clKiekhafer

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'll start my looking.

I'm just starting out with some musky tackle and looking for some suggestions. I'm looking for ideas for a good baitcaster reel, one that is good quality that won't break the bank. I'm not interested in junk because I know the long term cost is much higher if buying the cheap stuff, but then again I'm not looking to pay the high prices for some of the stuff that's out there either. Any info that you guys could share would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

St Croix has a pricing policy that makes their distributors sell at MSRP or risk loosing the business. There are times throughout the year that they will be on clearance like at of model year and they need to liquidate the inventory before the new ones hit the door. They could be as much as or more then 25% off. If you don't believe that someone could loose the privileged of selling them look at Reed's. They had St. Croix rods at one time, St. Croix stopped in saw the pricing and bought everyone back and they have not sold any since. Chad is right about the pricing at the regional meeting in Park Falls. I bought a 9' 2-piece musky blank for $30. Now you have to remember these are not first run blanks as I understand it and there is no warranty. You really don't know what is wrong with them, but my impression is St. Croix wouldn't want to make the custom rod builders upset with inferior products so I think the rods are structurally sound, but there could be some cosmetic flaws.

Hi Andy, Thanks for taking the time to show the comparison between the two rod blanks.

Not sure where you're located but there is a person in Pequot Lakes, MN that does a good job. He makes the rounds to some of the larger sporting good shop in the area that include Brainerd, Walker and Garrison. I'm not going to mention the name because he is not a sponsor on this HSOforum. You can PM me and I will gladly pass along the contact info.

Nice looking Andy!

Nice looking Andy! Good use of multiple techniques in the butt wrap.

Good job!

The Batson product that you have listed is very nice, you won't be disappointed with it! May wife has one and I built the 6' 3" one for my son-in-law. Like I said they are nice.

Very Nice looking! Are you going this August to Park Falls?

Hi Billy, Looking forward to seeing you again this year. I see you are doing more this year with your grips and thread work, nice going and we really appreciate what you're do for the Guild!

All signed up and can't wait to meet everyone again this year. With the line-up of presentations and speakers it will be another fantastic event!

I've used DC for quite some time now and I've been very pleased with them. I once had a "special" logo decal made that I had to request documentation for reproducing it. DC did a great job on it. When I first started with them I would request a .pdf file of the decal before they printed it to make sure they had it right. If you have a unique decal you might want to see if they can send you a .pdf file before printing and then reply back with corrections or your approval to print. DC has always been great to work with and top notch people.

Also check out using a over-sized polyurethane reel seat shim to shape one and then epoxy over and finish it off.

Yep,