Fishing Rod Repairs

[Sylvathorn]

Didn't know quite where else to put this .... one of the rod repairs I received this week.
It must have been very cheap, but he must really like the feel, to want to repair it - 3 guides and a tip needed.
When I went to strip it back, I realized that the underbind was painted on ....

[Ed.]

Built to the cheapest possible price, but if the person who owns it and likes the feel of it enough to pay for repairs then go for it.

[Junky]

G'day @Sylvathorn.

 

Love your rod repair threads. Keep them coming. 

 

I have a question. 

I have an older Gary Howard M10 offshore with a broken fuji reel clamp. One of those plastic HD jobs. 

Are they a pain to replace? 

The TLDs clamp holds well, so I can still use the rod but wouldn't mind a new seat at some stage. 

 

Cheers. 

 

[Bretto77]

I very rarely get surprised about cut corners and poor workmanship any more. It's everywhere and in everything because  it's engineered and built to suit a "replacement" business model. 

Good on you for giving new life. 

[Sylvathorn]

1 hour ago, Junky said:

G'day @Sylvathorn.

 

Love your rod repair threads. Keep them coming. 

 

I have a question. 

I have an older Gary Howard M10 offshore with a broken fuji reel clamp. One of those plastic HD jobs. 

Are they a pain to replace? 

The TLDs clamp holds well, so I can still use the rod but wouldn't mind a new seat at some stage. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Not difficult Junky k,a little time consuming perhaps, just work backwards ... from the back of the rod. Remove the butt cap or gimbal and the Hypalon/EVA, then (carefully) cut through the old reel seat (I have a Dremmel Moto Tool that I got back when they first came out in the late 70's with cutting discs that I use for this, so I can easily control depth of cut - like the 1mm angle grinder discs), then simply rebuild it working from the reel seat backwards. 
Similar to what I will be doing with Margie's Mega Metallic.
Withe the reel seat, carefully cut through both sides, creating two halves, then heat and lever with a flat blade screwdriver or similar. Be patient, don't over heat, you don't want to stuff the rod blank underneath, Just heat and lever, then heat and lever again. be patient, it won't take long!
Then clean up underneath and replace the reel seat, hypalon and butt.
 

A little time consuming, but I find it effective.
Hope that helps

[Sylvathorn]

31 minutes ago, Sylvathorn said:

Not difficult Junky k,a little time consuming perhaps, just work backwards ... from the back of the rod. Remove the butt cap or gimbal and the Hypalon/EVA, then (carefully) cut through the old reel seat (I have a Dremmel Moto Tool that I got back when they first came out in the late 70's with cutting discs that I use for this, so I can easily control depth of cut - like the 1mm angle grinder discs), then simply rebuild it working from the reel seat backwards. 
Similar to what I will be doing with Margie's Mega Metallic.
Withe the reel seat, carefully cut through both sides, creating two halves, then heat and lever with a flat blade screwdriver or similar. Be patient, don't over heat, you don't want to stuff the rod blank underneath, Just heat and lever, then heat and lever again. be patient, it won't take long!
Then clean up underneath and replace the reel seat, hypalon and butt.
 

A little time consuming, but I find it effective.
Hope that helps

Oh, and by the way, I love the Gary Howard rods - absolutely worth saving!

 

[Junky]

4 hours ago, Sylvathorn said:

Oh, and by the way, I love the Gary Howard rods - absolutely worth saving!

 

So do I. 

He personally handed me this rod so it's kinda special. 

I do know him but haven't seen him for years. He's a movie star now haha. 

 

Thank you so much. My fear was that all the guides had to come off. 

So with that good news, I'm going to give it a go. 

Is it worth fitting the big alloy seats with the dual nut setup,or just stick with the fuji plastics. 

[Ed.]

As with most things, if your throw enough time, money/and or effort, most things are possible. If your guides are OK, and as Sylvathorn said, work from the bottom up. This is the way I would do it and others may do it differently. Depending on the taper of the rod you may have to make a tapered cone of wood which you stick into the bottom of the rod which will help push the bottom grip on and up to the reel seat when the time comes.

