Shimano Exage 110H Old model convertion

I

IWyk

Sealiner
I have three of these rods. 2 I have kept standard and one has been converted to a 11ft spinning/plugging rod.

I have seen two post regarding extending the butt section and converting to spin, but not much more.

Would like to get more feedback regarding this and would like to know from guys who have done this, are you happy and is it worth it?

These are awesome blanks but would like to have one extended for use off the beach where a longer length would be much better.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.
 
B

bambooskollie

Sealiner
A 12ft or 12.6ft could be a beaut of a rod.
They (the 110h) throw 8oz , land anything and are easy casting.

potent idea

Go for it .

Keep the butt section light ,low diameter and powerful enough to handle the 110h.
Guide layout - run the hybrid low rider/k-series mix about 8 guides.
minimal EVA - minimal epoxy work at the guides.
Make your build strong but light.

If you like playing with the 110H.

Ive been running a trevala TVS-66MH 6.6ft 50-100lb braid weight ,power.medium/heavy Action.medium/fast jigging stick blank in my 110h backsection for a while now. Great marriage.Great tip replacement

Keep us posted on that build . It should be a sick rod.

skollie
 
S

surfboy

New member
Hi.
I have an original 110H and enjoyed it so much, wanted to extend to 12'. Although the rating say you can throw a 8.8oz....I don't think the rod feels right with heavier than 6oz and bait. I bought a second hand original and had it stripped and built to 12'2"......keeping my own 110H as is. The new rod, due to the extended length, the action is slightly slower (softer). Have not used it extensively, but field casted and fished 2 sessions, using a Torium 14 and HMP 75lb braid, 5oz and bait......Very happy with it......tip also has a nice flip to it and seems to me that it will be great for spinners and poppers....also happy that it is soft enough to fish braid without ripping the hook out on the strike. My grip was built too thick and have recently had the grip slimmed down....I like light and slim. Going to spend some more time with it and if I still feel happy, going to put on better guides.....like I should have done on the re-build!!!
 
S

surfboy

New member
My rods are now, Exage original over head 10', 11', the extended 11' Exage to 12'2", Sensation oval 12' built to 12'6" and a Sensation oval 12' built to a 13'. All set....for the time being.
 
G

grootvis

Sealiner
I have pretty much rated these the top rods for spinning with multipliers. In my opinion, it is only my opinion,the 110h and 100m are not in there comfort zone being used as beach or bait rods. I think there weight ratings are a bit misleading to be honest. Because of the action of the tip, i find it doesnt cast a bait well at all, but a sinker alone very well. The recovery is very slow , but that would make it ideal for throwing lures and rappies, which it was ultimately designed for. Make 100% sure you get the guide layout right, or you might be happy with the rod but you might be missing out on what could be an ultimate casting rod. I would keep to the maximum number of guides you could safely put on there. Both my rods have 10 guides + tip(4 x Low riders and 6 x KT 10 and BMNAT tip) and it could actually do with one more kt in my opinion. Thats putting the rod comfortably where it wants to be......lovely rods....:)

Good luck and be sure to show us some pics when completed.
 
I

IWyk

Sealiner
Many thanks for the feedback so far appreciated.

Sounds like I should go for it, if I do- Enigma will be the man to put it together. He has done a 10'6 and 12'6 on Oval DC blanks for me and also converted my one 110H heavy to a plugging/popper spinning rod for kingfish. He is currently building 4 x tiger rods on 8ft BM blanks for me .

He really knows his stuff and I am sure the rod will come out as the others have- excellent!!

Good to get some feedback as this makes it easier to decide.

I love these blanks and rods they are light, thin and have massive backbone.
I have cast 6-8 ounces with my 11ft  before but would like to extend in order to get some more distance(to the sandbanks) for eds and keep the thin lightweight profile.

Will probably want to cast 4-6 ounces with smaller ed baits(prawn/chokka-chokka, small cutlets, sealice, small crabs etc.)

I probably have enough rods but like the idea behind this concept and hell why not-some okes do drugs and other funny things- I like fishing and hunting so may just go ahead with this one
 
S

surfboy

New member
IWyk wrote:
Many thanks for the feedback so far appreciated.

Sounds like I should go for it, if I do- Enigma will be the man to put it together. He has done a 10'6 and 12'6 on Oval DC blanks for me and also converted my one 110H heavy to a plugging/popper spinning rod for kingfish. He is currently building 4 x tiger rods on 8ft BM blanks for me .

He really knows his stuff and I am sure the rod will come out as the others have- excellent!!

Good to get some feedback as this makes it easier to decide.


