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Posts: 27
Location: Badger State | I'm interested in building my own muskie rod if for no other reason than the satisfaction that I built my own. Looking for opinions on MHX rod blanks. After successfully extending the butt ends of two of my rods, I found that the work is interesting and fun. I bought my supplies from Mud Hole. While I could probably buy another high end rod for less money, I'm willing to spend the bucks for equipment as well as the rod components to build a rod. To prepare myself, I've signed up for a rod building class with Mud Hole in March to learn the basics. I'll end up building a bass rod, but will use the skills learned to build a muskie rod. There are a lot of choices for muskie rod blanks, but I'm interested in the MHX brand that Mud Hole sells. Does anyone have experience with that brand? The reviews are interesting. |
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Posts: 526
| I have no experience with the Mudhole blanks. If you want a muskie rod, there's no reason you have to start with building a bass rod. The techniques and skills are the same regardless of what type of rod you are building. I've been building rods for about 20 years...anything from tiny ice fishing rods, fly rods, to heavy muskie rods. The guide prep, and thread wrapping is the same process on all of them. I got into building rods as a fun way to extend fishing season and "save money" on rods... turns out now instead of buying 1 off the shelf rod I end up building 2 or 3 and spend more money...it's addictive! There is something special about catching a fish on a rod you built for yourself the way you want it to. Have fun and don't worry if your first few don't look perfect... |
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Posts: 27
Location: Badger State | Musky513, the rod building class available with Mud Hole has all attendees build the same rod so I didn't really have a choice in the matter, though I called and asked just in case. One instructor can't help every participant build different rods with the number of selections out there. The idea is to give us the basics before we all go home to build a rod to the particular type of fishing we will do. My addiction is muskie fishing. I figure the class will be a practical education in rod building equipment, proper use of that equipment, types of supplies, and rod proper building techniques. I don't have a mentor for rod building so it's like going to school before going out in the professional world. I'm realistic about my expectations with the course and fully understand that I may not even want to build a muskie rod when I finish. |
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Posts: 3480
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
Where are you at in Wisconsin?
Steve |
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Posts: 27
Location: Badger State | West Central - about 2 hours from the Twin Cities.
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Posts: 3480
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Dang...I could get you on the build if you were closer and do it as a muskie rod right away. I learned through a guy by the name of Gary Wick, who does classes here and there for community ed. I learned in Hastings one year. He had rod handles all reamed out and ready to install with epoxy and we epoxied the grip and front handle, then did all of the eyes. He gave us the option to go up and coat the guides with flex coat. Was a great learning experience and not a horrible rod to boot for a 7'-6" rod.
Steve |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | All of the TI rod blanks are available and as far as I know, Tackle Industries is the ONLY company that offers a telescopic 9', 9'6", 10' or 10'6" blanks! Also come in 9ft one pc and 7'6" one pc.
Check them out:
https://tackleindustries.com/shop/musky_pike_bass_walleye_crappie_fi...
https://tackleindustries.com/shop/musky_pike_bass_walleye_crappie_fi... |
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Posts: 55
| I build about 30 to 50 musky rods a year. Mostly on TI and St Croix blanks but have built a few on the MHX blanks with great results. They are good blanks. If you want to chat about technique drop me a pm and we can connect up. I will also be at the MN Musky Expo in March at the MuskyFreaks booth if you want to stop by a chat. |
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Location: Lake Geneva, WI | I've built a couple musky rods on the TI blanks and a few other rods (spinning, ice rods). It is all the same technique as noted above. I actually felt the musky rods were the easiest of all as they are larger guides/blanks vs. ice rods. You definitely don't save any money building your own rod. I bought a rod building kit on ebay from a guy who builds them for pretty cheap. It includes the wrapper and rod dryer. If you have the time to build one it is definitely worth it. |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | www.vexan.com now has blanks too. Same actions as the TI musky rod blanks.
