# Rod Builder Cecil



## shootnstarz (May 4, 2011)

Back in the late 80s a guy named Cecil worked at a tackle shop on Cervantes. He built my Fenwick 1386, did an excellent job and charged me a song.

Any know if he's still around? The Fenwick is. This rod still holds the record for most blackfin caught in one year off the pier, 5 in 1988, caught the largest King of 88, 38lbs and the first Ling of 89, 24 lbs.

When I had this rod built I located the reel seat and the guides exactly where the old Berkley Tri-Sport 10' rod had it's. That Berk was the best cig thrower I had ever used. Everybody said the handle was too long and I needed to cut some off the tip.

Well I left the handle long, did all the cutting from the butt and ended up with a cig thrower that even beats the Berkley. Just wanted to let him know the rod's still around and has held up for many years.

Rick


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## 4 dog (Nov 24, 2007)

His name is Cecil Hartley. I used to work with him but I haven't seen him in years.


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## shootnstarz (May 4, 2011)

4 dog said:


> His name is Cecil Hartley. I used to work with him but I haven't seen him in years.


Thanks,

Rick


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## delta dooler (Mar 6, 2008)

I have a couple rods Cecil built for me back in '87-'89, still have em today, one is a 8' Seeker Cobia rod, with red/black grips and a cobe and king weaved between the split grips and a chevron wrap above the foregrip, the other is a 8' Fenwick 968 king rod, have caught a PILE of fish on both and still fish em today, would love to get them both refinished though, we sunk a boat offshore about 12 years ago and thought i had lost them forever, the boat was salvaged a week later and the rods were still in it ! I worked with Cecil at 1 Stop Bait and Tackle when I was a kid until he moved on, it would be good to hear how hes doing almost 25 years later !


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## reelthrill (Oct 3, 2007)

I still have two of the berkely tri-sports. Tiderider/Obie, just rebuilt one of them and it is beautiful. I have caught countless cobia, kings, tarpon, etc.. on these rods and they are still going strong. Like posted above, they will definitely sling a cig.


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## ceci1357 (Dec 4, 2012)

A lost friend directed me to this old post and it made my day. Very pleased my legacy still hangs around. Brings back a lot of memories ,some good ,some bad, but mostly good. If ya’ll will allow it I’ll share some of the good ones. The old timers might remember some of it,lol. My first recollection of rod building was at Wright Tackle when Cokey and Pat had it. I would spend hours in the back watching Pat build rods. It amazed me how fast he could apply that thin thread with his homemade power wrapper. Cokey and the old timers would be arguing about current events and it was of the same genre as the Andy Griffith show. Comfortable, humorous, and of a more relaxed time. The regulars knew there was a cold coke in a bottle arms length away in the old fridge. Pat put up with me most of the time and when he didn’t want to I knew to leave him alone. But I learned A LOT. I fished non stop back then. 2pm till 10pm work,1030 till 6am fishing at Sikes,7am till 1pm sleep and repeat. The trout at Sikes were the bomb back then. 
Time passed and I eventually talked myself into trying to set up my own very small effort at having a business to build rods. Seems like Pat had taken a long hiatus {something like biking to California} and Cokey was so old he couldn’t handle the shop by himself so it changed hands. If I get stuff wrong forgive me,this was along time ago. I scraped together enough to get a Clemens lathe and the materials to build a very sturdy 4X8 plywood table. I talked Mike, the owner of the original One Stop across from Brownsville Church . This is my third attempt posting this so I’ll stop here to see if it will work and comtinue in another post.


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## ceci1357 (Dec 4, 2012)

It worked! Mike let me build and repair rods and reels. I still worked full time at the city and would do all of this at night and on weekends and worked at the shop too. I tried to do stuff differently using unconventional materials at times,when building rods. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t . I had to curtail a lot of my fishing and I poured everything I made into buying more stuff and materials. I began to refine my skill but some of my stuff was still crude. The personal life and main job suffered somewhat but I kept pushing. Many a night in winter I froze my butt off cause the shop had a heater but I wouldn’t run Mike’s gas bill up. Ahhh,good times, lol.
Another dose of time ,the shop changed hands , and I moved to Grays Tackle in Gulf Breeze. Maggie and Bob {God rest their souls} were very good to me and I really enjoyed the time there. My end continued to grow and I continued pouring the money back into stock. I built some boat rods for the fountain fishing team,ect ,ect. Competition between builders was fierce at this time. Mike at Outcast,Giovanni at orange beach,Pat,all built exceptional rods. I kept my niche in light tackle and pier rods cause I enjoyed building them the most. The other guys could have the marlin rods. I could build them I just really didn’t want to. Most were happy with my rods, and I usually kept the cost reasonable . Still working a full time time job. I remember buying my own cash register , a cheap little Casio. It grew to the point I turned the reel repair end over to a friend and let him have a go at it. He was a responsible young fellow and he did well. All my time was spent in the rod building and teaching a few friends to build their own. I had a considerable amount of money invested and sweat by this time . One time almost had a company set up to laser cut stainless Mitchell manual bails for the 302 but my investor backed out. That’s how deep I had gotten into this stuff. I started to think I could quit the city which I hated and make it on my own. Had custom signage made to hang below Bob’s sign and it was busy. About that time personal life went south, the stress got pretty bad, and I quit the dayjob cause I just couldn’t stomach it anymore. Problem was once I got a taste of the freedom I went jungle,lol. Eventually , I just walked away from it all. 
I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I stuck with it but we all make mistakes. Picked up the hobby of salt water tanks and stayed with that about seven years. Presently I am restoring a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee. So there you have it. If I disappointed anyone in that time frame I apologise in a serious manner. Thanks for the memory trip.


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## reelthrill (Oct 3, 2007)

You mentioned that you built rods for the Fountain fising team. We were the first Fountain fishing team in the GOM and were based out of Pensacola. I'm sure you probably built those rods for us. SMALL WORLD!


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## ceci1357 (Dec 4, 2012)

The fenwick 1386 was probaly the best surf/pier blank ever made. I cuss myself regulary for letting mine go.


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