Hey John,

I'm leaving in about 2 weeks. Just wanted to say thanks for an awesome product.
Mahalo and Tight Lines!

Chris Livingston

Hi John:

I recieved my rod today.  It is a work of art.  Thanks much, I am going to try it out tomorrow.

John Flack
Marshall Islands

Hi John

I got the grafighter pole this morning thanks it's great I love it thanks
again, I'll be in touch, I want to order another grafigfhter pole 

thanks JIMMY LYONS BRONX NY

Aloha John

How are you? The Grafighters Rods you made me are awesome! Took a 249# Thrasher with your rod Saturday also a scoolie at 60#s rods performed excellent- Giants aren’t in yet hopefully soon

Thanks & hope all is well 
Joseph Nogueira 
Somerville, MA.

Aloha John,

I got the rod today and WOW it looks great!  I will be wearing your shirt proudly and hope to get you some more business.  I will pass out the business cards to the boat Capt's here and in Kona/Oahu when I go there to fish the first two weeks of Jul.  Hope to get some good luck.  I will keep you posted on what we catch with it.  Thanks for everything.  Keep in touch.  I matched the rod up with a Penn 50VSW and will run 80lbs sufix superior on it.  Once again Thanks!  The rod looks great.
 
Mahalo,
Mike  

Aloha Bird,

Thanks for making me a great rod it worked great and helped me make quick work of this hard charging marlin yesterday. Everyone was pretty impressed on how strong that little rod was and it had good lifting power. Hope you all enjoy the marlin photos I caught it yesterday around 0930 23 miles SSE off white beach Okinawa Japan.  Special Thanks to my fishing buddies Chris and Jim along with Capt Steve Wright for finding the good spot yesterday.  Also Special Thanks and Mahalo to master rod builder John "Bird" Miner of www.hawaiiancustomrods.com for making a great strong Rod!

Mahalo and Aloha Mike

John,

Mahalo for the call.
I checked the rods you made. They are 5-foot 6 and 1/4 inches from tip to butt and have three roller guides, plus the guide on the tip. The rods are black with red thread and what appears to be abalone inserts. The butts are black with gold mounting hardware. I'm attaching a close-up so you can see the exact design.
I'm interested in a pair of identical rods as the other two, with bent-butts instead. The 80-pound class butts would be preferred over the 130's, whereas I'll be using smaller 9-0 Everols on these, not the wides. The rods can be about 2 inches shorter.

John:

Hey there and YES!!!! I have my rods. These rods are kick butt. I can't wait to go out and try them. I have a boat reserved on Monday. I will send pictures if I happen to catch anything. Thank you so much for a great job well done. I will call you with some more orders for lures after the 1st of the year. Have a great holiday season.

Thank You
Bill Hahn
Manager Clubs and Catering

Bird,             October 25 2005

Yes I did receive all 8 rods and they are beautiful. I was out a few days last week and did not see the rods until yesterday. They look great, just as I expected.

Thanks again,
John

Hey Bird I just pick up the rods this morning. I think they were probably there from yesterday but I didn't have a chance to get to the post office. They look great, cant wait to use them. Thanks again for everything. I will probably have to contact you soon and order up some lures when I get the money.

Aloha,
Namahoe Soo
Kamuela Big Island Hawaii

John,
I received the rod Saturday night. I outfitted it with a new reel and Sunday Landed "Catch and Released a 500 - 600 lbs Marlin and a couple nice Ahi. Thanks for the great workmanship and the speedy delivery. If you can send me a stack of your cards that I can pass out at the All-Mike tournament I think everyone should know about Hawaiian Sealures and Hawaiian Custom Rods.

Mahalo
Ed Bonham
Tight-lines Charters
Kwajalein Atoll

Aloha Bird I caught a Great fish, Last week I put a 140 pound Marlin in the boat and hooked up two others Got to watch them both jump they were in the 2 to 3 hundred pound class of fish. All three were on the slant bird fish heads ! So I have (that makes 4 Marlin in the boat and seven hook ups in the last two months) Caught fish 540lbs, 150lbs, 140lbs 135lbs all on that lure!

