Rod building links and a lesson on reel seats

Thought I'd drop this on here today.

Have seen some video's lately of the rod building process.  The first here is an interesting video from Cousins Tackle. I found the part showing the building of the blank very interesting.  I have not been to a rod building factory, but would absolutely love to.  Maybe one day St. Croix will have me come up there for a visit.  After all, I've been building and using their rods off and on for over 25 years!

I also found another video about a so called "Renowned" rod builder and was appalled at the process he used to install his reel seat!

PowerPro Super8Slick - Not so slick!

I have no idea what PowerPro was thinking....

This last spring I saw this great new product at Academy and thought I'd try it.  The package said it was smoother than other types of braid and would cast further.  Since it was braid, I assumed it would last longer too!

Super8Slick it is called.  Made by PowerPro.  It sort of lived up to it's name in that it was very smooth casting.  That is... when it wasn't giving me bird's nests.... ON A SPINNING REEL.

Click here to continue reading »

How to Rebuild Your Fishing Rod Page is UP

I have added a separate blog just for how to rebuild your fishing rod!

It's just a start but over the next few weeks I intend to add a ton of information on what I've learned through the years.  Some of it comes from my original mentor from back in the 80's.

Click the tab above or go to: http://texasrodbuilder.blogspot.com/

Enjoy and Tight Line Y'all!

Mike
HCFR

Life in the fast lane and Guadeloupe Bass

Sometimes the hustle and bustle of life really gets in the way of things you really want to do. For instance, I have over 10 hours of video I need to edit down to a 10-15 minute video for your enjoyment.  However, I have a problem... I want to go somewhere every weekend yet I don't have enough time each weekend or during the week to edit video.  Sigh....

The fact is, the main reason we go fishing is to get away from the business of life.  Catching fish is a really nice plus.  And we're learning all we can about catching fish - and we do catch fish.  However, the areas we go to are often different from the environments you might encounter on the lakes and rivers of other areas in Central Texas or anywhere else for that matter.

Geeks Fish Too is now up and running!

As I mentioned several posts ago, I have been working on splitting Hill Country Fishing Rods from the fishing adventures.  Well, I finally had some time to get this done and here you go!

I'm still working on a good logo and could use some help.  I think I've got something to work with from my collection of fish pictures I've taken.  Here's one I've started with and hope to make something of.

I'm hoping to select the fish and put text into the side of it.  We'll see.

So what happens to Hill Country Fishing Rods?   The site is going to continue as a site relating to fishing rods only.  It started out that way and now is time to go back to that.  The sites will continue to cross reference each other and in fact, I hope to include each site as a tab on the other site(s).  Yes, you read that correctly- Sites.  I'm hoping to branch out to other specifics.  For instance, there will be blogs dedicated just the process of building fishing rods, a site related to my adventures in guide fishing on the Llano and San Saba rivers (more to come on that!).

This post will go to both sites but as of the next post cycle, I will be splitting the context of the sites completely.  Again, the other site(s) will be just a click away as I will have them linked at the top.

Any suggestions on how to make this happen is always welcome!

Finally, Hill Country Fishing Rods finally is getting customers.  We have 3 rods going to stores as soon as we get the label issue resolved and I have a rod order in progress.  Of course there will be pictures coming on that as I start that process.

Thanks for all the views as of late!  I'm beginning to feel like there's someone regularly reading my articles and I greatly appreciate it!  Remember, I'm trying to make a living at this, so don't forget to view sponsor pages as you are able.  They are a pain, I know this, but a necessary evil that keeps me bringing more content to you.  Yes, adsense is just another stepping stone that we got going recently and we are already starting to see the pennies pile up.  :)

Thanks again!

Mike

HCFR

YouTube videos and new KayakCat.blogspot.com

Howdy folks!  Just wanted to drop a note... keep an eye on our YouTube Channel now.  We are starting to post more there as we start collecting video.  We ran the video camera yesterday when we went fishing at Chandler park in Georgetown and got some interesting video of us heading to the water. I'm going to be working on that soon.

A real treat for you: Red Nose Yacht Club

So we had a real blast fishing the Llano river last weekend, and I'm still working on getting video put
together of all the fish we caught on camera.  But I did get this clip done that I think you'll like.  It's a funny video of a group of  helpful rednecks that were at one of the too-shallow rapids that we went through...