I haven't spun a rod on my bench for myself or anyone else in I think almost a year.
Part of my wife's routine putting my 3 year old daughter to bed is asking what she's gonna dream about. Turns out for the past week she's planned on dreaming about "going fishing for fish with daddy with my purple unicorn fishing rod." And I'm only now hearing about this?
Well I'm a rod builder again. Starting immediately.
Make sure you get the right unicorn they have different meanings,,,,, ;) that's a fun project,,,,,, ;D
That's awesome! Get busy dad.
:) That should be a fun build ..
I think I'm gonna build it like a cane pole sort of, without a reel seat but with a bunch of running guides and something to attach to at the bottom. I could just build it like a regular rod and tie the line to the lowest guide. I'm gonna give it some thought. Gotta get thru a few competing ideas.
Work in progress
Where did you get the decal.
Quote from: jgp12000 on February 19, 2026, 02:18:24 PMWhere did you get the decal.
That's not a decal it's epoxy marbling. But to be honest I haven't done any marbling in over a year and I applied too much heat, so everything drifted more than intended. But I think it still looks good (to me) so I'm still happy with it. My wife ordered a sheet of unicorn stickers, im gonna use one or two of the smaller ones. Just above the epoxy section.
looks great,she will be hooked on fishing or might just stare at her pretty rod...
Got guides wrapped on. She saw it. She describes it as a "sparkly pink and purple unicorn ballerina princess fishing rod." That's a lot to live up to.
Reminder she's 3. But I haven't seen her smile that big in a while.
Wait and see how big that smile is , when the first fish is caught !
Oh it's game time. I've got about $30 and a ton of time invested in this.
This girl. She got to see and hold the finished product and now everyone she talks to (family members on the phone) she has to tell them about it and insist we switch to video call so she can show them.
She also whacked it against the ground a few times. We'll see how it goes.
Nice build, Dad. She's certainly product testing before taking the rod into the field to see if it hold up the big bass she is going to catch with it. :d
;D Lets see pictures before it gets that well used look !!!
Great job!! Now to catch some fish! I tell my kids lifetime warranty when I build them a rod or reel. As long as I'm alive it has a warranty 😁 only catch is they have to go fishing with me!!
What a wonderful gift for your daughter, Jason! It is exactly what she asked for, AND it was made with love and care by her father, using his special skills.
Next question what reel to powder coat... Pink & purple? Or purple flip flop
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=TP79R5WW&id=917E264E7A7876E0EC2E81F69258C1AF371197D3&thid=OIP.TP79R5WWp08qxRruWZsDAwHaHa&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fi.etsystatic.com%2f43388844%2fr%2fil%2f836116%2f6117498114%2fil_1080xN.6117498114_3iwo.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.4cfefd479596a74f2ac51aee599b0303%3frik%3d05cRN6%252fBWJL2gQ%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=1080&expw=1080&q=unicorn+fishing+reel&mode=overlay&FORM=IQFRBA&ck=CB384985172EF6424AEF39C9330C9995&selectedIndex=0&idpp=serp&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0 (https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=TP79R5WW&id=917E264E7A7876E0EC2E81F69258C1AF371197D3&thid=OIP.TP79R5WWp08qxRruWZsDAwHaHa&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fi.etsystatic.com%2f43388844%2fr%2fil%2f836116%2f6117498114%2fil_1080xN.6117498114_3iwo.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.4cfefd479596a74f2ac51aee599b0303%3frik%3d05cRN6%252fBWJL2gQ%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=1080&expw=1080&q=unicorn+fishing+reel&mode=overlay&FORM=IQFRBA&ck=CB384985172EF6424AEF39C9330C9995&selectedIndex=0&idpp=serp&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0)
Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on February 08, 2026, 09:12:48 PM.my 3 year old daughter to bed is asking what she's gonna dream about. Turns out for the past week she's planned on dreaming about "going fishing for fish with daddy with my purple unicorn fishing rod." And I'm only now hearing about this?
Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on February 21, 2026, 02:12:03 AMGot guides wrapped on. She saw it. She describes it as a "sparkly pink and purple unicorn ballerina princess fishing rod." That's a lot to live up to.
Reminder she's 3. But I haven't seen her smile that big in a while.
good times Jason, those parts sent me back when I was customizing a fishing rod for my youngest daugther, she was 6 yo back then, I opted to use a solid glass fishing rod and just rebuild it with girl colors and she liked it, that rod have been throud 3 mayor rebuilts as she had grown, I offered to build her a new custom rod but she refused, she told me to just made some changed "if possible" to her own rod, of course I made those changes in colors, guides, etc, she still use the same fishing rod after almost 10 years and she cannot be more proud of using it, she can use the same fishing rod for shore fishing and boat fishing.
Quote from: steelfish on July 18, 2017, 01:16:14 AMremember this rod amigos?
well it wasnt finished, it was missing the final touch which it was some stickers choosen by my daughter, some hearts, glitter dust of many colors.
I think the final touch came out really cool, specially when My kid did half of the job, she put all the stickers where she wanted and helped to pour the glitter dust on the blank while it was turning on the drier.
I actually just put the base epoxy for the glitter dust and next day put the coat of epoxy over the glitter to made the encapsulated effect on the glitter, it really came alive on the sun.
she just loved the rod.. even more :)
https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,20515.0.html
if you havent finished her fishing rod already tell her to help you on adding more stickers to it or to pour the glitter over the marbling, etc. that will make it more special for her and for you.
Thank you Alex. The last thing I'd ever do is put glitter in that girl's hands. She's found it before and made us wonder if she's a pixie deep down, the way she distributed it around the whole living room in seconds.
See below for my attempt at a clever alternative to teaching a 3 year old how to cast and retrieve line.
Steel leader with a swivel and 2 crimps in a junk reel's foot. Now it's a cane pole, that she can turn into a spinner and continue to use as she gets older.
Forgot to post this. We tried. But nothing was biting. We'll try again.
She looks like she is taking it serious & has a color coordinated
Outfit to boot.
awesome pic
looking forward for the next pic,hopefully with a fish and big smile
She is getting it,,,with that new set up,,,, ;D