Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Fishing Rods => Fishing Rods => Topic started by: Porthos on June 08, 2019, 04:33:30 AM

Title: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: Porthos on June 08, 2019, 04:33:30 AM
About 9-10 years ago, I picked up a Berkley Lightning LRC601 10-25lb MH rod that was on clearance. Being a FW bass rod, it saw little use on saltwater and was gathering dust. Since I recently had good results with rod guide rewrapping and rod repair with ferrules, I thought I'd take on extending the butt of the LRC601.

Here are the LRC601 (top) and donor Tsunami TSTBS-J 701XH (bottom):
(https://alantani.com/gallery/28/9140_07_06_19_8_04_45.jpeg)

A 22" section was cut from the Tsunami (the guides had already been savaged as replacements for other rods):
(https://alantani.com/gallery/28/9140_07_06_19_8_05_21.jpeg)

The LRC601's existing rubber butt plug was scraped out to expose the blank opening:
(https://alantani.com/gallery/28/9140_07_06_19_8_06_15.jpeg)

Extension to entry point:
(https://alantani.com/gallery/28/9140_07_06_19_8_06_57.jpeg)

Dry-fitted. The tip of extension reaches the half-way point of the fore grip with the opposite end exposed 16.25" past the LRC601's end:
(https://alantani.com/gallery/28/9140_07_06_19_8_08_07.jpeg)

New butt cap added:
(https://alantani.com/gallery/28/9140_07_06_19_8_08_56.jpeg)

Everything epoxied together:
(https://alantani.com/gallery/28/9140_07_06_19_8_09_54.jpeg)

Paracord enters stage right (or left???...whatever). Attempted a West Country whipping but it did not end up consistently aligned:
(https://alantani.com/gallery/28/9140_07_06_19_8_24_38.jpeg)

So what was the end result?

Took it out for the first time today on a 3/4-day from Dana Point, fishing in depths 200' to 300'. With a 4oz (~113g) flat fall, rod held horizontal, 1/4, 1/2, and full cranks would dip the tip section down, and it would spring back to start position. That is where the similarities to a slow pitch rod end since the rest of the rod is NOT parabolic. From the Google results on the original Shimano Lucanus system, the extended LRC601's characteristics more resemble the Tescata rods...okay...I can live with that.  :-\

It was still able to perform with 200g Lucanus-style jigs, but the 300g ones were too much, so I figure the outcome was a 7'4" ML saltwater jigging rod with a "modern" 20-50 BRAID rating, and that's totally acceptable given that it was all thrown together from items just sitting around in the garage and some paracord from Amazon.  ::)

Hope this provides encouragement for anyone doing an extension for the first time because it pretty easy...except for the West Country whipping part.  ;)
Title: Re: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: Swami805 on June 08, 2019, 04:44:38 AM
That came out really nice,always good to make something you'll use. I've done a few extensions, some came out nice a few not so much. Good it worked out for you. Did you catch a few fish with it?
Title: Re: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: Porthos on June 08, 2019, 04:48:28 AM
A few small reds...nothing that tested the rod's limits.
Title: Re: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: Rivverrat on June 16, 2019, 05:08:59 AM
 I think what you did here is great. Even more so if you find your self using it a lot... Jeff
Title: Re: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: steelfish on April 20, 2020, 04:44:25 PM
this is really cool improvement to the old BL rod, the end result looks like a nice split grip, even without the paracord looked really nice and light
Title: Re: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: Jimmer on April 20, 2020, 05:02:42 PM
Nice Wei - I really like the paracord wrap on the extended butt section. What reel did you use with this?  -  Jimmer
Title: Re: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: thorhammer on April 20, 2020, 05:22:01 PM
I was about to ask same- looks like a match for the 25!
Title: Re: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: mo65 on April 20, 2020, 05:56:11 PM
Very nice modification!
Title: Re: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: oc1 on April 20, 2020, 07:48:53 PM
Really nice job Wai.  You lucked-out having the broken Tsunami. 
=steve
Title: Re: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: Cor on April 20, 2020, 08:28:53 PM
Nice work!   Better stil that it seems to have become a very useful rod.
Title: Re: A bass casting rod, a broken jigging rod, and paracord...
Post by: The Fishing Hobby on May 07, 2020, 01:02:11 AM
Looks good!