TexasKayakFisherman.com est. 2000

[t-ferg]

Does anyone have any feed back on billystix rods? From what I've seen on other forums and websites they seem pretty nice. I have been talking with him on ordering a custom 6'10'' medium lite custom casting rod.

[CopanoCruisin]

Billy builds awesome rods! Nothing but 1st class with excellent parts and awesome wraps. Actually I probably need to order me a new one since my wife seems to have claimed mine. ..........cC

[Tombo]

Billy does a great job. Gave one to my brother 6 years ago and it still is doing great.
You should see the package it arrives in, shipped to survive a hurricane.

[Tombo]

Don't tell him Tombo sent you, price may go up.

[Ron Mc]

someone needs to post photos

[DelSol]

someone needs to post photos

From 2008...

[Ron Mc]

thanks, that's pretty work

[Neumie]

I have two which I won in two different tournaments. Both are kayak series, med or med-heavy, spiral eyes, casting. Obviously the craftsmanship is top notch and the wrapping is awesome. I used both for a few trips but I didn't like the feel of the rods. The spiral wrap caused every lure to cast to the left of where I was aiming so I had to compensate for this and during fights with larger fish the rod would torque to the left in my hand. I keep them with a couple of my other fishing trophy's.

Not a great photo.

[t-ferg]

Don't tell him Tombo sent you, price may go up.

Lol. I bargained down to free shipping.

[t-ferg]

Thanks everyone for the replies.
I ordered the rod and I will post some pics when I receive it in a few weeks.

[t-ferg]

I have two which I won in two different tournaments. Both are kayak series, med or med-heavy, spiral eyes, casting. Obviously the craftsmanship is top notch and the wrapping is awesome. I used both for a few trips but I didn't like the feel of the rods. The spiral wrap caused every lure to cast to the left of where I was aiming so I had to compensate for this and during fights with larger fish the rod would torque to the left in my hand. I keep them with a couple of my other fishing trophy's.

Not a great photo.

Yes, he mentioned the spiral wrap, but I told him to go with the standard in line guides. I know a lot of people swear by the spiral wrap though.

[JesseCJC]

I’ve broken 3 different billystix rods which is unfortunate because I really like the viper blanks that they were built upon. One was completely my fault but two snapped way too easily when transporting IMO.

I had a few issues with guides and the markings for fish measurements being off and on two different occasions he made the but longer than I asked. Wasn’t a huge deal but we did communicate I care about this since he uses 9-10in length instead of 7in that I prefer for kayaking. overall seems like a nice guy and he does wrap well just some small issues.

[Backlasher]

We have 3 rods. My wife has 2 and I have 1. They're all beautiful and work well, my wife's casting rod is the best I've ever used and so I've "borrowed" it.

[Ron Mc]

...
Not a great photo.

um, I disagree, that photo has everything on topic.

As far as spiral wraps, I've never fished them, but the logic is easy to understand.
They're not needed in casting (not a detriment to casting), but reduce contact of line on the rod when trolling and fighting fish.

[Neumie]

um, I disagree, that photo has everything on topic.

As far as spiral wraps, I've never fished them, but the logic is easy to understand.
They're not needed in casting (not a detriment to casting), but reduce contact of line on the rod when trolling and fighting fish.

I was referring more to the poor image quality of the photo because I had to rip it off one of my 10 year old facebook posts; it doesn't show the intricacies of the wrap well.

I agree with the logic that keeping the line off the blank is better and there's the potential for a more sensitive rod, but the two quirks I experienced kind of put me off to the rods. Also since my rods were pre-built (mine are from 2006 & 2007 and I think he used St. Croix Premier blanks) and I didn't have any input on action/line weight/length/power I ended up with two rods I would not have spec'd if given the option to build one from scratch.

Just to re-iterate that I'm not knocking the rod because the craftsmanship is outstanding. It's just after fishing with them a few times I felt the rods didn't suit my needs and now they're pretty "trophies" to look at from time to time.

[Ron Mc]

I know, it doesn't show rod details like you'd prefer, but the rod is pretty even from a distance.
Maybe you'll have to set up some rod macros.

I'll also agree my best rods have functional appointments with minimal decoration.
Throwing up these modern glass examples because I have the photos.