last day

today was a mad rush to get everything done! i had to get poster board get my time sheets all figured out! I worked on my paper, made a pamphlet to hand out! getting my new printer took a while! still didn't figure out how to double side the paper so i had to sit there and print one side out then put it back in and print the other side

2 hours...finishing up, writing, problem solving

monday

Today i woke up really and went out down-rigging. Me and dan where a little disappointed that we didn't catch anything big but we where able to get 1 salmon. dan had a doctors apt during the afternoon so i called my cozen rob and had him come over. He has done some fly fishing in his day so i spent a little trying to learn how to cast a fly rod..it;s not as easy at it looks. We ended up going to a little cove and fishing i must have got 15 fish within the 2 hours we where there. mostly perch..1 white perch. we ended up coming back to the dock because it was getting dark and i was able to catch a few more fish..rod got one nice sized one. ohh so best parts of the day we saw a beaver in the cove we where in and i was casting and all the sudden half my rod flew into the water...i could not stop laughing i thought i was gona die..thank god i got it out!

6 hours..fishing..lots of fish!!

weekly reflection

This week was so much better than last week! Finally, my luck turned around and I was able to catch a bunch of fish; altho on Monday I did have a little problem. The rod turner shut off while the epoxy was drying. Witch caused the epoxy to dry uneven. Other than that the week went smooth. Im very happy I went with a 6 ft rod. It allows you to cast so fare. Iv never used a long rod before I have always had a 5 ft, I am never going back. I did have to sand down my handle witch I wasn't to happy about I had it so perfect. But it turned out very nice still.

For my first time ever I went down-rigging. It’s a type of fishing that allows you to fish really deep while moving in the boat. There are two spools with wire on them, on the wire are two big weights that you attach to your normal fishing rod line. The weights allow you to get the lure or fly depending on what you are fishing with down to any depth you want. I was able to catch a few salmon with this style of fishing. It was a little boring tho, there is no casting. The boat moves as slow as possible and just drives around; some fishermen even use 5 gallon buckets to slow the boat down.

I believe my success this week was due to the new lurers. I had been using pritty big tackle. I figured big fish like big meals, well that is not the case as I found out. I ended up going and buying some small spinner and they worked amazing. My favorite lure was a small piece of copper I believe that was concave and allowed it to spin while going through the water. One of the pickerel I caught swallowed it so deep that I could not get it out and I had to cut the line.

Over all the week was great I got to use the rod make some final changes and fixes. I was also had the chance to talk to some old fishing men while trolling. One of then men I talked to have been fishing the lake his whole life and had been keep records of what lure catches the most fish and the month and time the fish bite. Altho I promised him I would not tell anyone his secrets.

Friday

so today i got another early start we went out and my mother came with us. we ended up going to my old fishign ground in winter harbor and it turn out to b the best idea of the week! it was like going to the candy store all day we had fish coming into the boat! all pickerel tho..i dont know where all the bass went...im making it a new goal to catch some bass my neighbor came by on the boat and as he was coming in he got a bass right off the same dock iv been fishing for the last 2 weeks and havent gotten anything..a lil frustrating haha the the weather was amazing again today..iv grew up on the lake and in the past 2 weeks i dont think iv seen the lake so calm. i have some picture but i dont have the hook up at the moment so ill try and get those up as soon as i can. ohh so i got a real for my rod today but it broke first day....

6 hours..fishing

best day yet

so woke a early and new it was gona b a nice day so i had planed ahead and packed the boat full of everything i would need for an all day event..we went out in dans boat to do some down rigging and we got 2 salmon. then he had to go and do some house work so i took out my fishing boat and went out for the rest of the day fishing for bass.. i drove as far as i could away form my house and starting fishing. what success i got 3 bass and a couple small kibbies. it left grate to use the new rod and get so many nice fish...i havent gotten a real for it yet just took one off an old rod but it seems to b working perfect..

7 hours fishing... catching fish and working out the new rod

done

so after fixing my rod..i had one thing left to do. the small machine used to spin the rod as the epoxy dries holds the rod with 3 screws..kinda like a chrismas tree holder. so when you tighten the screws they go into the cork. so i spent the day sanding away and after getting the little holes gone i decided to make the handle a little smaller.. my mom desided that i needed a lucky fishing rod she went to walmart and got 2 superman fishing rods..one for her of cores she isnt gona give me the newest equipment unless she has it..i sent a little time on the lake but it was just not good weather to be in even with a rain coat i got soaked. i got a small sunfish nothing amazing. i ended up re-stringing the rod what i was using..for some reason the new string loved to get in a not while i casted it..so i ended up undoing knots most of the time on the boat. i had an amazing idea while being soaked in the rain..i should have to rods fishing at the same time..so i put a bobber and worm on one fishing pole and had a small lure on the other...a 100% increase in my chance to catch a fish..

6 hours...3 sanding/cleaning....3 fishing....struggling with nots

shoppin

today i went on the hunt for the perfect real for my rod! i wasnt able to find one yet...the two fishing shops that i new of had both closed..dan has been telling me about eh old times and how everything used to b hand made and how rods today as well as reals are built cheap.. i also went fishing in the morning i wanted to get a head start on the fish today! so i got up as teh sun was rising..I accualy just woe up and coundnt get back to sleep. So i went out on the boat and fished around rattle snake island..I was able to get 2 bass and a little sunny...

