I got a little bored this afternoon, so I wanted to try an experiment.

I’ve got like 20-something fishing rods laying around and the one I picked out was a 6ft 10-inch medium heavy spinning rod that I don’t even use anymore.

Three years ago it used to be a 7-footer but then I closed a door on the tip and the top two inches of it broke off. Since then the rod hasn’t been properly balanced and it felt like crap to use. It was too heavy to use for any single spinning reel that I own.

Since that unfortunate day this rod was basically used as a spare or an extra for any guests or friends in case they want an extra rod to use on trips.

Kenny might be thinking “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?”, since he used this rod a lot last June when we were up north and was catching a lot of fish on it.

Well, here is what I did.

I wanted to make the rod feel lighter and more sensitive, and after an hour of ripping apart the cork handle and a lot of sanding, I was able to make it happen.



I wouldn’t say this is a professional job by any means, but I am impressed by this advancement I made for a pretty crappy fishing rod.

You can see that the graphite blank is in two or three different colors. I have no explanation for this. Near the butt end, you can see a tint of gold. Towards the middle it is a shiny black. Then closer to the reel handle it turns grey. I washed the blank and then ran a rag of Goo-Off all alongside of it to remove any excess glue stains and remnants of cork. All of it was removed and it is smooth. Only problem is it’s in 3 shades of color.

Weird.

Here are some more photos of the sanding job I did.



My dad has a Dremel and it was pretty easy to shape the cork and smoothly sand it down. If there was any finishing I needed to do, I did it by hand with sand paper. I did this along the edges of the cork.



My only complaint on this project is the butt end. By the time I removed all of the cork with a razor blade and big pliers, I realized that I had the Dremel and like the cork below the reel seat, I could have left some remaining near the butt and I could have smoothened it out nicely.

But since I want this rod to be mollested and destroyed by Smallmouth Bass on float trips, I can care less for detail. I just want the comfort for being able to use this rod because I never had any with it before.

By the time I was finished making the rod lighter by removing the cork handle and turning it into a split grip, there was one other thing that I wanted to do.

Shimano rods are pretty huge with their finger grips that are seen with Clarus, Compre, Crucial and whatever other spinning rods they make. I own two Compres and I love this little finger feature that they possess as it gives the rod a lot more sensitivity.

So I had the Dremel tool in my hand and I went right to work. It was difficult to shape it perfectly, so I made it slightly crooked in the way my finger felt comfortable to the touch. I then smoothened it out with the sandpaper and gave it a wash to remove any leftover crap and shavings.



NICE!

This part especially turned out good!





And by the time I was finished, this is what the final product turned out to look like.

I don’t exactly know whether I will be using this reel along with the rod because I am in the market for one more spinning reel to be used on one of my other better spare rods, but I am certain that this is what it will be like.



And you can now see the tri-colored IM8 graphite blank.

This was a cool little experiment that I’ve always wanted to try. Mission accomplished. The only complaint I have is the butt section but I don’t care much for appearance on a rod that I envision abusing on the rivers.

Now that I look at the photos, I will probably paint the graphite blank over with a shiny black coating.

And now you can see that cork is a pretty weak material. Treat rods with care so that it can last a long time. All it takes is a set of pliers and you can rip it up easily.