Building my first gaff, and since I build all my rods from Calstar blanks figured I'd buy their gaff blank. Its a 6' blank and I have a 4" Winthrop hook. Of course the blank is hollow but tapered towards the end. I don't see even after using a tape arbor how I can epoxy this in to get a good solid long lasting bond..... because of the taper to the blank. Any experience with these blanks? MudHole said they haven't built with them but hear that people fill the entire blank with epoxy??? That would do it, but necessary? The gaff will see wahoo, yellowfin, and swords

Thanks

look at a glass handle [ mudhole has some kits ] don't use a hallow handle on fair size fish

William Sidney
AK

Hi Gervais,
I live in South Florida and I make gaffs that are used for Kingfish, Dolphin, Wahoo and other saltwater fish in that size range. The below procedures may be of help to you:
Assuming the gaff hook has a nice long shank i first roughen up the metal on the shank with sandpaper. Than using a dremel tool I make some shallow upward cuts in the shank to provide a "barb" so the hook shank will be held more securely in the epoxy. Then using a thin piece of rod blank (from a broken rod) I pack slow cure epoxy glue into the end of the blank where the hook will go. I then use a generous amount of epoxy glue on the hook shank itself and insert it into the blank with a twisting motion. If there is a lot of room at the end of the blank you can use a couple of tape arbers. After the epoxy cures you can use 5 minute epoxy to form a smooth transition from the blank to the hook.

This gaff should work fine for fish up to 60-70 lbs. If your client will be going for large Tuna and Swordfish there's some very heavy gaffs (including flying gaffs) on the market that he might consider.

Rick