Check out what they can do! This was the XH 2-8oz action Vexan blank....and this is the rubber/D10 rod blank!! lol
James
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Posts: 27
Location: Badger State | Here’s an update on my January inquiry about MHX blanks. I ended up making the bass rod in the Mud Hole class in March and enjoyed it tremendously. After returning to WI from winter in Virginia Beach, I ordered supplies for an 8’ heavy/fast action MHX muskie rod from Mud Hole. One of the instructors walked me through the ordering process to match all the right parts and sizes, which was (for me) the hardest part of this process. That included blank, cork rings, reel seat (Fugi), guides (Fugi alconite), tip top in the right size, butt cap, winding check, hook keeper, epoxy, thread, and thread coat. I already had building equipment from the Mud Hole course in March. Locally, I purchased files and sandpaper in various grades. Fast forward, my first muskie rod turned out better than I dreamed it would. I’ve always had a good eye for details so shaping the butt and foregrip by hand was fun for me. The process took a while, but it was important to study and learn from each step and get it right. I have fished with it and it handles 2-6 oz baits with ease as advertised for this MHX blank. The real proof will be how it handles with a muskie on the other end of the pole. It is matched with a Diawa Lexa 400 pwr-P reel. I showed the pole to my neighbor who goes muskie fishing with me to Canada in September each year and he immediately asked me to build him an identical one. Confident now that I could build one, and seeing the opportunity to practice building along with improving my efficiency, I said yes, as long as he paid me no more than the cost of supplies because his new pole would benefit my rod building skills at the same time. I ordered supplies from Mud Hole, using the list of supplies for my first build and ordered enough for two rods this time. As a treat for my friend, I ordered a decal with his name on it for his rod. I have completed those two rods and they turned out great. They can best be described as attractive with attention to detail, very solid, functional, and better looking than every one of my other rods (mostly Tooth Tamer and St Croix). Yesterday, I presented one of the two new rods to my neighbor who is ecstatic. He bought a Tranx 401AHG to pair with it. I am paring my second new rod with an Okuma Komodo reel. So this is where I am today. Thought it would be interesting to finish the story from my first post on this subject. Although I’ve now built three muskie rods, I’d rather be fishing. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to build more as I retire other rods in my inventory. I will say that the satisfaction of fishing with rods I have built myself is priceless. Thanks to two others who provided advice and encouragement as I was considering doing this. I don’t have permission from them to name here, but one sent me a PM and we talked on the phone from my first post on this, and the other is an instructor from Mud Hole. I believe this is the whole purpose of forums like this so thanks also to Muskie Outdoor First for providing the forum to have this communication. |
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Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Very cool!!
Pictures at all?
Steve |
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Posts: 27
Location: Badger State | Can't figure out how to post a photo here. Tried copy/paste and no results in any resolution I tried. Sent you an email with a photo. |
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Posts: 3480
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Lets see if this works...
Great work on the rods!! Turned out very very nice!! Now go catch one!!
Steve
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Posts: 72
| WOW those look nice! I've built a handful of rods now but haven't done a Muskie rod. I need a 2 piece or telescopic..harder to find. Boat only holds 7'6" rods. Glad to hear the mudhole rods are nice. I've been putting glitter in my epoxy on the thread gives it a nice touch and a little goes a long ways. Heck I even painted my son's first rod with Krylon and then clear coted. He uses the heck out of it and the paint looks like new! It gets addictive. This winter I'll do a bunch more! |
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Posts: 27
Location: Badger State | Toofishy4u, go ahead and build that muskie rod. You have the skills from your other rod builds. I see you're wanting to get a 2-piece rod to fit your boat. I have a 9'4" 2-piece rod and it feels tip-heavy so it gets very little use. It's not that I don't like it. My other longer rods just feel so much more balanced and comfortable for casting. I know there are weights you can install in the butt to help with balance, but when going out for 12 hours a day for a week, extra weight just adds up and I just leave the rod sitting in my boat. Do consider making an exception to your thoughts about a 2-piece rod. My $.02 worth on that. |
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Posts: 27
Location: Badger State | I was going through old posts about MHX rods and realized that I had left an open end to my post about wanting to build a muskie rod using the MHX (MU series) blank. My original post was an attempt to see if others had experience using that blank. I’d been thinking about it for a few years. It started with doing research about rod blanks to taking a rod-building course from Mud Hole in March and learning the basics. By the middle of July this year, I had finished three muskie rods, with one of them being for my neighbor and fishing buddy. I had trip to LOTW scheduled in early Sept and finished a fourth rod on an 8’6”H blank, with one of the new revolution reel seats, just before the trip. Long story short, the rods performed flawlessly. My neighbor loved his, catching three muskies on the one I built for him. I caught my two biggest muskies ever on two of my rods, with the largest just over 50”. The purpose of this entry is to close out my original post and to show that someone with a desire to build their own rod, who does their research, learns the proper techniques to do that, and putting it all together, can do it. I had two mentors along the way who also helped on the phone with advice with parts and techniques. It’s an incredibly satisfying hobby and even more so when you catch your targeted fish on something you build and everything works as or better than expected. There are other great blanks out there for building muskie rods and those seem to get a lot more press in the muskie world. Add MHX to that mix of great blanks. Thanks to others who made good comments along the way. |
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