Kissel Krafts
 

Got my new custom rod today. Kissel Krafts made me a light action, 7' rod with the MicroWave guides. Spooled up with 4# test, 1/16th ounce jig and small Bobby Garland Baby Shad, was making 35 yard casts with it.

Beautiful rod from the patriot pattern. Can't wait to fish it!

They sent me a new tip top. Put it on and the rod is no worse for wear. But I am getting another one just like it made......just in case I break this one....LOL. Congrats on new rod. Looking fwd to fishing with you. Hope the water warms quickly.



Regards

After seeing your pics I need a Patriot Series.....LOL. Always more money....LOL.


Regards

Man that looks sweet!!!

ALPHA, it looks like the temps might warm up a bit this week. How's the knee doing?

It's coming along....a little better each day. My son and I are hitting Nickajack Monday. I'm hoping this warm rain will help us out out at Blue Cat.


Regards

Let me know when you are ready to go.

If I may ask, what is that first guide and what is the advantage?:o

It's called a MicroWave guide. It takes a lot of the line slap off of the rod resulting in longer smoother casts.
I bought this rod from Kissel Krafts in Georgia. They are custom rod builders.
They built the rod using the MicroWave guides. The guides get progressively smaller to the tip.
You can also buy just the guides from Jann's Netcraft and build your own or have someone build one for you. i do not know of any manufacturer that uses these guides on production rods.

Most custom rod builders, both in this country and around the world, have judged that there is no difference between a rod built with the Microwave guides, and a rod built with other premium guides (any brand of which is available in smaller sizes than the Microwaves, which makes a major difference in rod action for the upper half of the rod) using the New Guide Concept guide placement system, a system developed several years ago by Fuji and used by most professional builders (myself included) now. If you compare a rod with Microwave guides to a rod built with the old-fashioned method of guide selection and placement, which most cheaper factory rods still use, there will be a significant difference; but the Microwave system is just mimicking what the NGC system had already been doing for several years, which is to control the line quicker. Tom Kirkman is one of the top builders in the world, the publisher of RodMaker magazine and owner of rodbuilding.org, and he actually did a test comparing two rods made on the identical blank, one built with Microwaves and one with Pacbay Minimas (what I use on most of my spinning rods) using the NGC system. American Tackle, the company that makes the Microwave guides, is one of his advertisers, as is Fuji, as is Pacbay; so, as he notes in the thread I'm linking to, he has no reason to favor one over the other. He used identical reels spooled with the same line and threw the same casting plug with both rods, 35 casts each rod...The result? The average distance was identical:

http://rodbuilding.org/read.php?2,393589,393590

The selection of the proper blank to match the fisherman's specific goals makes far more of a difference in casting distance than the type of guide used. You can put either brand of guide mentioned above on a rod, with the latest science in placement, and if the blank is the wrong action or length for the purpose the angler has in mind, it's not going to perform well. For instance, someone posted on this thread a couple days ago how far they could cast a 1/16 oz. lure on a custom rod they had just had made. Most of my UL fishing is truly UL, meaning I rarely use a lure that weighs that much; the only time I use that much weight is when I'm using a slip sinker to bottom-fish, and on my main bluegill rod that I made on an 8' fiberglass fly rod blank, I can cast 1/16 oz. halfway across the lake. One of the rods I build is a super-UL spinning rod made on a 2-weight fly rod blank from Pacbay. It's significantly lighter in action than any factory UL made, including the expensive brands; it's made to cast extremely light presentations, such as a 1/64 oz. lure, good distances. One of the first guys I made one for is one of the moderators at bigbluegill.com; his favorite presentation in the warm months for bluegill is a woolly bugger tipped with a couple waxworms, and no other weight; he wanted a spinning rod that would cast it, without a casting bubble or other added weight. He reports that the rod I made for him casts said presentation significantly further than any other rod he owns, including his two St. Croix UL spinning rods.

I don't doubt the observations. When I asked them to make me a rod it was a specific action I had seen on a crappie fishing show that I wanted. They made the rods used on the show. It just looked like a perfect rod for crappie...and is. They asked me would I test out the microwave system for them....their first one....and I said yes......if I didn't like it I did not have to send any money. The rods on the fishing show did not have the microwave guides on them. The thing I like is the lack of vibration.....or as agelessone put it....reduction of line slap. I know it cast light lures a country mile....probably the result of the blank and guides....but this rod casts much smoother than any rod I have. Time will tell if these guides catch on. The guy that makes the float rods for Trout Magnet started using these guides also. They certainly don't hinder anything...IMHO. Going to test it out tomorrow on some REAL crappie at Nickajack.


Regards

casting test
 

I did a casting test on a 6'6" super-UL spinning rod I made specifically for casting very lightweight lures, the rod that I have built for UL enthusiasts who want more casting distance with such lures. I used 2-lb. test on a Shimano 2500, and did ten casts each with a 1/64 oz. jig, a 1/32 oz. jig, and a 1/16 oz. jig, no other weight besides the jig; I used a 1" curly-tail plastic body on the 1/64 oz. jig head, and a 1.5" Crappie Slider plastic body on the 1/32 and 1/16 oz. heads. I made ten casts with each jighead. Here are the results:

1/64 oz. jig:
42.4'
43.6'
43'
45'
46.2'
44.4'
44.9'
45.9'
49'
42.9'
Longest cast: 49 feet
Average distance: 44.7 feet

1/32 oz. jig:
64'
57.5'
55.4'
61'
53'
59'
58.5'
56'
61'
62'
Longest cast: 64 feet
Average distance: 58.7 feet

1/16 oz. jig:
69.6'
67'
65'
66'
67.3'
64'
68'
66.7'
67'
64'
Longest cast: 69.6 feet
Average distance: 66.5 feet

So the rod cast a 1/64 oz. jig an average of just under fifteen yards, and a 1/32 oz. jig an average of just under twenty yards. If you want a rod that's been advertised on a TV show and has a gimmicky guide for the first guide, my rods are not that; if you want a rod that will cast very light lures further than any other rod available, I make them for less than what the average G. Loomis will cost you.

After all has been said and done, I still love my Kissel Krafts rod with the MicroWave guides and so no matter what your tests say, I'm going to use it anyway.

Besides all the talk, my rod is very pretty! And fish LOVE a pretty rod........

I did my test because a post had previously been made stating that the rod I made recently for a member on here would not cast as far as other rods. I merely wanted to set the record straight. I'm just trying to make a living. As to cosmetics, I'll go out on a limb and say I've got Kissel Krafts beat in that category as well:

[IMG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8199/8...7f5a68017a.jpg hybrid-special-web by tnpondmanager, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8319/8...097da60f48.jpg coppernose-special 1a by tnpondmanager, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8199/8...88055ef731.jpg chris-rod-3 by tnpondmanager, on Flickr[/IMG]

I don't want to be a part of a thread that has a bunch of dudes comparing their rods...yikes!