I need another Rod like the last one ! The rod butt is black with red nuts, I would like to have some of the diamond wrap around the butt like you have on your web site id you can. A Ono ripped the skirts right off that red headed lure I got from so any kind of replacement would be great. I will send your the $235.00 for the rod tonight and can't wait to put it out. With it added to my arsenal that will will fill me out with six lines off the boat. Most of the time it is just my brother and I so it will be a handful.

Later Bra
Mahalo

Bird,

I just had a chance to try your rod out on some early bigeye, and it's just
awesome. Got a 185 and 140 lb bigeye without breaking a sweat. Nice piece of
gear, and well done! I'm psyched.

By the way, both of those fish came right at dawn on 7" POP funnel jetheads
with lumo over black skirts.

I'd like to get a couple more rods for my lighter setups.  What would it
cost to build two rods with Calstar 755H blanks and all-black AFTCO
components and detachable butts? I'd be using them with Penn 30VSW reels and
50 or 60 pound line.

I'm looking forward to taking you fishing. Also, I had an email from Chris
saying that he's hoping to come over with you this summer and fish with us.
Do you kow if he's serious about coming to the East Coast?

Hang in there, and congrats on a superb rod, man.

 Josko

Hello John, I am sorry about not getting back to you. I have been working a lot of hours and the time off has been fishing. I love the new rod. I have landed a 48 lbs Ono and a few 25 to 35 pound Ahi. The action is great the rod bends over and I can feel the fish when it shakes its head or even the slights movements. I didn't think the rod made a lot of difference in catching a fish but I was wrong. It really helps being able to anticipate the movements. I will be getting another rod from you as soon as I can afford it. The next one I want to have the guides and shaft wrapped with the abalone inlayed under it.
Thanks for a great rod. I will post to your web page about how easy it was to order.

Aloha
Ed Bonham
Kwajalein Atoll

John the rods came out great!!  I am very happy with them... Now I can't wait to use them!!.. Thank you man... I will be ordering more in the near future and sending business your way for sure!  Great Job!!

David Tuthill

Bird,
I just had a chance to try your rod out on some early bigeye, and it's just awesome. Got a 185 and 140 lb bigeye without breaking a sweat. Nice piece of gear, and well done! I'm psyched. By the way, both of those fish came right at dawn on 7" POP funnel jetheads with lumo over black skirts. I'd like to get a couple more rods for my lighter setups.  What would it cost to build two rods with Calstar 755H blanks and all-black AFTCO components and detachable butts? I'd be using them with Penn 30VSW reels and 50 or 60 pound line.
I'm looking forward to taking you fishing. Also, I had an email from Chris saying that he's hoping to come over with you this summer and fish with us. Do you know if he's serious about coming to the East Coast?
Hang in there, and congrats on a superb rod, man.

Josko

Hi John just love to leave a testimonial. We live in Australia and there are some really top quality products you can buy here but nothing as good as Johns products. I personally have bought 8 rods and several lures We got our fist 70kg striped marlin on a fish head lure. The rod performed top notch and the lure was the best. John would have to build the best rods and lures in the world? John thanks once again.
Nicholas Papas
Sydney Australia

Bird,
I just received the 2nd order of rods. Again I say "WOW". Beautiful workmanship. I can't wait for the season to begin to try them out. It has been a real pleasure dealing with you. No Bull, no delays, You did everything just as you said. Outstanding service and a superb, unique product.
Thank you for all of your help and advice,
John Baltzegar
Hilton Head Island

Hi   John, 
I got the rods yesterday by 2p, can't believe how fast it got here. Boy they surely look good, Thanks for the set up, don't think I could have ever topped that!. I set one of these rods up with new reel and line today, I'll set the other up when my second reel gets here. I can't wait until this weekend to try them out.  Aloha......I'll keep in touch..... 
Gene...... ps I'll hit you up for lures soon.