hoglaw

You're right. It's not a money saving proposition building one rod yourself. The only reason to go the custom route is if you truly want the best performing rods for very specific applications, and want more than one. I have two rods working right now that may be in your wheelhouse. They are spoken for, but if it's something you want to explore, let me know.

I have no idea how long custom lure in Fayetteville has been around, but the owner and his wife are there every day and have a combined age approaching 160. He builds some nice baits.

Ugh, all of those rods (like the Skeet Reese ones) look horrible. 11 guides plus tip on a 6'6" rod? 14 micro guides plus tip on the skeet reese ones? What little weight they manage to save with microguides is made up for in spades in thread and epoxy when they double the amount of guides necessary.

post pics of those on rodbuilding.org and Tom Kirkman (or any of the old heads there) will probably give you a precise ID in half a day. Cool stuff.

Russ: It was great seeing you and the "mothership" this summer. Can't wait to see what Mothership 2 entails. Something tells me I could enjoy a day busting meatfish with you guys on that beast. You need to post some more pics of the whole thing.

Saw a bunch over here today. Those dudes were living it up. With a 20mph tailwind at ground level, who knows how fast it was pushing them at 1000 feet. I wonder how much distance they can cover on a day like today?

those look awesome

All fish were released. That was an epic hour of fishing for sure. I broke off a nice largemouth and lost a jumping smallmouth in addition to catching a couple good smallies, but not like the big one there. Hell of a day of fishing for sure.

Man, if you're making your own molds, is there any way I could convince you to make some 4" sensations? I'd buy a bunch from you. They still make wing worms - basically a standard ribbon tail plastic worm or hook tail plastic worm with two wings, but they're all really long. When I was younger we used to catch a bunch of goggle eyes and bass on those little sensations but you can't hardly find them anymore. I found some at custom lure in Fayetteville and I think I bought all he had.

Lilley, if I were in the market for a 25 I'd jump on it, or if I had the money to do a jet conversion of my own. My primary focus is a motor that can go in the buffalo though. Maybe some day I'll have some extra play money and can get a 25 for the White too. Definitely wasn't a knock on your motors. The fact that they hold up so well in every other way says a lot about the Yamahas. Mike - after running my 50lb tiller handle motor on my boat, I've realized that a 24v system is probably overkill and certainly too much battery weight. I'm looking for a 12v 55lb now. Muddy - how old is your motor? The one I'm looking at is pretty old but well maintained. The guy just wants top dollar for it.

I've decided to go a different direction. My step-father has had a 2-stroke Yamaha 25 for almost twenty years. The more I think about it, the more important reliability is to me over anything else. I have to have a motor I can hit the buffalo with, so that means a 9.9. I've found a Yamaha 9.9 with 15 carbs that I'm probably going to make an offer on once I can have a friend go by and check it out for me, test compression, etc. All 2-stroke Yamaha 9.9's and 15's prior to 2005 had 246cc's of displacement as far as I can tell. The comparable OMC motors from 72 to 92 were 216. Not sure about the Mercury's. No replacement for displacement you know. That's a great price in your motors Lilley, but the part-eating slow starters from the rental fleet make me a little nervous.

I picked up a 21 foot Shawnee last week. I couldn't wait to get it in the water so I put it in my local electric lake last Saturday. It scoots around a lot better than I thought it would with my tiller controlled minn kota 50lb. I'm in the market for an OMC 2 stroke electric start short shaft outboard and haven't had any luck finding the right one yet. Also in the market for a foot controlled 55lb trolling motor for the front of the boat. While it's a river boat, I fish a couple electric motor lakes. It's extremely unweildly with just me in it - the slightest breeze blows it around a bunch. If I can just the foot controlled unit on the front I can sit up there and TrophyFishR or whoever can sit in the back and we'll each have a motor which ought to change the game substantially. At first I thought I'd want a 24v system since the boat weighs about 600lbs, but after playing around with my trolling motor, I think that's overkill and it will mean at least three batteries including a starting battery for the motor. Granted with 21' of boat to play with I could distribute the weight wherever I wanted to, but I don't think the extra expense and weight is worth the benefit. Anyway, I'm looking for a 55lb minn kota for the front and a johnson/evinrude 15 for the back, and am open to suggestions on just about anything since this is my first power (soon to be powered anyway) boat.

