I search the forums for info a lot so while this info isn't really useful 99% of the time I thought I should put it out there for anyone in the future.

I have a V2 mirage drive with turbo fins for reference and I push my drive hard, either high mile days for salmon or pushing it against the tide/wind.

For reference, I had extra battery and recorded a strava run in :

I expect to go through a pair of fin masts a season and a pair of chain assemblys a season and carry extras in the kayak. IF you break 1 fin mast you WILL break the other one soon after, bite the bullet, buy 2 and keep the other as a spare in your dry bag.

If you break a fin mast and need to get it out there are a few threads here to help you. For me if there is enough of the mast sticking out of the sprocket I will use a vise grip to try and twist out the mast. If you are cracked you can just use pliers.

Otherwise you can saw off part of the sprocket as shown in the attachment to then unscrew the remains of the mast.
Or you could drill it out, I don't have a drill press and did this once by hand and decided halfway through I rather would have paid $20 to never do that shit ever again...

If you have turbo fins and buy standard length masts it will make it easier to pedal BUT your top speed will be decreased AND they don't really last any longer.

Just putting this out there for someone searching in the future. Unrelated but if you have a v2 drive and any questions I might be able to answer some.

Last year after wrapping and breaking yet another eye on my now 6'4 jigging/swimbait rod I had enough. I started looking for a new rod. Something light, physically light, durable construction, good backbone yet fast action, with a sensitive tip, and exclusively double footed guides. This rod does not exist... probably. At the time the closest I could find was the Harrier X, daiwa's update to the existing harrier line. 140 was more than I was willing to spend though, stock was terrible, and I really wanted split grips for some reason.

So I wrapped one. The RX6 MB846. A cardboard box and a bobbin got the job done. Nothing fancy all utility.



A beast of a jigging rod, lightweight to hold and a ton of lifting power. Personally too stiff of a tip for halibut imo. would have preferred a slightly softer tip for flatfish. The rod still caught fish, halibut to 20lb, stripers to 36", and lingcod to 36". The rod performed best for jigging lingcod, could pop a 4oz swimbait in 120ft of water easy, and the hooksets were pure dopamine.


Unfortunately due to the split grip the rod blank became worn down from being pulled in the back rod holder of the kayak. I was aware of the scratches but couldn't pinpoint what exactly they were from until it was too late. One final to heaven hookset on a ling and that was that. Lesson learned, no more split grips. At least I still have the eyes on the rod.


Now the real reason for this post. Those who have bought blanks online know how hard it is to guess exactly how a blank will perform based on its specs. Something I wish was standard was a demonstration of the flex of the blank, or a video of a fully wrapped blank in use. Hopefully this post will help someone looking to build this blank.

In left to right order the weights are 4oz, 12oz, 24oz. RDR MB846:

found 2 rods @millers today msg me with a description of them and we can work out a way to get it back to you.

I know most of you don't target these guys, but can anyone give me any tips on where to find them? Everyone talks about them like they're everywhere but man, I cant find them for the life of me. Normally I just go out near Miller Park, pull up a chair and some homework or something, while soaking squid, but I havent caught any for almost a year now. Are there any other places to at least find some consistently? At this point anything would be helpful