Sunnyz Custom Rods

EL TORO V. 2 is ready for action and if it’s anything like El Toro we are going to have some fun. Built on another of the NFC Mystery blanks with minimal BULL.

Testing on HIS ROD is going well and I don’t want to put it down.

The TEAM did a great job on the article that I wrote about the making of it and I am very happy!

Started the month with rod bags, might as well end the month with one. Figured why not since it’s at heart a 4 piece fly rod and the rest are in a protective bag. Still not the quality that you’ll get when mom and I tag team them but I’ll keep trying.

Thanks to Jerry Jenkins for making me realize that you can make a fly rod something else!

Busy in the sewing department lately. Just putting the finishing touches on a couple for some previous builds.

El Toro will be the name of the first of 2024 if it proves to be anything like the TWIG. Not sure what the NFC pattern number 8409 that it’s built on is but it feels like it might slay the SLAYER. Come on Crappie!

Wanted to see if you could wrap two fish simultaneously to make some kissing fish. Answer is YES, and it just might make it on to the 30th Anniversary Rod (his that is). Don’t laugh at it because it’s like me, loose and all over the place. Just another practice pen.

A little change of plans on the red/black wrap. Daddy likey so we’re rollin’ wit it. Daddy will also finish pushin’ n packin’ when I can feel my hands again lol.

Test wrap for what will most likely be the first of 2024.

Ice is nice! Hopefully before 2024.

Wifey and I went back to school for a few days. I think there was as much information in those few short days as my entire four years in high school. Also scored some awesome goodies and inventory.

Speaking of goodies, wifey got to build that black blank in the St. Croix Rod factory with a good friend and a few others while Jeff and I did the plant tour. The classes were very well organized and informative with excellent presentations in all of them. Can’t wait to get wifey building her brand new St. Croix Custom.

Thanks St. Croix Rods and The Custom Rod Builders Guild for a super amazing event!

Space Rod is ready for takeoff! Well almost, but it should make it somewhere special for testing soon.

Not sure what the blank is and it has a poor paint job on it but it felt like it could be something. When the smallest grandson came up with the theme for the Space Rod it seemed like a good fit for it.

Nothing terribly fancy and a quick deco wrap till we find out what it can do. Stay tuned…

Little guy should get some big attention with this one.

Starting to get a little more comfortable with the blue and yellow of the Space Rod for the littlest grandson.

Happy Father’s Day!

Burnin’ for somethin’ new…

I’m a Joker, I’m a Smoker, I’m a Midnight… Whoa big guy! Gotta be careful with what you put out there on the old interwebs these days. This one is PG-13 though because I’ve rolled a few cigs with these in my day. Probably a couple other things too but we won’t go into that now.

What we will dwell on is that after the Smokin’ Rod V.1, I vowed to build a Smokin’ Rod V.2. The testing of the new silk thread continued on this one and the color preserver was already handy from the previous build. Some of my favorite Gudebrod and some metallic to complete a basic old school deco with some Smokin’ trim bands. Split grip got the full cover from the Zig-Zag Man.

I forget about what is on the bottom of the rods that have silk thread on the guide wraps when I start looking at them. The stuff just does something to me. Kinda like nylon going candy on ya it’s addicting.

Hope you enjoy this one because I put it on the couch for pictures and now it won’t get off lmao!

Opa’s Rod has finally been delivered to the family. I wish I could have gotten to know Opa a little more and we all wish we could have spent a little more time with him. I’ve asked his son Joe to be the proprietor and he was a bit touched by the gesture as was I when I realized that they have the same names.

Opa’s Rod is at my best guess a light jigging blank around seventy seven inches from stem to stern. A few odds and ends customized to complete another of the handles that I’ve been liking. Some of the Pac Bay Minima guides laced up with some of the new silk thread that has been getting tested and trimmed off with lots of metallic in lots of seven counts (built in luck).

Metal is from what I understand the root of the business that Opa and the family built so there is lots of it in the metallic thread. Pheasant feather deco because it seems Opa and the family’s passion for the bird and hunting it are as strong as I remember it being with my family.

My thanks to the Soehn family and all they have done for me and our family!

Smokin’ V. 2 ???

I normally wouldn’t post my fishing pictures here but testing is complete on the TWIG. I will be looking at the other two MB 662’s in the near future. Tight Lines!

In my quest to find out why the fly rods have been the only builds to get the silk thread I am throwing some at this spinning rod. So far so good…

The Twig is a remake of a rod I made back in ‘92. Started out with one of the three MB 662 (SM LMX) blanks recently acquired and threw some of the nicest components that I could scrounge on that. The goal was to keep as much of the sensitivity as possible and get it together quickly because the Crappie are in and the Whites are soon to follow. Tight Lines!

Purple Haze might still see a Steelhead this season. That’s a big MIGHT. I still have to find a reel and spool it up so that may take me a while.

Purple Haze is another BING SHX done up with the silk thread that grandma left me. I don’t know why I was so adamant about the purple metallic thread being in there except for it looked cool on the test wraps. It took several renditions of guide wraps until I was somewhat happy. There was no decorative wrap planned but when there was empty real-estate on a butt section a thread ju**ie gotta do what he gotta do. Something quick!

The BING-SHX 907-4 has been waiting a while to be built and when the 3wt recently completed was mocked up, so was this one. Just like the 3wt this 7wt has a removable fighting butt and some of the best components from inventory that I could throw together. The only thing I had (wanted) to buy/try was the material for the Cricut cutter. Next time I will also have the transfer tape to make the letters straight.

Here fishy fishy fishy…

Fade is a workout with a pinched nerve but should come together nicely. Don’t let grandma find out I’m using the good silk thread again

You don’t have to dress up to go to the Captain’s Club but sometimes we like to just because. Captain’s Club is a Lami blank with one of the old Phazer handles so that makes it a C-4 series in my book.

What is this C-4 series thing? Well first and foremost it has to have a HIGH BLAST YIELD. Second, it has to be multifunctional and be some of the best components in inventory. Last but certainly not least, it has to be some of my best work with some awesome colors and be for someone that I really appreciate and be like a brother to me.

Hope you enjoy this one Captain Tony and it doesn’t blow apart on that huge Pike that is waiting!

Thinking of what the grandparents would have thought of the Sonnies Rod.

“Cold as Ice” is what I’ve been calling this one since deciding to go with the silk thread. Built on a BING SHX F903-4, 9’ 4pc 3 weight with some of the current inventory.

Got me thinking of my Grandpa and them big bull ’gills!

Still missing you more than ever Uncle Joe!