My first rod build

[carolina-rig-01]

Well I finished building my first rod. While it wasn't easy, I don't think it turned out bad at all. I learned a lot from building this rod, but I have a lot more to learn. I will come clean and admit that I didn't know the first thing about rod building when I started this project. I honestly didn't know what components I wanted or why but with the help of a few of the rod builders on here I felt my way through it. I had a tough time deciding what technique I wanted to build a rod for but I ended up building a cranking stick mainly for squarebill crankbaits. I built it on a 7' medium heavy MHX Blend blank which is crazy light for the money invested in the rod. I used Fuji Alconite guides, a Fuji ACS reel seat, and an EVA split grip. I found the toughest part to be wrapping the guides as well as epoxying them. The biggest mistake I made was getting too carried away with the epoxy when finishing the guides, I will be sure to go a lot slower with it next time. I wasn't going to stress too much over making mistakes on this rod as it was just a hands on learning experience for my future builds. All and all I am very happy with how well this rod turned out. I built it to compliment the Revo SX that I put on it and I think they make a good looking couple.









I also learned that black thread was probably a bad choice for my first build because it was so hard to see. I looked and looked to make sure that my wraps were all packed tight and I didn't leave any gaps but it turns out I missed a few. If I would have used a different color thread I would have been able to see these gaps and fix them.