Contents
Ledge Hammer the 1st
Ledge Hammer PE development
Ledge Hammer XF development
ALBAA presentation, Ledge Hammer XF rod building workshop and prize for the Have A Go Comp
 
Hi all
Blue and I were talking one day about the requirements of the braid user when it comes to targeting fish species that you cant let run much when fishing with live baits or balloon skipped baits. The type of scenarios includes high ledges of the west coast and low ledges fronted with reefy shoals (dakaus!) in the north. I suggested a GT Popping blank as a base built up to suit a small high performance OH like saltiga, avet and accurate. The GT P blank in this case will handle the unavoidable high sticking from the high ledges much better then a traditional xfast rod. The other advantage is the ability to have a lot of rod length for line clearance but at the same time being able to fish the maximum drag your physically capable without giving the fish much of a lever against you to hurt you. From all reports this would be a big plus in shark infested waters as well
 
Another requirement was a two piece format; this was easily filled by the GT P blank. The blank is a unique work of wonder as well as it’s not a regular GT P setup. The action is a stepped one and with 10 or 15kg mono with 3 or 5kg drag it behaves much like a traditional fast actioned stick with the deflection mostly in the tip. With PE6 however and with a average heavy drag that can be fished safely in a rough environment stepping to 10 to 14kg of drag is easy. The 10kg is good for the higher ledges and 14kg for the almost sea level ledges. This also looks after the rods integrity when inadvertently high sticked on the high ledges
 
This particular build is a one off. The blank has received multiple coats of a metallic silver finish followed by multiple coats of high gloss clear. Other then for the shine, the multiple hard coats give further protection from rocks and such
 
Handle
I chose a Perfection ball gimbal as every customer who has one has positive feedback on its agility in the bucket slot. The rear butt is a hard nylon unit making it almost bullet proof in rock holes and such. The seat is again a Perfection unit. The Perfection brand of game components are made in US and regarded as some of the finest units in the industry. The foregrip I shaped to a massively long full wells type shape. This enables a good forward grip with the hand anchored by the taper in the front half and the shallow hollow area in the back half gives a easy small diameter hold while setting up the outfit and drift. This is nicely set off by a chromed winding check that doest not touch the blank and has an EVA cushion underneath. The foregrip is also sheathed in Xflock. This protects the EVA and can be easily replaced after a season or two
 
Guides
I chose the new Fuji game concept frames. This shape looks very much like the lowrider guides and has the same non line fouling properties. These babies though have very tough construction with a lot of metal in the cross section of the frame. The frame is of the deep pressed design and cups the rings nicely to protect them from contact with surroundings. The rings are made of Fuji’s Silicon Nitride II. This material is promoted by Fuji as being built to withstand the stresses of being used as jet engine bearings and rated for wire line. Perfect for the rocks. The tip a matching unit
 
I am quite please with how this baby turned out. The epoxy job is one of my best ever with multiple thin coats and the result is a clarity that makes it disappear in the pics, the reflected light give it away. The wraps are in a shadow chrome color with metallic blue unders and chrome trims. I initially did a full 3D box wrap from the foregrip to the stripper but this ended up looking very over the top took away from the rod. A simple solid wrap with brief chrome trim bands gave a very classy appearance instead.
 
Ledge Hammer Series
While building this rod I decided to take the ledge hammer development further. After some long late night discussions with my blank guy I got him hyped up enough to start work on prototypes without costing me a fortune. Result, fresh samples in my next blanks shipment.
 
Ledge Hammer PE
These are based on GT popping blanks. The first one is the PE3060 for lighter work, the medium heavy PE5080 and the X-heavy PE80130 who any one who is game! The lighter two (woot) are available only as offset 2pc and the PE80130 as offset 2pc and 1pc
 
Ledge Hammer XF
Building on from the components that I selected I decided to update the traditional X fast LBG livebait rods to current technology. Using calster GFs and equivalents where appropriate. This I presented to a customer who had come in for a matching pair of 700Hs. The pictures are below. In some of the pictures the rods are leaning on a wall hook resulting in the bend you see in the tips. I have to thank 'fishermenfred' for his assistance with the pics, he set himself up to catch the rods if they fall off. Cheers mate.
 
The XF series is available in E-Glass and graphite composite in all the traditional lengths from 5'4" to 8". All are 1pc or offset pc with a Lakeland feruled reel seat
 
 
ALBAA Rodbuilding Workshop and the prize
Shortly I will start a workshop on building your own Ledge Hammer XF700MH. Week by week I will take you through the build process and the rod that I build during this workshop will be the prize for the ALBAA have a go comp. We will also hold an online beauty pageant for the ones you guys built judged by member voting. The winner of the pageant will recieve an LBG blank, whatever I have in the rack at the time . The workshop part of it will only be open to ALBAA members
 
I will have the component kits and blanks as well with a few options that you can up or down grade
 
Anyway enough of the essay, enjoy the pics
 
Ledge Hammer PE the 1st
 








































 
Ledge Hammer XF700H
 

 
      Absolutely Beautiful work, Mate.
 
      You have truly outdone yourself with this quality finish.
 
                         Paul  

Thanks for the nice comments guys. I guess this concept is a flop, only a handfull of postivie comments on 3 sites put together. Back to the old school builds eh

 
              Rohit,
                        please don't give up on this design.
 
               I believe your work is superb.  Just keep it going.   Eventually ,people will understand how good the rod is.
 
                    After 38 years in this industry.   The one thing I truly  know is that quality work, takes time to be recognised.
 
                                 Cheers Mate.
                                                          Paul.