For a while now, I’ve been wrapping my own fishing rods. I’m not knocking the rods that are produced for the mass market, but there are certain things that I want in a rod. So the small adjustments I can make by tweaking the components are worth the trouble and time it takes to wrap my own. For instance, when I’m building a 7-foot, medium-heavy rod, I’ll load it up and then position the guides so that the line will never touch the blank. This cuts down on friction that might weaken the line when I’m fighting a fish.
I only use MHX blank from Mud Hole Custom Tackle. I like the 7-foot MB-843-MHX, MB-873 (7-3) and MB-903 (7-6) blanks in particular. I’ll use small rubber bands to position Size 5 guides, which are sort of in between micro and regular guides, on the blank and move them up or down where they need to go. If it’s an MB-843 blank, I’ll use 10 guides. Once they’re in place, I’ll tie them in with thread. I use a CRB rod wrapper, then Pro-kote finishing epoxy over the threads, and dry it with a CRB rod dryer.
Continue reading –