I'm content with it and ready to test it in the Pacific or sooner on some big Carp.
Very cool but I'd go for a faster transition to the bottom.
Quote from: MarkT on August 13, 2015, 03:37:49 AM
Very cool but I'd go for a faster transition to the bottom.
Yea, when I looked at my other spiral wrap jobs only 3 or so went around and from there on to the tip top were underneath. Kodak Moment I reckon. ::)
If I see any issues with it under load on many, many fishes in Alaska next month , I will strip the culprits and get them under the rod.
Quote from: Steve-O on August 12, 2015, 11:33:42 PM
Mudhole is the company I use for rod building supplies. And I only use the reinforced ferrules for bigger game. You need a caliper mic to accurately measure you rod diameter.
Measure lots ...make One cut. I've cut 4-5 one piece rods in half to make them travel rods. No failures, yet. And not much if any loss of sensitivity.
My latest two.
I use to use Mud Hole, although I have another name for then that isn't complementary and not appropriate for Alan's site. How do you find there service. ie Delivery time and delivery charges? I make a honest effort to avoid them as much as possible.
Joe
It's been a while for me, too...just sayin. I got what I needed at the time.
Quote from: Steve-O on August 14, 2015, 10:49:15 PM
It's been a while for me, too...just sayin. I got what I needed at the time.
Try this site next time you are looking for rod material http://www.utmostenterprises.com/utmost_001.htm TOLL FREE PHONE: (800) 588-6678 They are in Washington state.
Quote from: Reel 224 on August 15, 2015, 12:20:23 AM
Quote from: Steve-O on August 14, 2015, 10:49:15 PM
It's been a while for me, too...just sayin. I got what I needed at the time.
Try this site next time you are looking for rod material http://www.utmostenterprises.com/utmost_001.htm TOLL FREE PHONE: (800) 588-6678 They are in Washington state.
Thanks, Joe, I will take a look at them.