Jeff, Great pics! Those are some Gator Trout.

Like JB I use 15 Aldebarans and still have a few 09 Aldebaran/Cores in the rotation for Redfish. They are both excellent reels and if properly maintained have no problem in the saltwater. I also agree with Jeff that a long cast with the BFS could get you into serious trouble with a Red. If you are f...

Good to hear from you Matt. Hope you and your family are doing well! I like Winn grips but don't think I would include one in the build specs on one of your customs because I feel it would detract from the overall aesthetic and my applications for the rod. I own 5 customs built by Matt and they are ...

Here is a picture of a Winn Grip on my 7' MH Hammer Rod. I have owned this rod for a year and have fished it hard throughout the year. I have caught 100s of Redfish on this rod and the grip looks to be holding up great to me.

Prayers to you buddy. Hope you are feeling better real soon. I had my first stone at age 16 and 8 more over the next 34 years. Some I passed on my own and others required a stent and multiple lithotripsy treatments. Kidney stones are the most intense pain I have ever felt. Morphine is your only frie...

I run Aldebarans, Cores and Mets almost exclusively in saltwater (at least 2x per week) and have never had a problem with the frame or body on any of those reels. I do take good care of my equipment and routinely tear my reels down on average once a month, and I always remove the spool after each tr...

Jeff, Excellent work on the rod! That looks like a very nice setup for my kind of fishing. Nice Reds too! Hope all is well my friend. JD

Back around June, I found a flat that was producing some really big trout. Made the call to go fish it the other evening and got my friend Josh to join me. We were throwing topwater and within the first few casts had a 24" trout landed. As I am trying to unhook and take some pics, his Spook gets sl...

That's the biggest damn speck that I have ever seen. I live in W Central Fl and I have never seen one like that. What rod are you using for BFS Inshore? I am thinking of a Major Craft MSX Limited 6'7" L BFS and a Conquest 50. If memory serves, I was using my Custom Edge Rods ISR703. It's built on a...

Great pics and great report Matt! I've been tempted several times to pull the trigger on the bfs xg but I only use braid and am not so sure that would be a good idea on this reel. Thanks for posting.

Glad to help. If you need a different view of the guides, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Here are a few shots that include the stripper guide, the fourth guide from the tip, and then the tip section. I am 49 years old and require +2.0 readers to see small print. I have some rods that require me to put on my readers to thread the lines through the guides. I do not need them for the Hamme...

Thank You Gary! I really appreciate your advice and I really can't believe the price point on this rod. As you know, I own many high end rods and the Hammer can hold it's own with rods costing 3 times as much. Since I took delivery of this rod, it has been on my boat every trip out. When I contacted...

A few of the Reds and trout I caught this past Friday on the MB662 Custom.

Late last October I contacted Matt Davis and placed an order for a custom rod built on an NFC MB662 HM Blank. This is my fifth custom from Matt so going over the build details took no time at all. I selected the Fuji PTS soft touch reel seat with a cork split grip finished off with Fuji Torzites and...