976-KayakJan, AFTCO & Rod Building Expo

976-KayakJan - Tim Boyer, owner of Dana Point Jet Ski and Kayaks (http://www.danapointjetski.com/), finished installing my Eagle Cuda 250 s/Map Fish Finder and GPS on Wednesday. Thursday morning Tim, Jack and I were on the water by 6:30 a.m. heading north towards Salt Creek. I made it as far as the San Juan Rocks but both Tim and Jack went all the way to Salt Creek. Jack had a good day trolling a small Rapala managing 10 barracuda in his catch. Tim did well too with barracuda in his catch as well.


Tim out on his Kayak

I, on the other hand, lost a couple jerk shads to short bites and learned that paddling out of kelp isn’t fun. I spent most of my time playing with my fish finder and new VHF Radio. I have much to learn about kayak fishing.


My new Fish Finder

The weather was calm, less than 10 knots of wind with a water temperature of 59 degrees in the morning and heating up to 64 degrees by noon. Pedaling out I noticed I was traveling at a little over 4 mph but returning I was only going 3 mph going against the current.






A View from the Kayak

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AFTCO - Saturday morning, May 3rd, found the fishing community listening to Let’s Talk Hook-Up while waiting in line for the annual AFTCO Parking Lot sale to open at 9 a.m. Cal and Nancy Sheets were there as was Tom Raftican, UASC, Doug Kern, Fisherman’s Landing, Patrick Gee and, of course, the AFTCO folks. There were great buys on AFTCO clothing and fishing tackle; however, meeting fishing friends is always the highlight of these events.

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Rod Building Expo – The first Rod Building Expo was held at the Orange County Fair Grounds on the same day as the AFTCO parking lot sale. It was a short drive from AFTCO to the Expo. The entry fee was $8 but parking was free. Inside booths were set up displaying rods, rod wrapping parts and equipment.

Doc Ski was in a booth but mostly out of the booth talking to folks. Tim Campbell, Swifty, had a booth where his wife and young daughter were demonstrating marbling. Marbling is a process of adding colors to the finish either on the wraps or in lieu of decorative wraps at the base of the rod. Another booth was demonstrating decorative wrapping with threads. I learned enough at this booth to make the entire Expo worth the time for me.

A small seminar area was provided at one end of the building with seats for about 50 people. I attended the first three seminars that covered:

1. Rod Building Basics - 10AMCovers spine alignment, guide placement/wrapping, and Tools
Instructor: Terri Cheatum - Kel's Rod & Reel Service

2. Handle Assembly - 10:45AMCovers installing Reel Seats, Cork, EVA, Hypalon & Shrink Tube Grips
Instructors: Doc Ski, Mark Griffin & Tim Campbell

3. Finish - 11:30AMCovers Epoxy Finish tips & techniques
Instructor: Terri Cheatum - Kel's Rod & Reel Service

The seminars were good and included actual demonstrations of splining, measuring and installing grips and reel seats, and finishing the guides. For the first Rod Building Expo, it was a good start. I am sure future Expos will be even better.