Randy, it was great meeting you as well. I'm excited about the project and these are going to be awesome rods. I sent you a PM about something I forgot. Look forward to fishing with you this spring.

I fished the riverbassin tournament out of Fayetteville, and so did TrophyFishR. It was indeed a very cool event. I don't see how you could do it on a single river though unless it was a really big one. Wouldn't be much fun to be putting in with six other canoe teams at the same time and jockeying for position.

That's an awesome shot. I'd love to have a local flock to play with. Very cool deal.

There's a lot to be said for the path of least resistance. That was always Steve Sheppard or Janet Flaccus for me. At least Steve's classes were interesting though. Man I miss law school. I was shooting in the 70's and fishing about ten times as much as I do now. Enjoy it while you can.

I have not but I'd like to do some work with rainshadow blanks in the future. I've heard awesome things about them. I'm really high on MHX myself, but haven't used any of their fly blanks. I'm a little troubled you feel the need to pay attention in admin law, or that you even signed up for it in the first place.

I definitely agree with Al. I am very picky about high quality rods and am willing to pay good money for good components. When you price every component that goes into a rod, you quickly learn about diminishing returns. I can put a $35 set of guides on a rod. They are very good guides...equivalent to what you would find on an off the rack Loomis G3. I could step up and put an $80 set of titanium guides on a rod. They will weigh less, and theoretically perform better. But at that point, the extra marginal return is just not worth the extra $45 bucks to me. Same deal with blanks. I did a good job spiral wrapping a cheap blank with a pistol grip. It's a short rod made for flipping spinnerbaits in tight quarters in the White River Refuge oxbows, or at least that's what I had in mind when I built it. It is a great sammie rod too. If I had stepped up and put a better blank with that outfit, it would perform much better, but it accomplishes what I need it to accomplish. Now for finesse fishing, I used a much higher quality blank on a rod I absolutely love. That blank set me back about $60, and had I used a $30 blank, I would have noticed a huge difference. I could step up to the high modulus model with the same specs for probably $90 and it would be a dream rod. The next step up from there would be like an SCV or something, and that would be close to $200. It would perform "better," no doubt, but the extra performance just wasn't worth that much more money at the time when I have a lot of other application specific rods I want to build. The law of diminishing marginal returns is huge in fishing rods. I demand high quality on most of my rods and I'm willing to pay for it, but I don't need the best money can buy and I have zero need to show off a brand.

The cost of high end rods is what drove me to learn to wrap them myself. I am in love with MHX blanks. I have two rods built on them, one is a spinning rod that I use for shakey head, whacky rig, and carp jig fishing. It is unparalleled. You can't buy a rod like it anywhere and the blank probably set me back $60. The other is a crankbait rod that is ideal for throwing smaller cranks, like warts and other square-bills. I screwed that one up a little because it was the first split grip I attempted, and I spaced the split too far apart which cuts into the casting distance and comfort a little. Lesson learned, but once again it was on a $50 blank. I'd put that crankbait rod up against anything. With the spiral wrapped micro guides, it is as light as a feather and extremely sensitive with a near parabolic action that is ideal for crankbait fishing. It's so crankbait specific that it's pretty much useless for any other application, but for around $100 in components, I have a one of a kind rod that you can't buy off the shelf. I have a sage SP 5wt that was a very generous gift from my father years ago. It's a very nice fly rod, but I have an Orvis Rocky Mountain 7wt that I much prefer. That rod cost substantially less. I don't know that the law of diminishing returns is more prevalent anywhere than it is in fishing rods. If you're into custom rods, you learn this very quickly because all the other variables are removed form the equation. You can hold a $50 blank and a $200 blank in each hand. If you don't know which is which, it's tough to rationalize paying the extra $150.

