Overview and Intentions
As many of you know, Captain Neil has been my rod builder, blank guru, and very good friend for more than 20 years. Over those many seasons he's built a bunch of really special sticks for me. But, some of them never were the recipients of my total love - for one reason or another. Oh sure, they all were/still are works of art, but they just never got to sail along with me on my seafaring excursions.
Short-ish rear handles, actions that really didn't work as well as we first thought, and a few other matters prevented my total devotion to a few of them. None of this was CN's doing. Rather, it was usually my know-it-all mindset that ofttimes lead us astray during the spec'ing/design/build process. Neil, being the good guy that he is would give his contrary opinion, which in some cases I overruled, usually to my detriment. Meh, live and learn.
So anyway, I've been "casting about" for some kind of fishing or boating-related project, because I'm starting to count fluke head-shakes to get to sleep. Such is the extent of my cabin fever. Oh sure, I've ripped into my reel collection, prepping them for the coming season. Re-re-cleaning some, as well as upgrading others (more to come on this, later in this thread). Did and still doing a ton of reel tune-ups and hot rodding for friends, but man, I NEED to get going on something a bit more challenging.
Surveying my "Lonely Hearts Club" of seldom-used CN creations, I found my long-forgotten Batson MB745, which frankly, I thought I had given away long ago. But no, it was still hanging on its rod hooks down in the basement, patiently awaiting my rediscovery.
I do recall why I never took to it, the 20mm reel seat was a bit too large for my medium hands whilst palming an ABU 5500 - which is what the rod was originally built to carry. Even the after-the-fact butt extension that CN later added didn't help endear it to me. Nothing wrong with the wrap-job though. Gorgeous Emerald Green under-wraps, with black over-wraps covering the chrome Fuji Alconite guides’ feet, and trimmed in bright silver. A REALLY pretty rod.
Taking it outside and giving it a tip-poke or two against my picnic table showed the sweet mod/fast bend that had attracted me in the first place. And so the “idea bubble” over my head filled with the thought of modding this rod into a true deep jigger - set up the way I NOW like to fish, with a long-ish 17" rear butt tucked under my arm, and my hand cupping a low-profile bait caster.
And guess what? I just happen to have a MINT emerald-green Curado 200E5 that I've been hoarding, just in case that North Shore fluke run ever does re-materialize. Sadly, at this point I think that's probably no more than a pipe dream. And so why not give my lovely little Shimano some attention on the deep grounds this coming season, atop a re-imagined version of this MB745?
I liked the idea so much that I immediately got on Mudhole.com's website and ordered in the parts needed to make this magic happen. More on this once the goodie box arrives from Florida.
This is not the first time that I've gone down this road. Not my first handle-modding rodeo. In fact Winter before last I tore apart both my much-loved Hydra NG846 and my CTS BS702 and rebuilt them into really first-class fluke deep jiggers. The "after-Neil" surgery made a serious difference for both of them.
As an aside, the black electrical tape "ring" mid-way down the Winn grip-wrapped rear handle area is there to protect the Winn tape from rod holder abrasion. I really need to find a more elegant way to address this issue. And I will, eventually. Anyway, take a look:
My Batson mod-candidate is surrounded on its left by the Hydra (the original "Driftin' Donuts") and on the right by the CTS. O.K., I know, they're both a bit loud, or should I say LOUD! But they go perfectly with the reels that I built especially for each of them (also loud). Eh, what can I say? Its probably the Sicilian in me.
So, the trick is to strip the handle and reel seat, clean up the naked blank, and then rebuild the handle BACKWARDS, pushing the new handle grips and reel seat components up from the butt to the bottom of the decorative cross-hatch wrap. It ain't easy and its fraught with potential disaster, but I need to get this done, in order to preserve my fish catching-deprived sanity.
As many of you know, Captain Neil has been my rod builder, blank guru, and very good friend for more than 20 years. Over those many seasons he's built a bunch of really special sticks for me. But, some of them never were the recipients of my total love - for one reason or another. Oh sure, they all were/still are works of art, but they just never got to sail along with me on my seafaring excursions.
Short-ish rear handles, actions that really didn't work as well as we first thought, and a few other matters prevented my total devotion to a few of them. None of this was CN's doing. Rather, it was usually my know-it-all mindset that ofttimes lead us astray during the spec'ing/design/build process. Neil, being the good guy that he is would give his contrary opinion, which in some cases I overruled, usually to my detriment. Meh, live and learn.
So anyway, I've been "casting about" for some kind of fishing or boating-related project, because I'm starting to count fluke head-shakes to get to sleep. Such is the extent of my cabin fever. Oh sure, I've ripped into my reel collection, prepping them for the coming season. Re-re-cleaning some, as well as upgrading others (more to come on this, later in this thread). Did and still doing a ton of reel tune-ups and hot rodding for friends, but man, I NEED to get going on something a bit more challenging.
Surveying my "Lonely Hearts Club" of seldom-used CN creations, I found my long-forgotten Batson MB745, which frankly, I thought I had given away long ago. But no, it was still hanging on its rod hooks down in the basement, patiently awaiting my rediscovery.
I do recall why I never took to it, the 20mm reel seat was a bit too large for my medium hands whilst palming an ABU 5500 - which is what the rod was originally built to carry. Even the after-the-fact butt extension that CN later added didn't help endear it to me. Nothing wrong with the wrap-job though. Gorgeous Emerald Green under-wraps, with black over-wraps covering the chrome Fuji Alconite guides’ feet, and trimmed in bright silver. A REALLY pretty rod.
Taking it outside and giving it a tip-poke or two against my picnic table showed the sweet mod/fast bend that had attracted me in the first place. And so the “idea bubble” over my head filled with the thought of modding this rod into a true deep jigger - set up the way I NOW like to fish, with a long-ish 17" rear butt tucked under my arm, and my hand cupping a low-profile bait caster.
And guess what? I just happen to have a MINT emerald-green Curado 200E5 that I've been hoarding, just in case that North Shore fluke run ever does re-materialize. Sadly, at this point I think that's probably no more than a pipe dream. And so why not give my lovely little Shimano some attention on the deep grounds this coming season, atop a re-imagined version of this MB745?
I liked the idea so much that I immediately got on Mudhole.com's website and ordered in the parts needed to make this magic happen. More on this once the goodie box arrives from Florida.
This is not the first time that I've gone down this road. Not my first handle-modding rodeo. In fact Winter before last I tore apart both my much-loved Hydra NG846 and my CTS BS702 and rebuilt them into really first-class fluke deep jiggers. The "after-Neil" surgery made a serious difference for both of them.
As an aside, the black electrical tape "ring" mid-way down the Winn grip-wrapped rear handle area is there to protect the Winn tape from rod holder abrasion. I really need to find a more elegant way to address this issue. And I will, eventually. Anyway, take a look:
My Batson mod-candidate is surrounded on its left by the Hydra (the original "Driftin' Donuts") and on the right by the CTS. O.K., I know, they're both a bit loud, or should I say LOUD! But they go perfectly with the reels that I built especially for each of them (also loud). Eh, what can I say? Its probably the Sicilian in me.
So, the trick is to strip the handle and reel seat, clean up the naked blank, and then rebuild the handle BACKWARDS, pushing the new handle grips and reel seat components up from the butt to the bottom of the decorative cross-hatch wrap. It ain't easy and its fraught with potential disaster, but I need to get this done, in order to preserve my fish catching-deprived sanity.
