Thinking about building a saltwater rod for about 1/2 to 1 1/2 ounce lures. Has anybody used cape fear advance tech blanks and how good are they. They sure look cool. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brian

Save your money. I have tried two and the workmanship is not very good and they are very, very heavy. You can do much better with the Calstar or Seeker and at less money. Others may like them but I have little use for the ones I bought.

I disagree with Brian about the workmanship, based solely on the one rod I made up. They are far too expensive!!! I recommend trying something in the Calstar Grafighter series. They are first class blanks, inexpensive and the company has excellent quality control. I love the GX7 I made for myself.

I may have gotten a couple of bad ones. But I agree very much that the price is just out of line when you can do better with other blanks that cost far less.

I happen to be a huge fan of Cape Fear rods for nearshore and offshore fishing. My personal trolling rods are all Cape Fear. The LB70 is the best King Mackeral rod I have ever fished. They are a pain in the $#& to build, but in my opinion, well worth the effort.

That being said... for the light stuff, I do not like the Advance Tech series. To me, there is no better rod on the planet for inshore fishing than Graphite USA. In your pound range, I would look hard at the bass series in the 7 foot Heavy or Extra Heavy range or the newer DHX series in a 4 power.

Hi Hugh.... I just got a Merrick catalog and see the Cape Fear prices have been slashed by almost 1/2.... insteat of $300 they are now about $170 for the 50/80 5'1" blanks.... now they're beginning to be competative. If I can, I'll see if I can swing a couple this year and give them a run on the Sept wahoo here.

Hugh