Assembly of Stillfish reels to rod

Okay, I like real cork handles but the Still Fish doesn’t work well fastened directly to cork. So I take a short piece of the foam rod handle material and 5 minute epoxy that to the very butt of the blank. Then I start to trim it to the correct diameter with a sharp filet knife and finally shape it with the coarse teeth of a 4-in-hand wood rasp. The Still Fish clamps nicely onto the foam. Then I fit my cork rings to the blank with 5 minute epoxy and rasp and sand them to the final diameter I like. Usually 10 cork rings.
I much prefer HT spring bobbers fastened to the blank tip with heat shrink tubing.

Duke

Thanks Duke! I will try your suggestion. The stillfish rod and reel I bought now has a wooden handle and has a great feel and action but using the cork will be a lot easier for me than to try and reproduce the wooden handle without the right tools. I’m using a 48″ stillfish set up now and hole hop. I would like to build a tad bit longer rod and reel setup thus the inquiry

All the best,

I started with a 48″ that I bought from a guy on the ice. He told me I’d be better with a 5 footer but I had to learn the hard way. A cork handle and a 5 ft. balance perfectly with a Still Fish reel. My new favorite is a 6 ft. blank cut back to 5’6″ by cutting 6″ from the butt. Still use 10 cork rings but the rod balances much better with a B&M crappie pole thru blank reel. The B&M is better made, harder to disassemble on the ice as you need a Phillips screw driver and are harder to find. So you have to decide if they are worth it.

My concern for me with a much longer rod than I am using now is that where I fish the wind is wicked some days and that limber tip and spring bobber would bounce around so much that I might find it harder to detect the light bites. Plus most of the time where I fish with the stillfish the depth is 10 ft or less. Calm weather out of the wind I think it would be a hoot to play the big crappie and gills that we catch on the longer rod. As the fish move to deeper water I change to spinning reel and shorter rod.

Oh yes Sam, you are right. Windy days are tough long rodding. I have a 24″ rod stashed in the sled and several palm rods for super finesse or huddling over a hole, in my bucket. You do what you have to.
The long rods really shine in shallow water hole hopping. There are few things more fun than a hot crappie bite in 5 ft. of water on late ice.

Duke