I love these blanks and rods they are light, thin and have massive backbone.
I have cast 6-8 ounces with my 11ft  before but would like to extend in order to get some more distance(to the sandbanks) for eds and keep the thin lightweight profile.

Will probably want to cast 4-6 ounces with smaller ed baits(prawn/chokka-chokka, small cutlets, sealice, small crabs etc.)

I probably have enough rods but like the idea behind this concept and hell why not-some okes do drugs and other funny things- I like fishing and hunting so may just go ahead with this one
Click to expand...

Just bear in mind that going longer, the action slows and rod is softer....maybe not take as much weight on the throw.....I am comfortable throwing a 5oz and strip bait (chokka thin strip and 2 prawn) clipped, max. for the back line.....but that's just me. Braid will help get out there. As GV was saying, the rod was actually developed for throwing plugs and it will always have that lovely plugging action to it.....just slightly more slow. Keep it thin.

I agree with you, the rod is exceptional for what it was made for.......Good luck and enjoy. ;)
 
G

grootvis

Sealiner
bambooskollie wrote:
A 12ft or 12.6ft could be a beaut of a rod.
They (the 110h) throw 8oz , land anything and are easy casting.

potent idea

Go for it .

Keep the butt section light ,low diameter and powerful enough to handle the 110h.
Guide layout - run the hybrid low rider/k-series mix about 8 guides.
minimal EVA - minimal epoxy work at the guides.
Make your build strong but light.

If you like playing with the 110H.

Ive been running a trevala TVS-66MH 6.6ft 50-100lb braid weight ,power.medium/heavy Action.medium/fast jigging stick blank in my 110h backsection for a while now. Great marriage.Great tip replacement

Keep us posted on that build . It should be a sick rod.

skollie
Click to expand...
I like your idea, wonder if a Purglas 300/3 tip section would fit?
 
I

IWyk

Sealiner
Two brand new downer Exage 110H Heavy(old model) rods bought for this project. I will probably strip my two used ones and keep the new ones as is. Also thinking about Enigma's suggestion of 12 ft DC(2-5 Ounce), but man I like these old Exage rods. Have any of you given this idea some more thought or have anymore suggestions? May keep the one a casting version and the other one a spinning version. I am currently thinking 12'6 is the length I want to have, so will need to add 450 mm to the butt section.
 
G

grootvis

Sealiner
I like this thread,

2 things that come to mind for me, I like bambooskollies idea of fitting a different tip section in the butt piece, but then what rod are you actually fishing, you wont be fishing a exage ...bummer, I might look at this at a later stage as replacements for my rod once the tip section is stuffed.

The other thing is, try keep everything to a minimal in terms of modifications, you like the rod as an Exage 11ft and how it performs, if you do too much, you might loose alot of the original action and feel of the rod, that's just my opinion though, best bet right now is to leave the rod as is and just add the extended butt section, I feel that by this you will have the best of both worlds and retain at least 80% of the original feel of the rod.

i want to shorten my butt section at least 50mm or so to bring the reel closer to my body which allows me to grip a bit further down the grip more comfortably, but am so hesitant to do it, i too love my exage rods!...:)

Just a thought, you could also look at getting a Blue marlin 2 piece rod, 12ft, with T53 butt section and t24 tip section, it would be very close to a Exage match and possibly lighter, Ive investigated this option myself for a gallie rod before and is a viable and very good option , if you want, Enigma can elaborate further on that too if you want.
 
I

IWyk

Sealiner
grootvis wrote: 
Make 100% sure you get the guide layout right, or you might be happy with the rod but you might be missing out on what could be an ultimate casting rod. I would keep to the maximum number of guides you could safely put on there. Both my rods have 10 guides + tip(4 x Low riders and 6 x KT 10 and BMNAT tip) and it could actually do with one more kt in my opinion. Thats putting the rod comfortably where it wants to be......lovely rods....:)

Good luck and be sure to show us some pics when completed.
Click to expand...
Hi Grootvis, can you elaborate a bit on your guide selection mentioned above. The first 110H Enigma converted for me(we kept the original 11ft length), was fitted with Low riders and converted to spinning for a coffee grinder and I love this rod.

My Idea is to keep the one as a casting rod 12'6 with the same guide spacing and add one or two. This will keep the rod's stiffness/feel as close as possible to the original, or that is what I think with my limited knowledge regarding rod building.

The other one I want to convert to a spinning version 12'6 with new guide spacing to suit and this will obviously mean less guides and a softer/quicker tip action but retain back bone for pulling decent fish.

This is what the idea is and what I think anyway.

Enigma will be the man for these conversions. He knows his stuff but I appreciate all inputs and others thoughts.
 
