Spiraling Star rod

[DaveB]

Here's the second rod I recently completed. It's a 2-piece spiral-wrapped rod for downrigging, with a Spiraling Star pattern thrown in for good measure.











I'm hoping like mad the blue thread doesn't fade too quickly.

I found having two rods under construction at once much was more enjoyable than wrapping a single rod, for some reason.

Cheers
Dave

[Owen]

Nice!
What it's intended species?
Apart from spiral wrapping, what considerations were aimed at down rigging technique?

[DaveB]

Thanks Owen,

Target species for this rod is Kokanee. I had to google what kokanee is, lol, it's a land-locked lake population of Sockeye salmon.

The rod was a gift for some friends in the US.

Not having fished with a downrigger before I had to rely on some advice regarding blank selection and construction.

This blank was a Lamiglas GFW 93 2UL. It has a slow action which works well with a heavy downrigger weight and suits to the soft mouth of the kokanee, but enough power to control the fish.

I was told spiral-wrapping was the way to go. This rod has a slow parabolic action, and when I tried to lay out the guides for traditional baitcaster configuration (ie. guides on top) the huge bend in the rod meant lots of guides would have been required, so the spiral solved that problem nicely. If I were to do the same rod again I would use higher frame guides to get the line further off the rod as it leaves the reel.

I was advised not to use cork for the handle, however I like the look and feel of cork so that's what I went for.

The rods shipped to the US late last week, and I've been waiting for confirmation they arrived safely. Got the email just today saying all good, and as soon as they arrived they were thrown into the boat and put to the test at Strawberry Reservoir in Utah.

Here is the photo I was hoping for:



It's a 3lb kokanee landed after a 10 minute fight. The downrigger was set to 19 feet.

I spent a long time on guide placement, trying to get the angles looking just right. If you look closely at the pic you might notice that the rod is fitted with a spinning reel! That wasn't the plan but that's all they had spare so they rigged it up anyway. Beats me how it would have performed. Luckily no-one told the fish!

So right now I've got a big grin on my mug, stoked that the rod works, and wishing I was over there to use it myself.

cheers
Dave

[Owen]

That link inowok

[grave41]

Dave ,
Sorry for the late reply ive been away for 2 months. The rod looks awesome the use of a spinning reel on a spiral wrap sort of defeats the purpose.It would be interesting to watch.I have used a few lamiglas in the past and found them very good. Have you tried the Alps titanium guides yet im extremely impressed with them .Might be worth looking at.Alps are coming ahead in leaps and bounds with there parts.
Cheers Graham

[DaveB]

Hi Graham,

Good to hear from you mate. Agree, it would fish like a dog using the wrong reel. I posted the pic again as it looks like it didn't work 1st time round.

Attachment 110616

Haven't had the pleasure of using Alps gear yet.

Cheers
Dave