Well the tourny sucked! A crazy August cold front came in, it was barely 60 degrees when we launched. Fishing was very tough and i only caught 1 dink. My partner caught 2 dinks and 1 keeper (lil over 15"). Big bass was a 5.8 pound hawg, the only fish the guy weighed. No one had more than 2 fish.
Now on to the rod. I cant post pics of it now, in respect of Alex(the builder) He had it packaged great on shipping, but i guess it got stuck in the truck in the heat for a while. The carbon handle had clear coat epoxy on it, and he had it bubble wrapped, i guess the heat softened the epoxy, and expanded the bubble wrap. It has dots formed all into it. I am going to send it back to him, and he is going to refinish it. One thing i have always thought is this: you never know anything about someones service untill a problem comes up. Anyone can be good to deal with when things are going good, but how do they handle something unexpected. Alex is a stand up guy, and i know he will handle this professionally. Other than that the rod it awesome!! Micro guides seem great, the spiral wrap was flawless. I see absolutely no reason why not to do both on a custom rod. This rod it SOOOO light it is unreal. You might not think the micros save much weight, but you are wrong. He does everything he can save weight and it shows. I will try to remember to ask him what the exact weight on the rod was.
Any questions just ask, i will try to post pics of the guides and spiral wrap, but not the carbon handle to respect his work. Im sure he doesnt want a pic of a "blemished" rod that was not his fault floating around the internet. But the first pic in here is a good one of the handle if you are interested.
By the way, the shape of the handle was awesome!! You can tell in the pic on page 1 that it has a tapered shape. It fits the hand so well. Every cast it slips into that tapered part like a glove. The smooth carbon is a little slick, but not too bad. He also does a textured carbon. You can see pics on his website. He also does the shaped handle in cork, EVA foam, and a flocked core. I cant say too many good things about his work, or him as a person. =D>