For the past few years I have been thinking about making the boys their own custom rods. I have taken a class and have all the books but never made the time. Three weeks ago I was searching Ebay ready to buy the components when I meet Adrian Martinez from Handler custom rods. After a few emails and phone calls discussing components for my specific need he says, "I make rods too!". Yeah but I am going to give these too my boys as Christmas presents. "And?" was his reply? I will get them too you before Christmas he says. I am really having my doubts they would arrive in time especially with the 4 days shipping it takes to get here from Florida during this time of year but I sent the money anyway. I have never met this guy in person and he starts building the rods before the money order ever arrives in his hands. Now that is one heck of a fishermen. Getting another person something special quickly so they can give it to their child as a Christmas gift really means something too me. It was not just about making a sale. It also shows me what kind of person you really are. They boys knew I was getting some rods built but had no idea that in the shipment they had some coming for them. They knew I was excited about the FedEx package I was waiting for so they called me at work when it arrived. Do we open it they asked? I will be right there. A quick stop on the way home for crabs at my favorite Asian market and one at the barber to look good over the holidays and I was home. OK the second comment can be debated. We all gathered around to see what was in the box and to their amazement four rods were in the box instead of two. Anthony saw his name on a red one and Albert on a green. Man they were excited. Albert was wondering why the day before I had pulled out 4 reels form my reel stash and spooled them with 30# Ande. The boys were ready to head out as soon as the rods got in their hands. They knew we had quite allot of Christmas stuff to do but it did not take long to get the reels on the rods and on our way to our drum honey hole. We just had to break them in! So our goal was one fish on each rod before we came home. New to the family from left to right on the bottom row: Cowboy (blue) w/501 Jigmaster, Darth Vader (Black) w/506 Jigmaster, Red Raider (TT red) w/7000 Abu Garcia and Sapo Wapo / Translation - Good-looking Frog (Green) w/505 Jigmaster. That Albert is a character!


We get to the hole as soon as we possibly can without breaking too many laws and set up. The wind was directly in our face and there is only one light working on the pier. Actually I was bummed out about the whole situation. On the side we really like we could not see a thing and the other you needed to cast really well to get to where the big fish are. Man those rods can cast a mile. We were there for and hour or more and nothing. We checked the baits and they were all still fresh. Out they went again in just a bit different location. We had just sat down and Sapo Wapo was the first rod to go off so Albert grabed his rod and the fight was on! I must have been throwing at the wrong markers.


Next up was Red Raider!


The boys were putting a whooping on their dad. My rods were not producing at all. (YET) Check these out!





I guess Darth Vader was waiting for a big one to come around before he jumped into the action. Check out his monster BU. On the ground:


Lifted up! (BAERLY):


Albert and Anthony trying to out do the old man. Not!





We sat around for a while with not much action until these two hit. After that we pack it in.





Fighting these fish with such a fine fishing instrument was a breeze! It was not hard to accomplish our goal. Thank you Adrian for the superb job of constructing such a light fighting machine and getting them to me quickly for an early present for the boys and myself. We really love our new members of the family. The rods being so good looking is going to cost me. We have two in the family that wants their own rods. The wife wants hers in pink and my daughter wants one in orange. Total tally for the trip was 13 Bu's ranging from 39-44 ½" long. Three BU's on Red Raider and two on each of the other new rods. 4 fish were caught on other family members. I want to thank God for the opportunity to fish as hard as we want and be successful at what we like doing the most! Jesus is the Reason for the Season! Merry Christmas to ALL!