The way I repair a reel seat is once I lightly sand the seat area. Put a bit of masking tape on the remaining fore grip and mark the center position of the seat on it for alignment, also protects the fore grip from excess resin, then I put 3 or 4 (4mm wide) thin rings of masking tape in the seat area. Just put enough tape thickness on the blank so that the reel seat lightly slides over the tape to the required position and holds the seat central on the blank, and once the tape is pressed hard against the blank, I cut out a few small openings out of the rings with a razor, that way once you cover the area with epoxy and put the seat over the rings the epoxy can flow between the rings and any trapped air can escape.

I usually tilt the rod up and use a hair dryer to help make the epoxy flow better by warming up the seat, it helps fill the voids as the warm air escapes out through the gaps and just top up the resin as required till the gap between blank and reel seat is full. Keep on eye out on any escaping resin which may go on the taped fore grip as you don't want it running all out. Wait till the seat resin has truly set before doing the grip.

The hardest part will be the bottom grip, as you will be pushing the grip over the widest part of the blank first, and it has to be relatively tight on the end where it meets up with the seat. That's where a taped piece of dowel helps to get this part started, epoxy under the bottom grip will help it slide onto the blank and keep it there once it sets, after the bottom grip is on remove the taped dowel and clean up any mess, then it is just a matter of adding the bottom gimbal.

Similar to the reel seat, two thin strips of tape with cut outs  and epoxy up, again tape off the bottom eva/hyperlon grip to stop the epoxy going onto the grip, clean up excess with solvent and just line up the X in the gimbal with a rod bucket. I usually have a large syringe on hand with a very thick needle (about 14-16 gauge vet supplies) to squeeze any extra epoxy I need under the grips to help it slide where it's needed,  It's more likely to happen when pushing grips from the tip down.

Overall it might sound complicated as I have tried to explain all the details but it isn't really, it's not a hard process but just time consuming, and once you have done one you will be a champ at it. One last thing, it would be of benefit to plug up the bottom of the rod tube so the epoxy just doesn't keep filling up the bottom of the blank, you want the resin to stay in the rod gimbal section.

As for seat types, it depends on what size and type of reel you put on and what is available.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Ed.

 

 

[Andrew_P]

5 hours ago, Junky said:

So do I. 

He personally handed me this rod so it's kinda special. 

I do know him but haven't seen him for years. He's a movie star now haha. 

 

Thank you so much. My fear was that all the guides had to come off. 

So with that good news, I'm going to give it a go. 

Is it worth fitting the big alloy seats with the dual nut setup,or just stick with the fuji plastics. 

The M10 will likely be a Snyder Glas blank - definitely worth replacing the reel seat. 
 

the Fuji HD reel seats are great. The ally ones can corrode with metal reel feet and clamp nuts. 
 

im brisbane southside if you want a hand with replacing it @Junky

[Sylvathorn]

2 hours ago, Ed. said:

As with most things, if your throw enough time, money/and or effort, most things are possible. If your guides are OK, and as Sylvathorn said, work from the bottom up. This is the way I would do it and others may do it differently. Depending on the taper of the rod you may have to make a tapered cone of wood which you stick into the bottom of the rod which will help push the bottom grip on and up to the reel seat when the time comes.

The way I repair a reel seat is once I lightly sand the seat area. Put a bit of masking tape on the remaining fore grip and mark the center position of the seat on it for alignment, also protects the fore grip from excess resin, then I put 3 or 4 (4mm wide) thin rings of masking tape in the seat area. Just put enough tape thickness on the blank so that the reel seat lightly slides over the tape to the required position and holds the seat central on the blank, and once the tape is pressed hard against the blank, I cut out a few small openings out of the rings with a razor, that way once you cover the area with epoxy and put the seat over the rings the epoxy can flow between the rings and any trapped air can escape.

I usually tilt the rod up and use a hair dryer to help make the epoxy flow better by warming up the seat, it helps fill the voids as the warm air escapes out through the gaps and just top up the resin as required till the gap between blank and reel seat is full. Keep on eye out on any escaping resin which may go on the taped fore grip as you don't want it running all out. Wait till the seat resin has truly set before doing the grip.