7 hours 5 fishing 2 hours looking at reals and talking to all of dans fishing friends

a lucky streak

so after letting the epoxy dry we had a little hick-up in the building of the rod...the rod turning that turns the rod for 4 hours after you apply the epoxy stoped 30 min in and because of this the epxy dried on even...so i pent today using a heat gun and heating up the epoxy untill it would drip off.... while doing this on 1 of them i ut to much heat and burnt the string so i had to re-tie the eye loop... i got a little fed up with the mess so i ended up going fishing for a little. I was able to get 2 small bass nothing special maybe 10in and 12in but he sun is seetin and the wavers are calm..a very rare thing...

6 hours...re-tie eye loops, heat gun, epoxy, fish

weekly reflection

What a great week! The week started off with crappy weather with 50MPH winds and massive waves but I was able to work on my rod. I ended up getting the handle done, the eye loops wrapped on, and epoxy on as well. The most difficult thing so far with building this rod was definitely the small eye loops. Because of the way you wrap the string around the rod there are no nots. The end’s of the string are just tucked in through 1 or 2 wraps. But once you start to get to the small eye loops you didn't have much room to work with. Trying to get the eye loop lined up and in the right spot was so frustrating, but I was able to struggle through it.

After getting the handle done the weather stated to turn out for the best. I was able to get out on the boat a couple times. All though I was not as successful as I would have hoped I was abel to catch two rainbow trout. Personally I think the water is still a little to cold for the bass to be up around the shore. Thats why I haven't been able to catch one. But like Dan (mentor) said “it’s not the fishing rods fault it’s the stiff holding it.

One of my favorite parts of the week was getting to sign my name on the rod. First I used gold sheets and taped them onto the rod where I wanted to sign it then I used a heat gun and signed my name. The first one came out very bad. I had to remove the gold wrap and re-do it. The second time I tried to keep it simpler, so I just used my initials, and the date.

Over all, the week went well, I was able to get a lot more done than I was expecting and I am that much closer to my final goal. A hand built fishing rod, with a couple of flies to use. Hopefully next week ill catch more fish and maybe even be able to use my fishing rod.

Friday

so woke up today and it was perfect fishing weather..no wind..over cast sky's and a bunch of worms..my mother decided to come out on the boat today...."i think she scares the fish away" we went out at 7 to 12 and got nothing..i had a couple of fish on the line but was unable to wrangle them into the boat...should b time to invest in a net! came back and got some lunch and hung out at the dock took some cast...yet again nothing....so i gave up fishing for the day and went to work on the rod i was able to apoxy the eye loops..it was so hard! first u have to mix the 2 part apoxy to the perfect amount so it wont harden to fast but will harden...then u have to evenly apply it to the string that we wrapped around the eye loops to hold it on..if your screw up witch i did you have to use a heat gun and heat the apoxy up and try and get it all off....we had to take all the string off 2 eyes loops cause i screwed up 2 times...re tie them and then try to apoxy again..but we eventually got most of it done.

7 hours...5 fishing..no fish...2 hours apoxying

thursday

so today was a weak day...i went to the bait shop and got some worms and bobbers.. well there are no fish in the lake that want to eat worms....i spent all day starring at the orange bobber bob in the water.. altho the sun was out it was very chilly because of the wind...i wasn't able to do anything on the rod because we are waiting on the epoxy and the right man to teach me how to do it....my mom came up last night with the dogs! it was so funny 2 c the dogs run up and down the dock wondering what i was doing just sitting there. they also enjoyed chasing the ducks in the water altho they never come even close to gettin them...

6 hours...no fish..

wed

today was really boring didn't do anything on the rod today got up and went fishing....was able to catch 2 rainbow trout in the early morning...then spent the rest of the say gettin nothing but a couple of nibbles...i did c the biggest fish iv ever seen swim right past me...i tried everything i could to catch him other than jump in on top of him...tomorrow will b a little warmer!! hopping

hours 6....2 rainbow

boring day

so being along is making me go crazy! I was able to finish the handle of the rod this morning and then went fishing for a couple hours..didnt catch anything..im thinking the water is still to cold for most the bass to come close to shore... i ended up doing a little more stylish handle style than i have seen..it goes from fat to slim then it tapers bigger. i took some picture ill try and upload them. tomorrow is supposed to rain..hopefully im going to get out early and catch a fish b4 it does..tomorrow I also need to glue the top of the handle on..total i dont think today went as well as it could have..i wish i had caught a fish..

5 hours..no fish..finished handle

First day

First Day

so i had to start my project a little early because i was told that i would have a hard time finishing a fishing rod in the time given (72 hours).

I instantly fell in love with this project. As soon as i saw that blank rod i new this was gona be really cool! 1. The first thing I did was to clean the blank graphite rod. gettin all the unwanted dust, and tape remnince off. 2. now i had no idea that the butt end of a fishing rod was not all one big cork but mutiple little pieces. so i spent the next hour..hour and a half just sittin by the trash can fying the inside of the corks. each one was diffront than the other and the rod tapers from botton to top...not the easiest thing to do... 3. after that was done i had to glue all the pieces on to the rod. 4 i learned how to attach the eye loops the string goes thru.

3 hours of work last sat ... may 1,

after letting the cork glue set i had to shape the handle... altho this is very simple for come reason cork doesn't sand like wood and it took forever....the best way to do this i found was to take little pieces of sand paper (rough) and just wrap it around the cork. use one hand to apply pressure to the sand paper and the other hand to spin the rod.

5 hours last night and today may 9-10