G

grootvis

Sealiner
Absolutely,

You have the right idea, it can also depend on what reel you will use, on the casting rod, and if using braid, the Low riders are better suited, however, I believe if you fish with mono, the KW guides will be better. I initially started with mono, now bear in mind it was my spinning outfit, so had .55mm mainline and 120lbs braid leader at the time. It really made a difference, allowed the line to "shoot" through the guides much easier, I could immediately hear less line rub. Then when I changed to my setup and magged my reels, i fitted braid, and the results are still the same. If you go the low rider set up, you can use the same layout that I have, choice is yours though, if you want KT or Kw guide train, I would simply say get KW instead of KT for the guide train based on what you will be doing. The straight KW set up will better suit mono and then you can have straight KW guides, I dont have the guide spacing I used measurements on hand now, but if you use the KT guides I would use 7 instead of 6, if KW then stay with 6, its really a good layout that I recommend, but Craig will probably have his own thoughts and ideas, but I think that is the right track regardless. As you would know, i do like to push boundaries, and try fit the maximum and optimum to my gear, and this layout certainly delivers the goods. To me, the idea is, keep the line as tight to the blank as possible without it touching the blank and by adding a few extra guides in the tip takes care of this, the size 10 guides are quite sufficient although one wouldnt think so!
I cant quite recall, if the older exage rods, have 2 guides on the blank section? When i look at my rods now, I have to admit, and I am very curious, have been thinking of moving the second guide onto the tip section,  then do away with 1 guide on the tip section, I sometimes think the spacing from the first guide to the second guide is a bit close, but I will experiment with that at a later stage....enjoy it, its so much fun when it comes to modifications, and just adds the xfactor to when you pull fish on it!

Good luck!
 
K

Koba

New member
I am also looking for the old exage 110h rod, if any of you guys now where i can find one please let my know.
I like that blank alot the new exage 110h ist the same.
::tight:
 
I

IWyk

Sealiner
Keep your eye on the classifieds on Sealine and elsewhere. I bought two brand new ones in less than two weeks at good prices. If you really don't find one I may be able to direct you to two other brand new ones.;)
 
K

Koba

New member
Thanks, ive been looking for a while now but they are so popular.i am always just to late.
What other options wil you recomend?
 
I

IWyk

Sealiner
In my opinion there is no other option if you are meaning a different rod which is similar.
There is only one 110H Exage and that is the old model, period-IMHO.

If you mean another option where to get one send me a PM I may be able to help you out.
 
I

IWyk

Sealiner
If I remember correctly you mentioned somewhere you have both versions. Hang the same weight sinkers off the front and check the rod curve, with the rods next to each other.

Apart from all the cosmetic changes(that I personally don't like), I am convinced it is not the same blank.

I only own the older versions but have swung the new one around in a tackle shop and to me it just does not feel the same.

Perhaps somebody with more blank experience, Enigma?, can shed more factual detail on this one.

As mentioned, personaly I don't think it is the same blank.
 
G

grootvis

Sealiner
Personally, casting I have not noticed much difference at all, same action etc, the new guides, are aimed at keeping the line higher off the blank, why i dont know, perhaps to support casting lures. They replaced the SS ring on the butt joint, because they had issues with them cracking under load, maybe also weight issues,the blank make up, although the action is the same, does look different, so maybe a new graphite with some new materials? Maybe the rod is stronger now? It will be nice to find out what has changed in the blank, but my personal opinion, it hasnt changed the action or castability of the blank.

BTW, the new rods have shocking finishes, when I removed the guides they actually just slid off, did not even have to break the epoxy, so they are definitely using a finish on the rods that does not allow epoxy to bond that well, I had to give a light scuff and wipe down with acetone before applying the epoxy to get it to bond!
 
I

IWyk

Sealiner
Think you have answered my suspicions-different blank with terrible finishing.

Correctly mentioned that the new finish is shocking, with the result in my opinion they are not comparable.

I don't know what makes the old model so perfect but that is what it is-perfect.

As far as I understand it was designed and built for the South African market. When you first look at it you would think Eish this thing has too many guides but alas it works. Better than any rod in its class.

I had an 110H converted by Enigma to a plugging/heavy spin rod and it is also awesome. For this very reason I want to convert the last two I bought to 12;6 spin and cast, I just hope they live up to the expectations, which I am sure they will.

By the way there where four models in the range and they are all excellent.

11ft heavy cast
10ft med cast
10ft spinning same blank as the 10ft cast
8ft spin

I have all of them except the 10 ft casting. (This may change as I might buy a 10ft casting for my son). The old model of course.
 
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