The hardest part will be the bottom grip, as you will be pushing the grip over the widest part of the blank first, and it has to be relatively tight on the where it meets up with the seat. That's where a taped piece of dowel helps to get this part started, epoxy under the bottom grip will help it slide onto the blank and keep it there once it sets, after the bottom grip is on remove the taped dowel and clean up any mess, then it is just a matter of adding the bottom gimbal.

Similar to the reel seat, two thin strips of tape with cut outs  and epoxy up, again tape off the bottom eva/hyperlon grip to stop the epoxy going onto the grip, clean up excess with solvent and just line up the X in the gimbal with a rod bucket. I usually have a large syringe on hand with a very thick needle (about 14-16 gauge vet supplies) to squeeze any extra epoxy I need under the grips to help it slide where it's needed,  It's more likely to happen when pushing grips from the tip down.

Overall it might sound complicated as I have tried to explain all the details but it isn't really, it's not a hard process but just time consuming, and once you have done one you will be a champ at it. One last thing, it would be of benefit to plug up the bottom of the rod tube so the epoxy just doesn't keep filling up the bottom of the blank, you want the resin to stay in the rod gimbal section.

As for seat types, it depends on what size and type of reel you put on and what is available.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Ed.

 

 

Very well said Ed., you have detailed the replacement process very well and thoroughly!
I would be using very similar methods.
One thing to note is that when using epoxy, I normally use 5 minute rather than super strong epoxy as if it ever needs to be removed and replaced, the release temperature of the epoxy is considerably lower with the 5 min.

 

[Sylvathorn]

1 hour ago, Andrew_P said:

The M10 will likely be a Snyder Glas blank - definitely worth replacing the reel seat. 
 

the Fuji HD reel seats are great. The ally ones can corrode with metal reel feet and clamp nuts. 
 

im brisbane southside if you want a hand with replacing it @Junky

Agree Andrew_P, the Fuji HD seats are a great choice Junky.

[Sylvathorn]

9 minutes ago, Sylvathorn said:

Very well said Ed., you have detailed the replacement process very well and thoroughly!
I would be using very similar methods.
One thing to note is that when using epoxy, I normally use 5 minute rather than super strong epoxy as if it ever needs to be removed and replaced, the release temperature of the epoxy is considerably lower with the 5 min.

 

Another thing Ed., I'm currently experimenting with adding Fumed Silica to my epoxy rod varnish to replace the 5 min epoxy - should give a longer working time and importantly a lower release temperature.
Will advise how it goes on my next reel seat.

[Ed.]

I am not sure if the fumed silica will give you a longer working time, I used micro balloons (which is a bit like fumed silica, but it is a filler where's fumed silica is a thixotropic) in with poly resin (boat building) and it actually shortened my working time as it acts as an insulator so the heat buildup makes it set quicker, same as mixing it in with 2 part polyurethane (lure making), it halved my working time.  It does thicken the mix though nicely so no runoff.  Haven't tried it on epoxy though but would expect a similar result using 5 minute epoxy and the fumed silica, might pay to test it first, be interesting to find out though, please let me know.

I rarely replace the rod butt and or reel seat so not that much of an issue for me as mainly I will either build a rod completely or just replace guides, the only time I had an issue was replacing an epoxied rod tip and that did become a big problem, ended up grinding the tube off with a dremmel. Lesson learnt, use the Dremmel! I think if you do a lot of repairs or build rods than the 5 min epoxy would definitely be the way to go. I usually do the tips in 5 min epoxy but this time I must have forgot.

Cheers

Ed.

[Sylvathorn]

5 hours ago, Ed. said:

I am not sure if the fumed silica will give you a longer working time, I used micro balloons (which is a bit like fumed silica, but it is a filler where's fumed silica is a thixotropic) in with poly resin (boat building) and it actually shortened my working time as it acts as an insulator so the heat buildup makes it set quicker, same as mixing it in with 2 part polyurethane (lure making), it halved my working time.  It does thicken the mix though nicely so no runoff.  Haven't tried it on epoxy though but would expect a similar result using 5 minute epoxy and the fumed silica, might pay to test it first, be interesting to find out though, please let me know.

