Pete Maina Signature Series Musky Rod Repair

While rod repair is at least a yearly occurrence for me, nothing major of course, but a few dings here and there happen and it’s important to stay on top of them if you want your gear to last for years to come. You don’t normally come home from buying a brand new rod wanting to repair it. Unfortunately, such is the case with the Pete Maina Signature Series Musky Rods.

The holes you see pictured above could be part of the manufacturing process, but is highly unlikely since I’ve never owned a rod with such a hole and every photo I can find of the Fuji TCS real seat (example 1, example 2) is lacking such a hole. It just doesn’t make sense from a manufacturing or design process. Not to mention that the hole is off center, has a suspicious looking unfinished lip, almost like it was drilled out and not sanded down, and the simple fact that quite a few of the rods on display had their triggers broken off at this hole.

So because I was tired of looking at it and feeling it, I decided to do something about it. While I may not recommend doing this to your rod, it’s the solution I came up with using items I had around my house that I knew were suitable for the job. All you’ll need to replicate this repair is a few plastic bags, some tape, a round file and some car bondo. What, you don’t keep bondo in your medicine cabinet?

Then just file out the hole a bit, maybe a little extra tape so you don’t get bondo all over the place, especially on the cork. Mix up your bondo, do this part outside because the fumes are pretty noxious, you’ll only need a little bit since it isn’t a large hole and start filling. Be very careful, this stuff generally sets in about 3-4 minutes so work carefully and diligently, don’t worry about excess because you’ll need to sand it all down anyway. Let cure for about 20-40 minutes and you’re ready to sand it down and remove the tape.

Either Pete Maina, missed out on the quality control of these rods, and is quite possibly kicking himself for them being “Signature Series”, or Bass Pro Shops manufacturing process is about as obscure as their naming conventions. I might even go so far as to say they have a mystical drilling gnome wandering about their factory.

We’ll see if it breaks, and how it performs, as we run it through the Northern Pike Gauntlet.

For more photos of the Pete Maina Signature Series Rod Repaircheck out our gallery.

5 Comments
May 3, 2007 by Jonathon Marshall

Filed Under: Fishing, Gear
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5 Comments on “Pete Maina Signature Series Musky Rod Repair...”

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  • avatar anglingarcher
    4 years, 6 months ago #

    I guess you don’t know much about rods, and or muskie rods. The hole in the trigger is not an error, it is a hook keeper. It is a clever design, most hook keepers are at the bottom of the rod. If you have ever gone muskie fishing, you would know that a 12″ buck tail or 10″ crankbait with 5/0 trebles will destroy the base of a rod when attached to the hook keeper. Run from one spot to the next and see what happens to a beautiful muskie rod. Now the lure just bangs harmlessly against the side of the cork. No need to repair the hook keeper! lol

  • avatar Clive Mathias
    4 years, 6 months ago #

    Thanks for pointing that out. We had meant to give an update about the rod a little while back when we finally figured out what the purpose of that hole was. While it is a good idea, the main problem was that it weakened the trigger. Clearly a major flaw since many of the rods on display were had broken triggers.

  • avatar Jonathon Marshall
    4 years, 5 months ago #

    Briefly before our trip to Little Vermillion I was watching a musky fishing show, I don’t own a tv so this is far more rare than you might think, and I saw a guide throw his hook through a hole in the trigger. Then it dawned on me, but I was still glad that I had closed the hole because my rods got banged around more than once on that trip alone, and its useless if the trigger breaks off (like the display models).

    Furthermore, before leaving on that trip it dawned on me to create my own hook ring that didn’t sacrafice any of the rods performance, nor did it require the drilling of any holes, and if it breaks its completely replaceable.

    All you need are two zip ties! Post coming in a moment..

  • avatar Fishing Fury - Two guys with a serious passion for fishing, the great outdoors, crazy adventures, and heart-pounding entertainment.
    4 years, 5 months ago #

    [...] So you may remember the recent rod repair I performed on a Pete Mania Musky Rod from Bass Pro Shops. Well about a week before leaving for Little Vermillion, I was at a friends house watching TV (I don’t own a TV) and I saw a musky guide put his hook through what looked like a hole in the trigger. At that point I understood what the hole was for, but still given all the rods on display with broken triggers and how much my rods got beaten around in the car and on the boat I was glad I filled it. I knew there had to be a better way to do this, without sacrificing any performance. [...]

  • avatar Jamie Riani
    3 years, 8 months ago #

    I think Pete had a great idea there. For the serious monster pike fishing we do, it’d be a great thing to have a hook-up right there close to the reel. I’m going to be modifying my rods this weekend. Thanks for the tip.

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