Here's some pics of the rod I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I hope the pics do the rod justice. Its a Lami 961 MT , not 981MT. Its built on a steelhead rod blank for very light surfcasting..

http://www.striped-bass.com/images/sh/butt1.jpg

solid diamonds on top. Every other diamond has the color change

http://www.striped-bass.com/images/sh/butt3.jpg

split diamonds on the sides. Every other diamond has the blue and silver quadrents switched.

Diamonds on all four sides is called a "double cross wrap"

http://www.striped-bass.com/images/sh/butt4.jpg

Large gathering guide. this rod switches to single foot guides except for this first gathering guide

http://www.striped-bass.com/images/sh/collectguide.jpg

full decorated section

http://www.striped-bass.com/images/sh/butt2.jpg

Fuji spinner reel seat. This is a great rod for very light stuff. Its the second one he purchased. After one use , his wife commandeered the first one from Specialist! :) This one is for him

http://www.striped-bass.com/images/sh/handle.jpg

:btu:

Good thing you have a little time on your hands right now.

That rod is BEAUTIFUL:happy:

Nice work Mike!

I took the liberty of editing the black background out (bigger pics next time :D )

Bill - go get that 200 NOW!!!

saltheart, that is a work of art,should be hanging in a gallery.or better yet a different one hanging on my wall!!! super job..

that is some sweet work there mike.

You know it make's me wonder why I always have my rods built
without the frills!!
That looks almost too nice to fish!

That rod is truly a work of art!!

Guys you really got to see this rod in person to appreaciate it. It is a work of art. I cant stop fondling it I am :happy:

Thank you Saltheart.

Mike,

WOW! I guess that you meant what you said about a fancy wrap!...

That is AWESOME work!!!... I'll be saving my money!!!

I give so much to my wife, that I had to marry her for my own money!!!

That is a sweeeeeeeeeeeet rod!
:drool: :drool:

Nice wraps Mike !!!!

Not that anything else needs to be said about Saltheart's work, but a buddy of mine here in NY just got an Allstar 1265/2 wrapped by Mike. He was barely able to speak. Finally I got him to make sense, then he couldn't shut up about how nice the stick was. Maybe even too nice to fish with.

Good stuff there Saltheart. Enjoy the stick Bill.;)

Mike, very pretty.

Was that the one with the fade?

-Ben

That Fade is VERY SWEET! I saw it over Mikes house was very impressed...

wow,, that is awesome mike. you are a rod making picaso.

Thanks for all the compliments. I do the fancy work as art. The time involved is so great that you have to just enjoy it as artwork cause on an hourly basis you are working for nothing.

Specialist's rod pictured here , is not the fade. the fade is the one CSK mentioned his friend got. Thats a pattern where i use a dark blue which disappears into the black background when coated with epoxy. Over the next couple of years , as the sunlight fades the dark blue thread to light blue , the main pattern already visible will grow a winged crest. Very difficult since every thread must go down one at a time in an exact pattern and its a closed pattern where 4 boxes have to close down to leave no space when done. Its like 4 normal patterns worked all at once that all come together at the end.

This is how it looks now

This is how it will look after it fades. The blue wing tips are hidden until the thread fades a little. This picture is someone elses work off the internet and I used the computer to turn it blue so you can see what mine will fade to. this was originally done in red but is not a fade. the red on black was imediately visible

:eek: I'm speechless. Beautiful

Saltheart, hope things are going well and you're feeling better.

Very nice rod... hopefully, I'll get to check it out in person some time. Specialist, what reel are you gonna match it up with?

Suhweeeeeeet!!!!

Mike, let's do that blue on black for my replacement rod, OK?

Just can't afford the time to wait for the artwork. Next rod will definitely consider it though.

Ross

NF - that works out to be about 30 cents an hour, I think you'll need to pay extra for that... For those that don't know, that butt wrap probably takes as long or longer than the entire rest of the rod - start to finnish...

Too true John. Since its a double wrap (diamonds on all 4 sides) , Specialist's butt wrap took twice as long as the whole rest of the rod build!

Well I fished the rod last night. It cast like a dream. Right now I have a Quantum Kinetic pti on it. It is about the size of John's Stradic. It has this lube called hot sauce and is very smooth. Trouble is that reel came of the other Lami that my wife latched onto, so I will have to get another one, unless I hit the number then I got my eye on a VS.

Mike,Great work --looks great

Is mine next in line ??

Mike

Bill, why didn't you ask how we did when you walked by us last night? too dark to recognize me?:smash:

My nephew dropped a fish right in the wash on an olive mambo in that bowl we were fishing. And then he had a fish bust off when the snap opened, :( bye bye YoMag Darter. I got the skunk but did have 4 hits.

Saltheart I saw that rod last night :D WOW that is some spectacular work you are doing. It sure looks complicated and time consuming.

Figured you were busy watching him. He looked really excited to be fishing. I got one fish 35" 14.8lbs on eel from that bowl. I had a hit on ell were the line slowly tightened up, and almost pulled the rod out of my hands, I set up on it but missed. I never felt a hit on an ell like that before. Bob got 1 lost 1 and missed 1 on bombers. We went to Nauset light once the bars were exposed at the bowl. Water was too low, so we went to "ghetto beach". Mark got 4 or 5 rats on sluggos. I got home at 0720, long ride with many stops along the way for power naps.

Sorry clammer but you are like 3 or 4 down the list. Only one of them is fancy and the plain ones go faster. Doing my best to get through them but can't rush if you want them nice! :)

:eek:

Wow!!!

I was just introduced to this rod by specialist. The wrap is unbelievable. It was so perfect I thought it was a decal. :drool:

Sweet art by salt heart ! (hee hee) thread art is like fishin, ya need alot of patince. Are your personal rods as fancy as the ones you wrap for others? Is there classes available on that type wrap? Can you notice a difference in the over all weight,with that butt wrap? I used ta say,colors and fancy wraps don't help you catch more fish, how wrong is that. It makes me wanna fish more........zzzzzzzzzzzzzz Keep up da good work Salt!