The Californian by Penn .. later by Alex Baja custom rods

steelfish · July 23, 2026, 11:17:50 PM

the owner told me he really liked that fishing rod, the leght of the rear grip, the action of the blank, etc, so he wanted a full rebuilt for it, as in other cases the reelseat and buttcap were the only things left in place, I installed some HXN ALPS guides because this will be used to catch groupers and tunas and its triple wrapped.

the blank was paint in two tones light tone of blue on the top (surf foam or somethng like that) and pearl white on the bottom, is barely noticiable but that was the idea, just a delicate transition between the colors

MACflyer · July 23, 2026, 11:48:58 PM

Beautiful work Alex! I enjoy looking at your artistry. I have to think your customers are thrilled when they get their rods back from you.

Benni3 · July 23, 2026, 11:53:31 PM

Great job,,,,,

steelfish · July 24, 2026, 12:26:39 AM

Quote from: MACflyer on July 23, 2026, 11:48:58 PMBeautiful work Alex! I enjoy looking at your artistry. I have to think your customers are thrilled when they get their rods back from you.

LOL yes they do, some of them literally start screaming WOW !! YYYAAAAY !! Duuuudeee!! No No no no !! and also few 18+ words as compliments for the work on their fishing rods

foakes · July 24, 2026, 12:33:42 AM

Terrific skills, Alex!

Best Regards, Fred

thorhammer · July 24, 2026, 01:27:20 AM

Alex, your artistry has been solid for a long time, but in my eye your actual wraps keep getting tighter and cleaner with each project, if that's possible.

oldmanjoe · July 24, 2026, 03:29:12 AM

Beautifully looking rod , tell me more about the paint used . I like the two tone look , very subtle looking . And I do like what you did with the red trim bands !!

steelfish · July 24, 2026, 05:13:33 PM

Quote from: oldmanjoe on July 24, 2026, 03:29:12 AMBeautifully looking rod , tell me more about the paint used . I like the two tone look , very subtle looking . And I do like what you did with the red trim bands !!

Thanks Joe, I wasnt sure if the owner was going to like the red trims bands at the sides of each guide wrap but at the distance of 15ft and more away from the rod it really shows as a good "accent" to the wrap

About the paint, its not a secret, I use Krylon spray cans, the one that is primer-paint, since 90% of the rods I restore are saltwater rods it doesnt need to have special flex agents or UV agents, etc, I try to avoid painting extremely flexible jiggin rods or freswater rods but sometimes the owner asked for it and I still havent recieved any complain about the paint job.