I'm looking at either of these blanks. Don't know if I should jump up to the 7' with a little more power or stay with the 6.5'. They're both St. Croix SC II.
2S66MHF2 6'6 2 8-17lb. 1/2-1oz. MH FAST Bass/Pike/Saltwater


2S70HF2 7'0 2 10-20lb. 1/2-1-1/2oz. H FAST Musky/Pike/Saltwater

It will be used on a spinning rod to go after medium sized pike (~5 lb). It will aslo be used for trolling bottom bouncers around; that's why I'm thinking about the hearvy rod.
What do you guys think?

I would go with the SCII 8-17 only in the 7'

Mike

7' wasn't an option in a 2 pc.

Why does everyone seem to like the 1 pc? Was surprised that 2 pc. blanks were hard to find.

How heavy of a bottom bouncer are you going to be using?
For most of what you're doing, I kinda think that a more medium power would work alright???

I don't know what the big thing is with 1 piece rods. Most of my customers all want them; they say that 2 piece aren't as sensitive, don't stay put together, and break easier.
Hard to argue with a customer, I just order a 1 piece for them. A lot of my rods are 2 piece and I don't agree with any of the above statements.

For pike around 5 pounds, both those rods are overkill. The 10-20 is totally more of a muskie rod and you can tell by looking at the butt diameter, the type of guides St. Croix puts on them, and the action and stiffness when you handle it. the 8-17 ain't too bad, but you might still flip a few fish over the boat. Truthfully, the 10-20 and the 12-25 are quite similar in power but the 8-17 is a nice step down. that's the toruble with catalogs - can't actually handle the rods in question. Any reason you're mostly going for 2 piece rods? Just curious.

Tim,
I'm with Chia-Chien. The blanks you suppose for the pikes of the weight/size you mentioned, IMHO, are too heavy. Unless you like pulling them out of the water using the rod' power itself (lol)
I guess that you probably want to have some extra power for occasional fighting a bigger fish, but I don't think you should worry about it that much... I saw 10 pound pike landed with the rod built on 1/16-1/4 oz blank, so if you choose a lighter blank for your rods, you scarcely go wrong...

Pavel

For Pike, you need the heavier rod for casting the larger lures and not to really land the fish.

I built two of the 6'-6" and one of the 7' this summer and I have built several of them before for guys going to Canada pike fishing. They are both good choices. But, here's how I'd break them down. The 2S66MHF2 works well for lures like Bagley DB-3's, #4 and #5 Mepps, 1/2 oz to 1 oz spoons like #3 Mepps Syclops, Spinnerbaits up to 1 oz., and 7" Suicks. If you plan on using lures larger than these, then go with the 70HF2. If you want to fish with "Small Musky" type lures like 6" Grandmas, Mepps Musky Killers, the big 7" Bomber Minnows, or the musky size spinnerbaits, you will need the guts in the 70HF2. If not, I'd stick with the 66MHF2. I always prefer the longer rod, but in this case the 70HF2 will be too heavy if you don't need it.

And' I'm sure you could troll or drift bottom bouncers up to 2oz. with the 66MHF2.

The 70HF2 is closer to a Musky rod.