I rarely replace the rod butt and or reel seat so not that much of an issue for me as mainly I will either build a rod completely or just replace guides, the only time I had an issue was replacing an epoxied rod tip and that did become a big problem, ended up grinding the tube off with a dremmel. Lesson learnt, use the Dremmel! I think if you do a lot of repairs or build rods than the 5 min epoxy would definitely be the way to go. I usually do the tips in 5 min epoxy but this time I must have forgot.

Cheers

Ed.

Hi Ed., thank you, good to know.

I'm not going to be adding it to Epoxy glue, but to a 2 part epoxy rod varnish (that has a work time of 30minutes at 25c, to thicken it and then use it as an adhesive .... will let you know the results.
I've removed the old reel seat, will upload pics in a min.

[Sylvathorn]

Hi Junky, here are the pics of the reel seat removal, in the third pic there is actually a screwdriver wedged under the seat to try to show the gap, but it didn't show up too well.
I was lucky with this one, from that point, with it cut on both sides I was able to prize it off by hand - didn't have to apply heat at all

cheers

Misha

[Ed.]

I am not sure if the fumed silica will will give you a longer working time, I used mico ballons in  with poly resin and it actually shortened my working time as it acts as an insulator so the heat buildup makes it set quicker, same as mixing it in with 2 part polyurethane, it halved my working time.  It does thicken the mix though nicely so no runoff.  Haven't tried it on epoxy though but would expect a similar result. Might pay to test it first though.

I rarely replace the rod butt  and or reel seat so not that much a issue for me as mainly I will build a rod completely or just replace guides, the only time I had an issue was replacing an epoxied rod tip and that did become a problem, ended grinding the tube off with a dremmel.

[Ed.]

From the looks of it, they didn't put any epoxy under the middle of the reel seat and only on the ends. I fill up the entire cavity under the reel seat with epoxy so the middle of the seat doesn't flex, I don't know if that is a good thing or not but it is just the way I have always done it and seems to work well. The only time I had to replace a reel seat was when the one I had that cracked had a thin stainless steel hood over some nylon at one end and that cracked after many years of use, so probably had a manufacturing defect that finally gave way.

Thinking about it some more, it was sort of the twin of the Ugly Stik with the pattern that I pictured before, as I made a pair of them, one was a spin stick and the other a bait caster. I ended up stripping everything off it and converted it to an extention, so I could get extra reach for light fishing off the end of breakwaters and that sort of thing. I fitted it to the base of a two part heavier Ugly Stik which brought the length up to around 9ft. Didn't put a pattern on it though.  After stripping everything off, I sanded it and put a coating of two part Erskine's epoxy over it to protect the blanks fibres, so now I can use it as a long baitcaster rod.

If you going to use some of the the fumed silica in a coating you will have to make sure not to use too much of it as it will thicken it up as it is a thixotropic, and may not self level easily, I assume that you want to hide some defects out of the blank you are doing? Is that correct?

Just out of curiosity, is that real seat that you cut off made out of thin stainless tube? If it is I didn't know they made some like that.

 

[Ed.]

Sylvathorn, I just noticed your first name is Misha and that you come from Bowen, is Sylvathorn just your user name? and if it is just a user name does your surname start with K?

[Junky]

13 hours ago, Ed. said:

As with most things, if your throw enough time, money/and or effort, most things are possible. If your guides are OK, and as Sylvathorn said, work from the bottom up. This is the way I would do it and others may do it differently. Depending on the taper of the rod you may have to make a tapered cone of wood which you stick into the bottom of the rod which will help push the bottom grip on and up to the reel seat when the time comes.

The way I repair a reel seat is once I lightly sand the seat area. Put a bit of masking tape on the remaining fore grip and mark the center position of the seat on it for alignment, also protects the fore grip from excess resin, then I put 3 or 4 (4mm wide) thin rings of masking tape in the seat area. Just put enough tape thickness on the blank so that the reel seat lightly slides over the tape to the required position and holds the seat central on the blank, and once the tape is pressed hard against the blank, I cut out a few small openings out of the rings with a razor, that way once you cover the area with epoxy and put the seat over the rings the epoxy can flow between the rings and any trapped air can escape.

