mikeconcannon

No boat angling this Easter weekend, judging by the weather forecast, so I've finished re-building an original 8 foot 6 inch Ugly Stik spinning rod, which was looking pretty battered and worn, for my Daughter's partner, Jimmy Attwood. I think you will agree that it now looks pretty smart, ready for another 10 years plus of hard use. I replaced the grips with brand new EVA foam grips, which I turned to profile. I re-gel coated the blank, which was particularly scratched, in a pearlescent dark cobalt blue epoxy which I mixed myself. I replaced the line guides with Titanium ATC "Titans" from the American Tackle Company, which will not rust or corrode in any way on contact with salt water. These guides have particularly hard black "Nanolite" linings. The linings of these rings are guaranteed to withstand the most modern and abrasive lines. Just for good measure, Jim asked me to cross whip the finished rod, which I have done in a graduated cross chevron pattern in five different shades of metallic threads. I like the finished job. I don't want to give it back, but I must. Cheers Jim, I trust you will catch many big Bass on this beautiful rod. I hope it will give you much pleasure.

I've also built myself an 11 foot 6 inch light beach-caster, ideal for casting weights between 1 and 3 ozs. It should be ideal for those early morning or evening sessions fishing from local beaches, embankments and breakwaters for Bass and Flatfish. It's too long to photograph indoors, so I've taken a photo of two areas of interest. It's based on the superb Conoflex "Assasin" blank. I've fitted a permanent reel seat, in preference to the option of securing the reel to the butt with "coasters". It is ideal with one of the new compact 5500 size Abu Garcia Mag Elite chromium cased reels.

A couple of weeks ago I built myself two powerful up-tide rods specifically for bottom fishing for big Blonde Rays and other larger members of the Salachii family. They are 10 feet long and in the 30 to 50 lb line class. They are capable of casting a 12 oz grip lead. I marbled one, whilst I cross whipped the other. I quite enjoyed the challenge of creating the alternative styles. The Fuji line guides on the cross whipped rod are made from Titanium, which is 100% rust and corrosion proof. Those on the otherwise similar marbled version are the same style Fuji guides in Chromium finish.

I also added a marbled effect to the same area on my 10 year old 8 foot 30 lb class Northwestern Carbon / Kevlar boat rod of around the same vintage to use when I want something a little heftier than my usual 20 lb class boat tackle.

I've spent the past couple of days, confined in-doors by the rough weather, refurbishing my own 12 lb class Northwestern 8 foot Kevlar / Carbon boat rod, for salt water Bass angling during the coming season here in the UK. It's 10 years old, but with a new set of Fuji Concept chromium guides and a marbled effect on the blank between the butt and first guide, it looks good. I'm looking forward to using it.

Marbled finish on 20 lb class boat rod built by Mike Concannon Mid Blue, mixed with Cobalt base colour overlaid with mid blue lightened by a touch of chromium white plus a touch of pearlescent pigment, then some swirls of gold and copper pigments added to finish it off. Final clear coat of "High Build" applied when marbling dried.

Marbled Pattern on boat rod built by Mike Concannon - Dark blue Background marbled over with cobalt blue mixed with pearlescent powder and a touch of chromium white to lighten the shade plus swirls of hand mixed metallic silver and gold epoxy finish I’ve marbled my second rod and it looks absolutely brilliant. With a little experience gained on my earlier attempt, I got the paints to run and bleed as they should. I’ve seen nothing vaguely resembling it in the UK.

"Samurai" random colour pattern on boat rod built by Mike Concannon My first rod looks fine, but as I did not have the consistency of the mix quite right, it has come out as a multi-coloured random pattern which looks pretty good, though the colours did not bleed as much as I intended. It was what a true artist might refer to as a "lucky accident". I call it my "Samurai" pattern.