For all the do-it-yourselfers

[sand flea]

I spent this winter building extremely ugly plugs out of dowel rods. Show of hands for those who did the same?

[reelrebel18]

me

[bluerunner]

no plugs, but i am planning on trying to build a rod in the next few months

[striperswiper]

built two rods already and i'm about to get my own lathe

[fyremanjef]

Hey Flea,

I finally got around to tying my own rigs, and was amazed at the money I saved. I could only imagine the bucks I could save by making my own lures. How did yours come out. Do you have a pic. I am really curious.

You can pm or email me if you dont want to share with everyone.

Thx,

Jeff

[Sandcrab]

Flea,

Spent last Winter building my first rod - an All Star 10'6" graphite conventional that I use for slinging metal in the 1-3 oz range. I brought it to our last IRI outing and had to pry it out of Husky's hands as it did not want to give it back. It is one sweet rod - and with a trigger grip too...

Working on my newest rod - A 13'2" All Star 1508 conventional...handles 4-10 oz and is as light as a feather...Wanted to test cast it before I wrap the guildes tomorrow at SPSP but that is out of the question now with all the rain...

What a good hobby!

Sandcrab

[sand flea]

fyremanjef, my attempts looked bloody awful. I want to give it a few more shots before sharing the pics.

Anyway, ya'll enjoy the new board. We'll see how it does.

[HuskyMD]

I admit it--I thought about sucker punching you in the nuts and driving off with it, but alas you know where to find me...

[JIGMAKER]

I didn't make any plugs or rods, but I made alot of jigs, slabs, spinners, and flies.

[Shoebag22]

didn't build anything...yet

looking to get into making my own sinkers... banks and rounds... anyone looing to sell their gear???

[Digger]

I just make jigs and sinkers.

[Heaver]

If you are testing casting a blank do so only after you wrap the ferrule with a couple of layers of reinforcing thread. You can tape the guides on temporarily, but tape will not be sufficiently strong enough to prevent a ferrule from splitting.

Learned this the hard way, on the first test cast split a ferrule on an Allstar 1509-2. Ouch. Had used masking tape to reinforce the ferrule - it was not good enough.

Lou

[blue bird]

Hey Sandflea, do you have access to a bandsaw and drill press? I've found that working with dowels or broom handles, as I have tried, is more difficult than starting with a flat piece of wood. Is it the painting that is giving you fits? Don't get too discouraged. Rome wasn't built in a day! If you'd like some good tips go to www.tackleunderground.com.

I'm glad to see this new forum. I've been making my own custom baits for almost two years now. It's a good way to spend time on fishing when the fish aren't in season yet.

[Big EL]

making plugs... :)

I'm on the 11th one and have found it to be very relaxing when I get the fishing DT's.

><))))*>

[RuddeDogg]

No lures, or rods but I tied over 3500 rigs between flounder,striper,weakfish and drum.

[rattler]

tried freshwater carving...never did run right...make all of my rigs from spot to shark...saves me bucks...i don't melt anymore...

[newellchunker]

:) hey bluerunner i'm newellchunker's son. I'm 15 :) if you need some help on building a rod i think i can point you in the right direction. I've built about 10 rods. It is fun to build the them i think you might like it. well if you need some help let me know. thanks :)