The Custom Fisherman

Custom rod marbling is one of the hottest new techniques rod builders are using to create stunning works of functional art. The basic premise is to mix an ultra-concentrated marbling pigment with an epoxy finish – then swirl and drag the mixture in varying patterns on butt wraps and guide wraps. Check it out!

Next to finding the spine of a rod blank, wrapping your guides is one of the most important steps in custom rod building. When not done correctly, the overall performance and stability of the rod may be compromised. This article is a product review of ProWrap thread and braid by ProProducts.

Checkerboard cork handles really make a custom fishing rod unique, and it is actually a fairly straight forward process. With just a few tools and a little bit of practice, you will have limitless design possibilities when building your next custom fishing rod handle.

Commonly referred to as "eyes," guides are the what guides the line down the fishing rod and out the tip-top. There is no need to throw out fishing rods with broken guides. These easy steps will help you to start repairing your own fishing rods.

As time goes by, our favorite fishing rods really take a beating, and often the grips become so worn and chipped that it starts to affect your fishing. Unless your grips suffer a complete failure, consider these tips for repairing your cork and EVA grips. This article highlights some common best practices for maintaining or repairing your EVA and cork fishing rod handles and grips.

MHX is one of the top rod blank names in the rod building business, and their High-Mods epitomize performance in a fishing rod blank. In this article MHX rod blank designers explain what is new in the MHX 2nd generation high-mods.

If you want to really dive deep into the physics of it, try Googling “Modulus” and “Modulus of Elasticity” for more detail - but have the aspirin ready. This article overviews what a high modulus fishing rod is, and why it may be a right choice for certain fishing applications.

While reaming a hole in a piece of cork may not be rocket science, there are a few tips that will keep you from having to buy replacement parts when things go wrong during this process. Here are the top five tips we tend to offer our viewers when they contact us.

The reel seat arbor is meant to center the reel seat on the rod blank, and when purchasing an arbor - there are many options to consider, with even more opinions on what works best. In this article we share our opinion on what to consider.

Since rod dryer options come in many shapes, sizes, and speeds, the goal of this article is to share what factors a rod builder should consider when making their rod dryer choice.