Its about time!!!!!! ;)

...fished it this am...kind of flawless...
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How much did you chop off the 1201m? I just built one full length but I am tempted to get another one and chop it down to 9'.

6" off the butt. really seams to have stiffened it up. although it may just be the variation between 1201m blanks - i'm certainly not a rod expert

i feel much more confortable throwing bigger wood (up to about 5 oz, say large jointed bigwater diver size) and riggies with it than by full length 1201m which is great for slightly lower loads

Thanks man, I was wondering how it would stiffen up. Maybe I will play it safe and chop a 1L.

-Al

Sorry for derailing this thread. 200 gets my vote as well if you want to use it on 10 and 9'ers. Mine bounces around between a 10'ssu1m, 10'gsb1m and a glass 9'er. Very happy with it on all of them. I was thinking of getting a 250 but the 200 works so well for my fishing Im just going to get another one.

-Al

Cutting a blank from the butt does not "stiffen" it, rather it moves the flex closer to the butt and slows the action some. Slower action and a shorter rod are good for heavy loads.

So if I chop a 1201m a foot from the butt it will feel slower/more parabolic than a full length one? Thats what Im after, a slow 9'er, but not glass slow, with lots o balls.

Yes, I would think so, but I've never tried it. That is what they do with the 1201L for this "montauk eel rod". Should work about the same with the 1201m, but give you a more powerful rod obviously than a 1201L (and probably more than a 1081m). You might also try to hunt down a kennedy-fisher 8720. They are very slow and very powerful (10ft). Perhaps they made an equivalent 9fter....someone like saltheart or mike P likely knows.

The flex is actually moved closer to the tip thereby making the rod slightly less slower. The section of the rod from the reel seat to the butt will never flex because of the stout design feature of the reel seat. Now if you cut the bottom of the blank there is a section that will not flex as mentioned above which moves the flex towards the tip.
If you have a 1201 give it a shake as is and observe the distance of the tip from a neutral position then reposition your hands one foot from there prior position and observe that distance. I latter will flex less.
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...where does one get these knobs? and it balances alright on the non-bailed 150?

Doc - Give my 200 a whirl before you order up a new handle.....

...just as a follow up...loving my 150...cant imagine not having it...totally worth the money in my opinion....

Especially since you were taking waves up to your chest and face last night. You never would have been able to stay there with your old reel. Too bad you had to leave fish as the tide came in.....

No issues with balance IMO. Just calls River's End in CT and tell them you want to install it yourself and order the parts from them. They will give you waht you need. It couldn't be easier!

So did I! Replaced my Saragosa for a VS200.

The bail-less Saragosa is worthless. It spins during the cast and catches the line......ending the cast and breaking off the lure. Lost 3 lures in 12 casts.

Brought it back to the dealer for my money back. No problem with them because I exchanded it for the VS 200. Worked with it last night and it is a dream to fish with.

JKF 8708 is the 9' equivalent of the 8720.

Good luck finding any. I bought the last 8720 that Pat Abate had in the late 1990s, and he had just sold his last 8708. To a well known fishing writer who once wrote in a book that there were no graphite blanks worthy of making into a conventional :biglaugh:

I once bought two GSB 132 1M blanks from M&Ds, and had Mike build them at 10' by chopping the butt (as he had no 120 1M blanks available then). One was built spinning, the other conventional. Bought them less than a year apart.

One--the spinning rod as my luck usually runs--came out stiff with the flex moved towards the tip. I used it for jigging before I bought an All Star 1209. The conventional came out soft and slow, flexing into the reel seat--it has no power to turn a fish in the Canal, although it's a heck of a beach eel rod (which does me no good now since I swore off heathen fishing) :grins: