ben bell

my last rod order was in pvc and the rod was completely snapped in two locations but the pvc looked flawless except for two creases in the tube..now if that was cardboard it would not spring back to a straight tube and they would not be tempted to deliver it..99% are broken on conveyer system and it doesn,t matter what tubing you use..

Yes it does cause the filler to stand out a little but it does seal the filler from moisture and the filler lasts longer..i used the cheap preform grips..lol. now i,m strictly EVA..did i say i love EVA..lol.

hi Steve..Nice rod ,do you ever try to talk your customers into one coat of cork seal..just to darken the grip a tad and provide some protection from fish slime..Thanks.

wouldn,t it be great if human hair was hollow?

Steve, what,s your opinion of Winn grips..they sound like fancy EVA grips. Thanks..

i don,t believe in guides and if you use guides your promoting all these kinds of behavior directly and indirectly..they all have great imaginations..lol.

WOW! those carbon handles are really nice..those had to be three happy customers..

Yup, the high tech look doesn,t do any thing for me either but i,m going to give one a try just to see..i may like them but won,t know til i try one..yea, they got that low density foam core, very light.

oh, yea..your burl grips are nice Steve..

Still LOL, that,s funny..if i was building rods to sell, i would try to build the same as yours but since i build for me only i build to my taste..i like fly rods under 8' and built to cast with both hands..bass don,t care how many hands i use..lol..short rods also bring a fish to hand quicke, less exhausted..longer rods whip fish down and too often they come in belly up..i love EVA grips. cheap and they work..most of the time i will flock them to pretty them up a little..cork has pits and when the mud falls out the grip is very harsh unless you refill them and they are way too costly..i,m building a tool not a monument..lol.. i look at my flies in the same way, just tools..but fun tools to make..lol.

believe me Steve, a large diameter butt does no harm but is needed to carry all the weight of the line plus a large wet wind resistant fly..here,s a Lamiglas IMC904-T rod with 720 grain 27' skagit shooting head line that easily tosses a 150 grain fly up to 50' or more but it takes two hands which makes it a lot easier to go all day or all night using a normal overhead backcast...

Any spin or casting rod rated for 1/2 oz. or 5/8 oz. in 71/2' or 8' should cast a 9wt. line..it doesn,t have to be a fly blank..tape on guides and do some test casting..CPH, if you have a spin rod already built at about 1/2 oz. rating put your fly real on and try a two hand cast..you might be very surprised.

i have worked with people of all races and genders, and i can,t say any group has the market cornered when it comes to being reasonable or not..lol..but i have to say some of the most scary ones are academics, but that,s just me, no doubt..

Hi Steve, curious as to what brand of snake guide that is..it looks heavy enough for the salt..Thanks..

flytire, i always wondered how long they held their edge and can you sharpen them..

maybe it,s a 4/5 wt..lol.

DITTO to Lesg..sunspot activity has been way down for some time now..all we need is super volcano to blow it,s top then our goose is cooked/frozen..lol.

rub it in..lol.

Steve, we used over 7 cords wood..more than can recall..it.s been a log winter just in maryland..lol. it,s called for snow tonight..lol.

Mike, your going to need more than two!

maybe there are no answers, just more questions..

even the people who have the most understanding of it all have even more questions..we peel back a layer of darkness and find another,it,s turtles all the way down..what your asking is, is there an end to the darkness? i don.t think there is..

the history of Taps Bug is about smallmouth fishing, no?

Like my old fishing buddy used to say "maybe it,s all in your imagination"

Yes! tying deer hair is not for the perfect and orderly..lol. too messy.