BUSHCRAFT SPINNING REEL AND ROD – SOLO OVERNIGHT – CATCH AND ROAST FISH ON SPIT
So I decided to make the reel and rod all natural this time. There is a learning curve mastering casting with my design. At the end of the night I got several nice long cast. I had two things against me. First the rod is fresh green wood. So it’s not stiff enough the first days to throw far. I noticed this in my previous rods too, after a few days it dries out and get much more spine which makes for much better cast. This rod worked great and I had a nice catch. I will bring it out again and we shall see the improved power of the rod. And two: I only had a couple of light weight lures with me. Need maybe 10 more grams and it will respond better to the rod and line. I was not sure if to call this a spinning rig or a baitcaster reel. In fact it’s a spinning reel when casting and a baitcaster reel when reeling in. So spinning/baitcaster hybrid was too long for the title lol. The reel itself was a super nice improvement over my previous reels I built here on the channel. One: it was super fast to make…maybe just 15 minutes over the old ones that I drilled (and needed a bigger auger over the nifty little gimlet I love and always have on me) and carved out from a solid piece of wood. And two: The reel action was 10 times more smooth because of the much less friction surface between the stick that you mount the reel on when reeling in and the reel itself. Because the bigger friction surface on the old reels I did, they worked horrible if getting wet. So if you dropped it in water or got rain on it fishing that day was over. This one worked just as good when wet. Big improvement. One more thing, when making a survival type of rod like this it’s important to get the rim of the reel as smooth as possible with the knife, sand paper or what ever you have. Or else the line will get stuck when casting the spinning way in micro cavities on the rim. You also got to keep the wood moist as long as you want to use it because green wood will crack in a couple of days if not treated with oil etc. You can make it out of dead wood instead but its easy to carve in green wood (and hard to find dead wood without natural cracks) and then when it dries some the dry sticks that plugged the reel get stuck and makes for a strong reel that holds together when you see some pike action. You don’t want to put it directly in water, better to keep it under some moss or something. It also works for catching bigger fishes. You don’t use the crank adapter I made when fighting it, you hold the reel with your right hand and let it slide if you need to let line out. Now when Im home I will drench it in linseed oil and take it out again in the next trip. Thanks for watching!
DS and please don’t compare this rod to a commercial rod. A lot of individuals can’t understand why one would use an inferior tool and are dead set on buying their way through this life. Its FUN to build things! I skipped the industrial revolution and made it work. The comparison is pointless. If you have a line and hook this sure beats the old hobo reel. It’s all about covering water surface to increase your chances of catching a fish.