The Glory Daze,,

[DarkSkies]

Good to see you out there Roddy and adapting to the conditions. I was in Redding a few weeks ago and was going to call you and your wife up to grab some coffee, but it was short notice and I thought it would be rude.
We just lost another legendary Surf Man this week, and I know we are all getting older. Wishing you and your family the best of health pal. Talk to you soon. Rich

[Rip-Plugger]

Good to see you out there Roddy and adapting to the conditions. I was in Redding a few weeks ago and was going to call you and your wife up to grab some coffee, but it was short notice and I thought it would be rude.
We just lost another legendary Surf Man this week, and I know we are all getting older. Wishing you and your family the best of health pal. Talk to you soon. Rich

it is indeed good to get out there and be out there.
you could have called,it wouldn't have been rude,I would have been honored.
who's the one that passed on?
I didn't hear of anything like that that I remember right now anyway.
I wish you and yours the very same thing man.
I adopted what many older guys and my mom told me many years ago,,they told me to enjoy myself and the things I love doing now whilst it is doable.
I have done this for the last 36 years now and it does make sense.
at this point in my life money is not the point,serenity,calmness and fulfillment are.
that keeps the soul on a flat trajectory which is balance,balance is what everything is all about.
time is more valuable than money because you can always get more money but,ya can't get more time!
cheers

[Rip-Plugger]

41/25 on my slim design hound dog.

[storminsteve]

Kicking butt and taking names! Nice striper, man!

[Rip-Plugger]

Kicking butt and taking names! Nice striper, man!

SS,I am trying hard man.
cast after cast,drift after drift.
sometimes I go into sleep/auto mode and sleep while slow cranking.
you know how I do it,,when the bite is on I am on them,when it';s off,I do recon and keep trying.
btw,take a closer look,tell me whats wrong.

[Rip-Plugger]

matzuo swimbait 2 oz.

[Rip-Plugger]

northbar bottle darter.

[Rip-Plugger]

one on my 7-1/2 inch rip-splitter

[Rip-Plugger]

one on a Seed420 custom made darter.

[Rip-Plugger]

bunkers were hitting hard last night.

[Rip-Plugger]

I just wanted to share with those here that do their own customizing.
I was given an old daiwa regal surf stick made of glass.
it was in good shape but,needed to be cleaned up.

since this rod was a spinning rod and I don't do spinning I decided to customize it into a winch rod.
it was 11 feet long and had the old style aluminum reel seat I cut it off at the top of the handle which was exactly 24 inches.
I stripped off the old wire guides and then wet sanded the blank with 440 grit lightly.
I had another handle with the reel seat still on it from another old project so,I cut it down leaving on 2 inches of the blank on each end.
soaked the reel seat in hot water then took pliers and crushed the blank close to the edge of the reel seat.
I kept dipping it in the hot water until the graphite got soft,,kind of and then took a screw driver and shoved it between the inside of the reel seat and the outside of the glass to pry it away from the inside of the seat.
after a while it all came loose and I took it out.
seat was good as new.
I added it to this blank and with it being a winch rod the nut that tightens the reel on the rod had to be facing up not down like a spinning rod.
I epoxied the seat on the blank and let it cure.
now for the handle,,how to finish it??
with the high cost of the corktape[high quality]I opted to try out an idea I came up with after looking at my BB bat next to my front door.
I suddenly had a vision!,,,,,
the stuff they wrap the bats and tennis rackets with would work good and look cool too.
so,I bought a roll of it for 5 bucks[96 inches] and used that.
one layer was all that was needed and it is slightly spongy and pretty grippy,even more so than the rubber that comes on surf rods today.
came out great and the more you grab it the more it stays put.
heres some shots above the seat and below.

[hookset]

Interesting and creative, thanks for the share and tutorial.

[DarkSkies]

who's the one that passed on?
I didn't hear of anything like that that I remember right now anyway.

Roddy, here it is....
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ng-Legend-gone

He passed last week. One of the very few people that I fished with. He loved fishing more than anything else. In the last 18 mos he could not get out there because of mobility issues. It killed me to see him lose that in his life.....sometimes we don't realize what we have...until we don't have it any more.

[DarkSkies]

it is indeed good to get out there and be out there.
you could have called,it wouldn't have been rude,I would have been honored.

I wish you and yours the very same thing man.
I adopted what many older guys and my mom told me many years ago,,they told me to enjoy myself and the things I love doing now whilst it is doable.
I have done this for the last 36 years now and it does make sense.
at this point in my life money is not the point,serenity,calmness and fulfillment are.
that keeps the soul on a flat trajectory which is balance,balance is what everything is all about.
time is more valuable than money because you can always get more money but,ya can't get more time!
cheers

Agree with that, Roddy.....finally got around to posting these pics of Pebbles in that bite that I told you about.....( just a "little" delay in posting......)
She out-fished everyone else on the beach that night....including me.....proud of that girl.

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...it-Takes/page9
(post 167)

[Rip-Plugger]

Interesting and creative, thanks for the share and tutorial.

YW Hookset,,thought it would inspire someone there that reads it here.
there is always an alternative and more than one way to skin a cat.

[Rip-Plugger]

Interesting and creative, thanks for the share and tutorial.

update on the handle wrapping,,,it worked perfectly.
it got wet and didn't lose it's grip quality also it kept my hand warm too.
just thought I'd share that point.
to hell with corktape,,I am sold on this bat wrap.

[lostatsea]

Cool sizes on those stripers. I got two this morning but the biggest was only 18 in. Send some of those down our way!

[Rip-Plugger]

Cool sizes on those stripers. I got two this morning but the biggest was only 18 in. Send some of those down our way!

there is a mix of sizes right now.
you can catch a 12 inch fish and 2 casts later you can catch a 15lb'er.
I am plugging with plugs that are a bit too big for the smaller ones and even so,they still hit them sometimes.

[Rip-Plugger]

Interesting and creative, thanks for the share and tutorial.

I made an error in my statement,,I cut off 12 inches from the bottom not 24,it is 10 feet now.

[Rip-Plugger]

one on a northbar,,