I usually tilt the rod up and use a hair dryer to help make the epoxy flow better by warming up the seat, it helps fill the voids as the warm air escapes out through the gaps and just top up the resin as required till the gap between blank and reel seat is full. Keep on eye out on any escaping resin which may go on the taped fore grip as you don't want it running all out. Wait till the seat resin has truly set before doing the grip.

The hardest part will be the bottom grip, as you will be pushing the grip over the widest part of the blank first, and it has to be relatively tight on the end where it meets up with the seat. That's where a taped piece of dowel helps to get this part started, epoxy under the bottom grip will help it slide onto the blank and keep it there once it sets, after the bottom grip is on remove the taped dowel and clean up any mess, then it is just a matter of adding the bottom gimbal.

Similar to the reel seat, two thin strips of tape with cut outs  and epoxy up, again tape off the bottom eva/hyperlon grip to stop the epoxy going onto the grip, clean up excess with solvent and just line up the X in the gimbal with a rod bucket. I usually have a large syringe on hand with a very thick needle (about 14-16 gauge vet supplies) to squeeze any extra epoxy I need under the grips to help it slide where it's needed,  It's more likely to happen when pushing grips from the tip down.

Overall it might sound complicated as I have tried to explain all the details but it isn't really, it's not a hard process but just time consuming, and once you have done one you will be a champ at it. One last thing, it would be of benefit to plug up the bottom of the rod tube so the epoxy just doesn't keep filling up the bottom of the blank, you want the resin to stay in the rod gimbal section.

As for seat types, it depends on what size and type of reel you put on and what is available.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Ed.

 

 

Ed, mate. 

That is so helpful. 

I understand it all, even the tapered plug in the blank to slide the grip over. I was actually wondering what to do there, so many thanks.  

 

Cheers. 

[Junky]

10 hours ago, Andrew_P said:

The M10 will likely be a Snyder Glas blank - definitely worth replacing the reel seat. 
 

the Fuji HD reel seats are great. The ally ones can corrode with metal reel feet and clamp nuts. 
 

im brisbane southside if you want a hand with replacing it @Junky

I just may take you up on that offer @Andrew_P. 

Talking about this has resulted in me getting a few old whiting Beach rods out. Thinking I'm going to practice on one of these as I need to replace a seat, and I like the rods.

I'd imagine I measure the blank diameter at the butt, and get one slightly larger diameter seat. 

Like Ed described, the masking tape makes up the difference. 

 

I'll bring the rod home next weekend though and get the parts ordered. 

[Junky]

10 hours ago, Sylvathorn said:

Very well said Ed., you have detailed the replacement process very well and thoroughly!
I would be using very similar methods.
One thing to note is that when using epoxy, I normally use 5 minute rather than super strong epoxy as if it ever needs to be removed and replaced, the release temperature of the epoxy is considerably lower with the 5 min.

 

 

 

That was going to be my next question. 

I have the dremel for the seat cut. 

Grip is simply just a blade. 

What do you use for the gimbal? 

It's an alloy gimbal.

[Sylvathorn]

11 hours ago, Ed. said:

Sylvathorn, I just noticed your first name is Misha and that you come from Bowen, is Sylvathorn just your user name? and if it is just a user name does your surname start with K?

Sylvathorn is just my username Ed. - closest I could get to Silverthorn (from the song "Vincent" by Don McLean) and yes surname starts with K.
The reel seat is made of a light yellow metal, brass perhaps? not sure.
Hmmm... boat building .... does your surname start with B?

[Junky]

7 minutes ago, Sylvathorn said:

Sylvathorn is just my username Ed. - closest I could get to Silverthorn (from the song "Vincent" by Don McLean) and yes surname starts with K.
The reel seat is made of a light yellow metal, brass perhaps? not sure.
Hmmm... boat building .... does your surname start with B?

@Sylvathorn

Sound like you two know each other. 

 

 

If you put an @ and then type the user name it will give a notification to that user. 

Eg. @sylvathorn

A drop box will pop up with the names.

@Junky

@Ed.

