Remember when we used to hand-fish coax through every drop ceiling?

Had a job in an old office building in Seattle last month with a dozen runs. Used my old method for the first one, took 45 minutes. Switched to the fiberglass push rods for the rest and did them all in under two hours. When did you finally ditch the hand-fishing method for good?

3 comments

3 Comments

finley_walker572mo ago

Honestly, when did you realize the old way was just costing you money? I held onto my fish tape way too long because it felt like real work, but man, those push rods are a game changer. Took me a client asking why a simple drop was taking half a day to finally switch for good. Now I just laugh at the thought of crawling through all that dust and insulation by hand.

the_ray5d ago

Did you ever try the combo approach? I mean, I get the muscle memory argument, but for me it was about knowing when to use each tool. For old plaster walls, yeah, I still grab the tape sometimes because those rods can be a pain. But for drops through modern framing or open ceilings? Push rods all day. I save my fish tape for the tricky stuff where I gotta feel out blockages or navigate fire block. It's not one or the other, it's just picking the right tool for the wall you're in.

graymiller2mo ago

My uncle's shop in Toledo still uses fish tapes for 90% of their pulls. They say push rods get stuck in old plaster walls and cost more time untangling them than the old method. He swears the muscle memory from a fish tape lets his guys feel obstructions better than any fiberglass rod. They tried switching for a month and went right back.