Single hand bait casting rod - NFC+Matagi

Once awhile a pretty darn great project will come by ... just like this one. Simple it may seems but it really look great and fish great as well.

A medium power North Fork Composite blank shorten 6" to 6' with a short handle for single hand casting.

Handle setting with MATAGI components.

Finishing off at the reel seat front with Fuji graphite winding check.

Purple color aluminum winding check to compliment the color of the reel seat.

Overall view of the handle.

The rod decal that have not been altered. I have actually removed the 6in from the rod before it was epoxied.

Now, if you look closely at the decal, you will see the difference. :)

I done the handle and epoxy the decal before moving to finish the guides.

Setting of guide placement.

ALPS aurora zirconium 316 stainless steel guides in place with metallic purple wrapping and silver trimming.

Guides line-up

The completed rod .

A view from the rear end.

As the handle is only 6" I have to add some weight at the butt to balance to the rod.

Another view of the completed rod handle.

I guess this would be the last rod for this year. Hope to show you guys more of the rods that I will be building next year.

Have a good year ahead ... and happy ROD building!!!!!  

ME's Andrew's + MATAGI baitcasting rod

Some old school look for this built up with Andrew's fishing burled wood insert and silver color hardware.

MHX light action blank rated 6-12lb 6'6" in length.

The pre-form cork rear handle comes in 10" length.

Then it was shorten to 7"

MATAGI butt cap

ALPS Titanium zirconium guides and you can rest assured that rust residue will not built up at the guide foot.

Fish weaving that I do occasionally...

After 3 layer of Thread Master epoxy coating

Guides wrapped pending epoxy

Done with the epoxy

Finished rod handle

Fish weaving with rod decal

Rod handle rear view

and full view of the rod...

United Composite 5'6" 4-10lb midget

This is the 9th rod for 2016... It's already the beginning of the 2nd half of 2016 and I guess I am slightly behind target. :)

The blank used for this rod is from United Composite, it is 5'6" in length rated at 4-10 pound. Custom built to be a single hand casting rod with cork grip split handle.

I have never tried doing a split handle for single hand casting grip as it is only around 5" long but no harm trying.

Fuji skeleton trigger reel seat with aluminum insert and screw from Matagi.

Done with the little fighting butt and on with the rear grip.

MATAGI butt cap

Lathed rear cork grip

Fitting the handle

Fuji guide setting

Trying out the new Fuji titanium RV guide. It was said to have a faster and smoother line control when casting. It is very light and perfectly sized to work with any low profile bait casting reel.

After epoxy.

Guides layout

And for the fine touch... as usual I will apply the cork seal to the cork handle.

A photo showing before and after the Cork Seal was applied to the cork handle.
You will not see much difference aesthetically and it feels the same too, but it gives you better protection to the cork handle and prolong its' life span.

It took about 6 weeks to complete this, hope its' owner is happy about having his ideas turning into reality.

CUSTOM Slow Pitch Jigging rod MATAGISH style

This project was planned right after visiting the Angling & Outdoor Recreation Fair early May this year after seeing some nice jigging rods which was on display.

Buying one was an option... but nay... why buy when I can build one.. LOL..

The search for the blanks begun..
I found a cross wrapped saltwater blank which is just nice for a jigging rod.

Load action testing to the blank with a 230g jig.

Then it comes the fun part. Selection of rod components. 

This time around I will be using quality products from MATAGI.

and the reel seat setting.

I have selected Fuji SiC LC and LD guide series for this rod. Low rider for the lower section and heavy duty micro guide for the tip section. However I found out that the last guide was a bit too low and I have to change it to a medium height LC.

Under wrapping to the guide foot area only and not through the whole guide foot. I was trying the bling bling low for this rod and it the same time raised the guides slightly.

Complete wrapping to micro guides.

Guides layout.

The fighting butt

First coating of epoxy

Final epoxy finishes to decal  and guides

Here are the photos of the completed rod