# Dr Bubba's Mullet Slayer



## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

This rod was given to me by Dr Bubba for a strip-down, new paint job and rewrap a while back, and my slow arse has finally gotten around to finishing it up. :redface:This is an older Fenwick fiberglass rod, but is very light for what it is. Certainly not bad for a yard sale find. The butt wrap is abalone veneer from Aqua Blue Maui that I acquired from another builder named Kevin Knox in Maryland. Pretty interesting stuff to work with, and a challenge to say the least. The results are beautiful though. :beer: Guides are just simple black with silver inlays to let the abalone do its thing without taking away from it. Planning on trying the abalone as an underwrap soon. Hopefully this one will tame those bull mullets. 

This is the full wrap. If you look close you see the seam at the bottom:








Front of wrap:








Back of wrap:








Close up of guide:








Another guide shot:


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

Sweet! 

Sandcrab


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## outfishin28 (Jul 15, 2005)

looks great.


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## gilly21 (Feb 15, 2006)

That looks sweet.


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## mtbrider (Jul 9, 2008)

real nice


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## AL_N_VB (Apr 3, 2002)

DR B is the mullet magnet!


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## Rockfish1 (Apr 8, 2005)

lookin good...


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## Dr. Bubba (Nov 9, 1999)

Oh my!
And WOW! too!
That's some beautiful work with the abolone, Terry. Can't wait to see it.
I love it! Thank you!

Some of y'all that know me probably know this rod. Found at a yardsale about ten years ago for 10 bucks, no reel seat, only zip ties to hold the reel on....but lots of juju, mullet and more... 

Now I'm gonna hafta try and find a "before" picture....


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

Dr. Bubba said:


> Oh my!
> And WOW! too!
> That's some beautiful work with the abolone, Terry. Can't wait to see it.
> I love it! Thank you!
> ...


I "used" to know that rod well.

Damn Terry, that is some good looking work.

Doc's gonna be afraid to take that succa mullet hunting...


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## Dr. Bubba (Nov 9, 1999)

Cdog said:


> I "used" to know that rod well.
> 
> Damn Terry, that is some good looking work.
> 
> Doc's gonna be afraid to take that succa mullet hunting...


Damn skippy!
I'll be spendin too much time lookin at how purty it is!


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Doc I'm glad ya like it.  All I ask is for some fried mullet filets! And some more tips on catchin' them critters!  I should have her buttoned up completely by the weekend. I'll get up with you then.


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## Tacpayne (Dec 20, 2008)

Could you give me some tips on working with the abalone, that is beautiful, Im going to have to do on for my wife. I ve never worked with it a all


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

The best advice I can give you is to get the RodMaker issue that covers how to do this. I followed that to the letter, and exchanged a few e-mails with Kevin Knox, the feller who wrote the article, just to make sure I was doing it right. In a nutshell though, you take the raw abalone veneer, soak in vinegar for about 3 hours. Make sure the vinegar is room temp and not cold like mine was. Took a lot longer to soak, and was still a little brittle. After the soak, let it sit for a minute, and calcium deposits will show up on the veneer. Go after them with a paper towel and denatured alcohol to clean it up. Then you remove the adhesive covering, and place it on the rod and begin slowly wrapping it around. It will still crack slightly, but that's OK. Once you get her on there, you wrap it with thread in the opposite direction that you applied the veneer. This is important because if you don't do this, you will tear the veneer. The purpose of the wrap is to clamp the veneer to the blank while allowing it to dry. Let this sit for 24-48 hours, then remove the thread. At this point, you'll have some brown gunk which is dried calcium on a few places on the veneer. A dental pick is great to get this stuff off. You don't have to get it all, but cleaning it up makes it look nicer. After that, you want to pre-crack the veneer. Sounds crazy, but you just bend the rod so the veneer stresses and cracks. Then you put on a coat of finish, let it dry, and crack it again. You may crack the finish when you do it, but that's OK, because you're going to finish it again. After that it shouldn't crack anymore. 

That's it in a nutshell, but the article has better information and will explain things a lot better than I just did. That's a very high level run through, so I seriously, get the mag. 

And post up some pics if you do it!


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## Tacpayne (Dec 20, 2008)

Where did you get your abalone from? I am going to go ahead and order a copy of that rodmaker issue. Thanks for your help, now I just have to find a blank


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

I got it from Kevin actually, but you order direct from Aqua Blue Maui. Just google them and you'll find them. You want to talk to Scotty Ventura. He'll set it up for you. It's about 15 bucks for a 7x9ish sheet.


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## Fishbreath (Nov 11, 2004)

That's a beautiful wrap job Terry!  Doc, what model Fenwick is it? Is it the 9' footer, 8' footer?


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## dirtyhandslopez (Nov 17, 2006)

Beatiful Terry.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Fishbreath said:


> That's a beautiful wrap job Terry!  Doc, what model Fenwick is it? Is it the 9' footer, 8' footer?


It's a 10 footer.


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## Out Sick (May 27, 2006)

*Wow*

Thats one nice looking $10 rod. Great work Terry!

Ben


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## triple t (Nov 1, 2008)

Very nice rod there Bass!


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## EugeneChoe (Aug 11, 2006)

hot


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## Shooter (Nov 14, 2004)

Dang, that looks so good I may have to find another rod that needs some work


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Shooter said:


> Dang, that looks so good I may have to find another rod that needs some work


Bring it on. I need some projects anyway.


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