I can't offer a personal recommendation, but I've always heard good things about Wolfe Boat Works. They're right down the street from my office. Might try giving the guys at Hook Line and Sinker in Rogers a call. It's a great locally owned tackle shop and those guys definitely have their finger on the pulse of the boat and motor world.

It just doesn't feel that "cool." The story doesn't sit right with me.

Looks like he went to sleep half way through the fight while the deck hands held onto it. I read the detailed account that the fishing charter had up. With 60lb main line, they were just hanging on, then backing down on it when the spool was half empty. Guy went to bed for a while during the fight, then got up the next morning to finish it off. They got it boat side then snagged it with another rod and finished the job. 1200lbs is crazy big. The article said the guy got up the next day and went fishing again, caught one tuna, then got seasick. I'm sure he was toast.

I'm sure one of the real fly guys can help with that one better than I can, but in general I think the best way to set the hook is to do a good strip to pick up any slack, then raise the rod sharply and get it high. Most break-offs occur on the set I think. You want your rod up high and stressed so it can absorb the initial shock. If you strip tight with a low rod, you have nothing other than your fingers and line stretch to keep a fish from breaking off, and that won't cut it on a good one. I know bonefishing we were told to keep stripping until it was tight then gently raise the rod. I've been told the same with regard to carp. For trout and small flies, the weight of the line being picked up off the water is sufficient to get a hook in, and as long as you keep that rod up and let the fish pull the rod, it stays tight.

No need for a lesson. Discharge and guage height are equally irrelevant unless you have a known point or concept to compare them to. I get what you're saying...I fully understand the concept of volume and discharge, but as you pointed out, 1,000 cfs means something entirely different on crane creek, the mulberry river, the elk, and the Mississippi. That's why I asked the folks who travel this section of the river regularly what the ideal guage height is. It's easier for me to remember, tells me how tall the wave at clabber creek is, and is easier for most folks to relate to. It not only depends on the width of the stream, but the depth as well. Few folks can say off the top of their head what discharge level is ideal for whitewater on the Mulberry. I'm sure I've looked at it before but I don't care. If you tell me it's 3.5 at Turner Bend, we're going to have a good weekend.

For what you're describing, your best option is going to be an aluminum john in my opinion. A canoe would be the most versatile AND if you ultimately upgrade to a bigger boat, you would still get use out of the canoe. But if you aren't going to do that much stream and river stuff, just sit back and wait until the right deal comes along. I found a 14' flat bottom in decent condition for $200 bucks during the off-season in Ft. Smith on craigslist. I carry it around on a canoe trailer, and it's heavy, but not so heavy that I can't flip it upside down and slide it on and off the racks by myself. Add a 50lb trolling motor plus a battery or two, and you're up in your $600 neighborhood if not a tad bit higher. The ONLY downsides of the john are that it's a little heavier and can be tough to load and unload if you aren't in decent shape, and paddling them is not an option. Maybe you could install oars or something, but you aren't going to get anywhere with a canoe paddle. This is a job for a trolling motor. There is absolutely no reason to pay good money for the boat you're describing. You need a flat-bottom john that you can clamp a trolling motor onto, and some day a small outboard if you really want (though if you ever get to that stage, you'll probably want a bigger boat anyway). You can't take your wife or child out in a kayak. The canoe is the most versatile option and the most likely to still be with you in the long run, but it's not as good for company and just not as easy to stand up and walk around in as a nice long john. Keep an eye on the paper and on craigslist. This is the best time of year to find these boats. Lots of folks just want them out of the yard. I guarantee you can find a servicable aluminum john that doesn't leak for $200.