I just got into building this last year and it is a great hobby. Like others have said, the initial cost can be a little spendy, but the rods you can create are amazing and for the most part ice rods can be built affordably.

I’ve gotten supplies from Mudhole, Jann’s, Sportsmen’s Direct and DH customs. Dusty at DH has the 32 inch Perch Pounder blank that I believe he sells for $25, which may be a good option for you. It surely beats the $43 or so that Thorne gets for the Perch Sweatheart. The
MHX CIB-36 blank may also be a decent option for you.

I too think that the fly guides are a good option, use the flexlite spinning guide and it gives you the look of using recoils. I like 10 spinning, 5, 4, 3, 3 for my guide sizing on longer rods, but I’ve trieds several others as well.

I have a Strikemaster Laser Mag with the Solo motor and was thinking of switching to Amsoil this year. What mix do you those of you that are using Saber use (80:1)?

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Sounds like the carb is gummed up. Try letting it run for a few minutes to warm up and then pour some Seafoam in the carb while it’s running – enough to get it to stall. Let it sit for 20 minutes and start it up. If it’s fixed, great, it not do it again with a bit larger amount of Seafoam. Otherwise, sounds like it’s due for a carb rebuild.

Good luck.

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Thanks for the advice, I’ve been running Seafoam in the gas hoping to clean it up. How do you get the Seafoam directly in the carb? Through the air intake? I’m not exactly a master small engine technician, but with some guidance I can figure it out. It is the Solo 142 engine if that matters.

It seems to idle fine after starting and will run to drill multiple holes. I’ve drilled between 5 and 20 holes before it bogs down. If I give it some throttle it’ll run longer, but it eventually dies. When I try restarting, it is tough to get started, unless I give it some throttle.

I tried opening the gas cap and I’ve also tried giving it some choke, but it didn’t seem to help. I was thinking I’d get a new air vent when I get the carb kit.

D Rock typically has demo augers, if that is something that you’d want to check out. That is where I got mine a few years back and the price was pretty good. H2O outfitters may also have them.

I’m glad to hear that the carb kit helped. I think that is what my Lazer Mag needs. It starts fine and will run for awhile but will bog down and eventually kill. It has fresh gas with some Seafoam and a new spark plug and air filter. Fuel lines look fine, so I hope the carb kit will do it. Was it fairly easy to do?