[Andrew_P]

10 hours ago, Junky said:

 

 

That was going to be my next question. 

I have the dremel for the seat cut. 

Grip is simply just a blade. 

What do you use for the gimbal? 

It's an alloy gimbal.

Depends what they stuck it on with but heat is your friend. Heat gun as you rotate the rod then you should be able to get a flathead screwdriver between the gimbal and the blank and very gently prise it off. Be careful not to use too much heat as this can delaminate the blank

[Junky]

Just now, Andrew_P said:

Depends what they stuck it on with but heat is your friend. Heat gun as you rotate the rod then you should be able to get a flathead screwdriver between the gimbal and the blank and very gently prise it off. Be careful not to use too much heat as this can delaminate the blank

Champion. 

Thank you. 

I figured it was like a rod tip, on more involved. 

Thanks mate. 

[Sylvathorn]

10 hours ago, Junky said:

 

 

That was going to be my next question. 

I have the dremel for the seat cut. 

Grip is simply just a blade. 

What do you use for the gimbal? 

It's an alloy gimbal.

An alloy gimbal, believe it or not Junky all the gimbals I have removed to date have been plastic/nylon, but with alloy heat will always be an option, to try to soften the adhesive. 
Need to be careful not to overheat and weaken the rod. Being a gimbal you can use the shaft of a screwdriver to assist twisting, that way you will know if it's releasing. You get to keep the gimbal that way.
If they used something like a 5 minute epoxy it should be OK, but if they've used a super strong epoxy it could require a lot of heat and weaken the fibreglass.

If heat doesn't work you might need to use the Dremmel similar to removing the reel seat. You will need to be careful with this option as you will not have the gap between the gimbal and the rod walls.
 

[Sylvathorn]

14 minutes ago, Junky said:

@Sylvathorn

Sound like you two know each other. 

 

 

If you put an @ and then type the user name it will give a notification to that user. 

Eg. @sylvathorn

A drop box will pop up with the names.

@Junky

@Ed.

I'm thinking that's possible @Junky, thanks for the "@" tip, much easier.
If he is the @Ed. I'm thinking of, we knew each other quite well many moons ago.

[Sylvathorn]

12 hours ago, Ed. said:

From the looks of it, they didn't put any epoxy under the middle of the reel seat and only on the ends. I fill up the entire cavity under the reel seat with epoxy so the middle of the seat doesn't flex, I don't know if that is a good thing or not but it is just the way I have always done it and seems to work well. The only time I had to replace a reel seat was when the one I had that cracked had a thin stainless steel hood over some nylon at one end and that cracked after many years of use, so probably had a manufacturing defect that finally gave way.

Thinking about it some more, it was sort of the twin of the Ugly Stik with the pattern that I pictured before, as I made a pair of them, one was a spin stick and the other a bait caster. I ended up stripping everything off it and converted it to an extention, so I could get extra reach for light fishing off the end of breakwaters and that sort of thing. I fitted it the base of a two part heavier Ugly Stik which brought the length up to around 9ft. Didn't put a pattern on it though.  After stripping everything off, I sanded it and put a coating of two part Erskine's epoxy over it to protect the blanks fibres, so now I can use it as a long baitcaster rod.

If you going to use some of the the fumed silica in a coating you will have to make sure not to use too much of it as it will thicken it up as it is a thixotropic, and may not self level easily, I assume that you want to hide some defects out of the blank you are doing? Is that correct?

Just out of curiosity, is that real seat that you cut off made out of thin stainless tube? If it is I didn't know they made some like that.

 

Re the fumed silica in the epoxy rod varnish @Ed., (I haven't previously haven't used this rod varnish before, I will let you know how it goes) I'm hoping that it has sufficient adhesive properties to secure the reel seat successfully while having a much lower release temperature.
Love what you did with the Ugly Stik, extension Ed. I did similar with a SnyderGlas MT484 but I was lazy and used 800mm of 25mm alloy tube covered in heat shrink, gives me an overall length of 9' 9" matched it with an Ambassadeur 5500C baitcaster

[Ed.]

Hi Misha, yep we do know each other like for about 50 years! I will send you my details via PM.

[Ed.]

Thanks Misha, I also added extensions using a short aluminium tube on both of these light Ugly Stiks, I think from memory the blanks were about 168cm and extended them both to 203cm. That was in the days when you could actually buy just the Ugly Stik blanks in Australia from a distributor. As the spinning reel version eventually had damaged guides and I didn't really need another light spinning rod, I stripped that one completely and made it fit the bottom half of a 2 piece heavier Ugly Stik that I have put SiC guides on it, that way it can be used as a light and long bait casting rod.

[Sylvathorn]

1 hour ago, Ed. said:

Hi Misha, yep we do know each other like for about 50 years! I will send you my details via PM.

yep, definitely about 50 years!

[Sylvathorn]

1 hour ago, Ed. said:

Thanks Misha, I also added extensions using a short aluminium tube on both of these light Ugly Stiks, I think from memory the blanks were about 168cm and extended them both to 203cm. That was in the days when you could actually buy just the Ugly Stik blanks in Australia from a distributor. As the spinning reel version eventually had damaged guides and I didn't really need another light spinning rod, I stripped that one completely and made it fit the bottom half of a 2 piece heavier Ugly Stik that I have put SiC guides on it, that way it can be used as a light and long bait casting rod.

Here are pics of my baitcaster version with the 5500C.
I've got another that's threadline, but it's on loan to our next door neighbor as he's just sold his boat (needed to by extra machinery for his business) and his fishing will be shore based for a while.

[Angry51]

27 minutes ago, Sylvathorn said:

yep, definitely about 50 years!

Hey fella's, If it's got a happy theme post on here so we can all rejoice, we like

happy stories. Another case of AFO bringing people together.

[Ed.]

I think that I remember you making some snazzy wraps on your rods, that was before I went over to Perth. (before 1980 maybe) anyway I started making my rods over there. Had a bit of time on my hands to go fishing and enjoy life, how life has changed, I have forgotten what a fish looks like now.

[Junky]

7 hours ago, Angry51 said:

Hey fella's, If it's got a happy theme post on here so we can all rejoice, we like

happy stories. Another case of AFO bringing people together.

Yep. 

I thought it was kinda cool. 

Does your name start with? Yep. 

Does your name start with? Yep. 

50yrs of friendship rekindled on a forum. 

Awesome stuff fellas. 

[Sylvathorn]

9 hours ago, Angry51 said:

Hey fella's, If it's got a happy theme post on here so we can all rejoice, we like

happy stories. Another case of AFO bringing people together.

OK, Happy stories is what you want eh....
Ed and I do go way back .... 
Special friend that I trained with for a number of years, and his lovely wife was a good friend too, and the friendship didn't stop there.
Just spent an hour on the phone together, was absolutely great, reliving old times and catching up on the now times.
We didn't talk about this, but I'm now remembering a full contact basketball game we both participated in, in northern Tasmania - full contact takes on real meaning when all the participants are practicing Karate exponents
Oh and by the way @Ed., I do still remember the back kick you got me flush on the jaw with @Ed.!

 happy, happy, enough @Angry51

hahaha

cheers
Misha

[Ed.]

Nah, wasn't me, I deny everything, innocent I am, your memory must be failing , or mine is, which probably is more likely!

 

Cheers

Ed.

[Angry51]

Good onya, it's a good feeling when you run into some one from years ago.

More so if you were good friends and lost contact.

 Probably be many more hour long phone calls.

Best of luck to both of ya's.

Thanks for sharing.

[Sylvathorn]

On 01/05/2023 at 9:14 PM, Ed. said:

Nah, wasn't me, I deny everything, innocent I am, your memory must be failing , or mine is, which probably is more likely!

 

Cheers

Ed.

 

On 01/05/2023 at 9:14 PM, Ed. said:

Nah, wasn't me, I deny everything, innocent I am, your memory must be failing , or mine is, which probably is more likely!

 

Cheers

Ed.

Haha, just a slight miscalculation, and was all good fun.
 

[Sylvathorn]

gonna get a few rods happening now, got a few parts in .... busy, busy, busy.
and Muddies for Margie on Friday, I'll be in the good books! .... well, for a little while at least